The article is devoted to a long-term dispute about the peculiarity / non-property of the fairy tale genre of the typical features of the heroic epos. On the basis of the historical-typological method and the method of plot analysis, the corpus of texts of the Chuvash and Kalmyk fairy tale epic has been studied. The study considers the main works devoted to this problem, compares the relevant Chuvash texts with the Kalmyk fairytale epic, points to the incorporation of the biography and exploits of the fairytale hero in the heroic epic “Dzhangar”. The author also considers such blocks of heroic matchmaking as the childlessness of parents, a miraculous origin, heroic childhood and martial arts. All these motives are inherent in both the heroic tale and the heroic epic. The heroic traditions of the Chuvash and Kalmyk fairy tale epic are expressed in ethno-cultural realities, plot, epic motifs, and artistic devices. At the same time, researchers have no reason to talk about the complete identity of the ideological and artistic complex of the heroic epic and the heroic tale. The heroic epic and fairy tale are essentially differentiated genres. Here, one can speak as much as possible about the epic nature of heroic tales, about similarities and diffusion, but not about complete identity, and, naturally, there is no need to complete the magic-heroic tale to the classical epic. The publication contributes to the substantiation of the main features of the heroic epos in the heroic tale.