Favorite fairy tales. "The Scarlet Flower"

This tale was written not by a storyteller. Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov (1791-1859) remained in the history of literature as a prose writer, publicist and memoirist, theatrical and literary critic, censor, public figure. And the author who made him more famous for the fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower", made it a kind of supplement to the great autobiographical novel "The Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson".

The narration is from the first person, and the hero tells how he first heard this fairy tale. The boy was very sick and could not sleep at night. The housekeeper Pelageya was called to him, and she told him, night after night, the same wonderful story about a kind girl, a terrible and unhappy monster and a scarlet flower, because of which everything began.

About what in a fairy tale affects

A wealthy merchant is going abroad for commercial purposes and asks his three daughters what kind of gifts they should bring. The eldest asks to get her a wicked crown, the beauty of which is not in the world, the middle asks for a miracle mirror in which everything looks beautiful. And the youngest wants a little flower. The father is confused: he knows that there is that wicked crown, he has one hidden overseas queen in the pantry, and he has heard about the mirror a miracle, there is such a thing for the daughter of a Persian king - he will do it all. But what a flower - you can not understand: how to know what exactly this scarlet flower is needed by his beloved little daughter.

He found a merchant in countries of distant gifts for older daughters. Finally he found a flower for the younger on a deserted island. Just ripped off - everything turned dark. And the owner of the flower appeared, a forest monster. He punished the merchant with eternal bondage, but regretted and let him go with his daughters to say goodbye. The younger daughter secretly put a magic ring on her finger and instead of her father went to the island to the monster and returned the scarlet flower to its place. And then the monster was an unhappy young man, bewitched by an evil sorceress. She sentenced him to remain in a terrible guise, until his girlfriend for the good heart will fall in love. So it happened: Alenka (and in the cartoon - Nastenka) regretted and fell in love with him, and he again became a handsome young man. Such is the brief story of a fairy tale, told by S.T. Aksakov.

"Scarlet Flower" on the screen and on stage

Perhaps the most beloved cartoon of several generations appeared on the television screen in 1952. The old Soviet drawing cartoons look with a mixed feeling of tenderness and nostalgia. The tale "The Scarlet Flower" was also embodied in the film-fairy tale directed by Irina Povolotskaya, filmed in 1977. But the most legendary production was the same-named performance by the Moscow Pushkin Theater. In 2012 there was a jubilee - 4000th! - show of the play. Why this popularity of the well-known in the world literature story about a beauty and a monster? The reason is obvious: there are things that are eternal, eternal, which never become obsolete. These are well-known truths: good always overcomes evil, but against love and a pure heart the most evil enchantments are powerless. About this tells a fairy tale, written not by the storyteller ST Aksakov.