The fairy tale is also known as "Beauty and the Beast".

In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a rich merchant, an eminent man.

He had a lot of all kinds of wealth, expensive goods from overseas, pearls, precious stones, gold and silver treasury, and that merchant had three daughters, all three beautiful ones, and the youngest was the best; and he loved his daughters more than all his wealth, pearls, precious stones, gold and silver treasury - for the reason that he was a widower and he had no one to love; He loved the older daughters, but he loved the younger daughter more, because she was better than everyone else and was more affectionate towards him.

So that merchant is going on his trade affairs overseas, to distant lands, to the distant kingdom, to the thirtieth state, and he says to his dear daughters:

“My dear daughters, my good daughters, my beautiful daughters, I am going on my merchant business to distant lands, to the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state, and you never know, how much time I travel - I don’t know, and I punish you to live honestly without me and peacefully, and if you live without me honestly and peacefully, then I will bring you such gifts as you want, and I give you three days to think, and then you will tell me what kind of gifts you want.”

They thought for three days and three nights and came to their parent, and he began to ask them what gifts they wanted. The eldest daughter bowed at her father’s feet and was the first to say to him:

“Sir, my dear father! Do not bring me gold and silver brocade3, nor black sable furs, nor Burmitz pearls4, but bring me a golden crown of semi-precious stones, and so that from them there will be such light as from a full month, as from the red sun, and so that it would give light on a dark night, as in the middle of a white day.”

The honest merchant thought for a moment and then said:

“Okay, my dear daughter, good and pretty, I’ll bring you such a crown; I know a man overseas who will get me such a crown; and one overseas princess has it, and it’s hidden in a stone storeroom, and it’s standing That storeroom in a stone mountain, three fathoms deep, behind three iron doors, behind three German locks, will be a lot of work: but for my treasury there is no opposite.”

The middle daughter bowed at his feet and said:

“My dear sir, my dear father! Do not bring me gold and silver brocade, nor black Siberian sable furs, nor a necklace of Burmitz pearls, nor a gold crown of semi-precious stones, but bring me a Touvet5 made of oriental crystal, solid, immaculate, so that, looking into it, , I saw all the beauty under heaven and so that, looking at it, I would not grow old and my girlish beauty would increase.”

The honest merchant became thoughtful and, after thinking for who knows how long, he says to her these words:

“Okay, my dear daughter, good and pretty, I will get you such a crystal toilette; and the daughter of the king of Persia, a young princess, has it, an unspeakable, indescribable and indescribable beauty; and that toilette is buried in a high stone mansion, and it stands on a stone mountain, the height of that mountain is three hundred fathoms, behind seven iron doors, behind seven German locks, and three thousand steps lead to that mansion, and on each step there stands a Persian warrior, day and night, with a damask saber, and the keys to The princess wears those iron doors on her belt. I know such a man across the sea, and he will get me a dress like yours, but for my treasury there is no opposite.”

The youngest daughter bowed at her father’s feet and said this:

“My dear sir, my dear father! Do not bring me gold and silver brocade, nor black Siberian sables, nor a Burmita necklace, nor a semi-precious crown, nor a crystal toilette, but bring me a scarlet flower, which would not be more beautiful in this world.”

The honest merchant thought more deeply than before. Whether he spent a lot of time thinking or not, I can’t say for certain; having thought about it, he kisses, caresses, caresses his youngest daughter, his beloved, and says these words:

“Well, you gave me a harder job than my sisters: if you know what to look for, then how can you not find it, but how can you find something that you yourself don’t know? It’s not hard to find a scarlet flower, but how can I know that there is nothing more beautiful than it in this world?” ? I’ll try, but don’t ask for a gift.”

And he sent his daughters, good and handsome, to their maiden houses. He began to get ready to hit the road, to the distant lands overseas. How long it took, how much he planned, I don’t know and don’t know: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done. He went on his way, down the road.

Here an honest merchant travels to foreign lands overseas, to unprecedented kingdoms; he sells his goods at exorbitant prices, buys other people's at exorbitant prices, he exchanges goods for goods and even more, with the addition of silver and gold; Loads ships with golden treasury and sends them home. He found a treasured gift for his eldest daughter: a crown with semi-precious stones, and from them it is light on a dark night, as if on a white day. He also found a treasured gift for his middle daughter: a crystal toilette, and in it all the beauty of heaven is visible, and, looking into it, a girl’s beauty does not age, but increases. He just can’t find the treasured gift for his youngest, beloved daughter - a scarlet flower, which would not be more beautiful in this world.

He found in the gardens of the kings, royals and sultans many scarlet flowers of such beauty that he could neither tell a fairy tale nor write them down with a pen; Yes, no one gives him guarantee that there is no more beautiful flower in this world; and he himself doesn’t think so. Here he goes -

On the way with his faithful servants through the loose sands, through dense forests, and out of nowhere, robbers, Busurman, Turkish and Indian, flew at him, and, seeing the inevitable trouble, the honest merchant abandoned his rich caravans with his faithful servants and ran into the dark forests. “Let me be torn to pieces by fierce beasts, rather than fall into the hands of filthy robbers and live out my life in captivity in captivity.”

He wanders through that dense forest, impassable, impassable, and as he goes further, the road becomes better, as if the trees part before him, and the frequent bushes move apart. Looks back. - he can’t stick his hands in, he looks to the right - there are stumps and logs, he can’t get past the sideways hare, he looks to the left - and even worse. The honest merchant marvels, thinks he can’t figure out what kind of miracle is happening to him, but he goes on and on: the road is rough under his feet. He walks day from morning to evening, he does not hear the roar of an animal, nor the hiss of a snake, nor the cry of an owl, nor the voice of a bird: everything around him has died out. Now the dark night has come; All around him it would be prickly to poke out his eyes, but under his feet there is little light. So he walked, almost until midnight, and began to see a glow ahead, and he thought: “Apparently, the forest is burning, so why should I go there to certain death, inevitable?”

