The Scarlet Flower: The Tale of the Key Keeper Pelageya

Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov 1791 - 1859 - a Russian writer, literary and theatrical critic. Born in Ufa into a noble family belonging to an ancient lineage, he graduated from Kazan Gymnasium and entered Kazan University. At the gymnasium, S.T. Aksakov... began writing poetry, and during his university years participated in the student theater. Not finishing university, he moved to Petersburg, where he took a position in the Commission for the Compilation of Laws as a translator. However, this work was not very interesting to the future writer; he became increasingly interested in literary activity. In 1847, S.T. Aksakov published Notes on Fishing, and in 1849 - Notes of a Gun Hunter, both books achieving significant success. But the writer truly became famous for his autobiographical books - Family Chronicle 1856 and The Childhood Years of the Grandson Bagrov 1858, written based on childhood memories and family traditions. As an addition to The Childhood Years of the Grandson Bagrov, the tale The Scarlet Flower was also published. According to the author himself, he first heard the plot of The Scarlet Flower from the key keeper Pelageya: This tale, which I heard for several years not a few dozen times because I liked it very much, I later memorized and began to tell it myself. The Scarlet Flower is one of the many variations of the European fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. This work teaches readers to value not external beauty in a person, but spiritual qualities and a rich inner world. The heroine of the tale was able to see that behind the terrifying exterior of the beast lay a kind and loving heart, was able to love the forest beast, the sea miracle, and thereby break the spell.