The Scarlet Flower. The Childhood Years of Bagrovavnuk

Sergey Aksakov (1791–1859) — a Russian writer, representative of an ancient noble family. 'The Scarlet Flower' is a story about how love and kindness break magical spells. A merchant, while on business, picks a scarlet flower for his younger daughter in the garden of the monster and is captured for it. To save her father, the girl voluntarily goes to the monster's lair. She falls in love with his kind soul, not his appearance, thus lifting the terrible curse… The fairy tale was first published in 1858 as an appendix to the autobiography 'The Childhood Years of Bagrovavnuk', so as not to interrupt the story of childhood, as noted by Aksakov himself. The text is accompanied by black and white illustrations.