He turned back - you can’t go, right, left - you can’t go; leaned forward - the road was rough. “Let me stand in one place, maybe the glow will go in the other direction, or away from me, or it will go out completely.”

So he stood there, waiting; but that was not the case: the glow seemed to be coming towards him, and it seemed to be getting lighter around him; he thought and thought and decided to go forward. Two deaths cannot happen, but one cannot be avoided. The merchant crossed himself and went forward. The further you go, the brighter it becomes, and it almost became like white day, and you can’t hear the noise and crackling of a fireman. At the end he comes out into a wide clearing and in the middle of that wide clearing stands a house, not a house, a palace, not a palace, but a royal or royal palace, all on fire, in silver and gold and in semi-precious stones, all burning and shining, but there is no fire to be seen; The sun is exactly red, and it’s hard for the eyes to look at it. All the windows in the palace are open, and consonant music is playing in it, such as he has never heard.

He enters a wide courtyard, through a wide open gate; the road was made of white marble, and on the sides there were fountains of water, tall, large and small. He enters the palace along a staircase covered with crimson cloth and with gilded railings; entered the upper room - there was no one; in another, in a third - there is no one; on the fifth, tenth - there is no one; and the decoration everywhere is royal, unheard of and unprecedented: gold, silver, oriental crystal, ivory and mammoth.

The honest merchant marvels at such unspeakable wealth, and doubly marvels at the fact that there is no owner; not only the owner, but also no servants; and the music doesn’t stop playing; and at that time he thought to himself: “Everything is fine, but there is nothing to eat” - and a table grew up in front of him, cleared away: in gold and silver dishes there were sugar dishes, and foreign wines, and honey drinks. He sat down at the table without hesitation, got drunk, and ate his fill, because he had not eaten for a whole day; the food is such that it is impossible to even say - just look at it, you will swallow your tongue, but he, walking through the forests and sands, became very hungry; He got up from the table, but there was no one to bow to and no one to say thank you for the bread or the salt. Before he had time to get up and look around, the table with food was gone, and the music was playing incessantly.

The honest merchant marvels at such a wonderful miracle and such a wondrous marvel, and he walks through the decorated chambers and admires them, and he himself thinks: “It would be nice to sleep and snore now” - and he sees a carved bed standing in front of him, made of pure gold, on crystal legs, with a silver canopy, fringe and pearl tassels; the down jacket lies on her like a mountain, soft, swan-like down.

The merchant marvels at such a new, new and wonderful miracle; He lies down on the high bed, draws the silver curtains and sees that it is thin and soft, as if silk. It became dark in the room, just like twilight, and the music was playing as if from a distance, and he thought: “Oh, if only I could see my daughters in my dreams!” - and fell asleep at that very moment.

The merchant wakes up, and the sun has already risen above the standing tree. The merchant woke up, and suddenly he couldn’t come to his senses: all night he saw in a dream his kind, good and beautiful daughters, and he saw his eldest daughters: the eldest and the middle, that they were cheerful and cheerful, and only the youngest daughter, his beloved, was sad; that the eldest and middle daughters have rich suitors and that they are going to get married without waiting for his father’s blessing; the beloved youngest daughter, a real beauty, doesn’t even want to hear about suitors until her dear father returns. And his soul felt both joyful and not joyful.

He got up from the high bed, his dress was all prepared, and a fountain of water beats into a crystal bowl; He gets dressed, washes himself and doesn’t marvel at the new miracle: there is tea and coffee on the table, and with them a sugar snack. Having prayed to God, he ate, and he began to walk around the chambers again, so that again he could admire them in the light of the red sun. Everything seemed better to him than yesterday. Now he sees through the open windows that around the palace there are strange, fruitful gardens and flowers blooming of indescribable beauty. He wanted to take a walk through those gardens.

He goes down another staircase made of green marble, copper malachite, with gilded railings, and goes straight into the green gardens. He walks and admires: ripe, rosy fruits hang on the trees, just begging to be put into his mouth, and sometimes, looking at them, his mouth waters; the flowers are blooming beautifully, double, fragrant, painted with all sorts of colors; unprecedented birds fly: as if lined with gold and silver on green and crimson velvet, they sing heavenly songs; fountains of water gush out high, and when you look at their height, your head falls back; and the spring springs run and rustle along the crystal decks.

An honest merchant walks around and marvels; His eyes widened at all such wonders, and he didn’t know what to look at or who to listen to. He walked for so long, or for how little time - we don’t know: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done. And suddenly he sees a scarlet flower blooming on a green hillock, a beauty unprecedented and unheard of, which cannot be said in a fairy tale or written with a pen. An honest merchant's spirit is occupied; he approaches that flower; the smell from the flower flows in a steady stream throughout the garden; The merchant’s arms and legs began to shake, and he said in a joyful voice:

“Here is a scarlet flower, which is not more beautiful in this world, which my youngest, beloved daughter asked me for.”

And, having uttered these words, he came up and picked a scarlet flower. At that same moment, without any clouds, lightning flashed and thunder struck, and the earth began to shake under his feet - and a beast grew up, as if from the earth, before the merchant, a beast not a beast, a man not a man, but some kind of monster, scary and shaggy , and he roared in a wild voice:

“What have you done? How dare you pluck my reserved, beloved flower from my garden? I treasured it more than the apple of my eye10 and every day I was consoled by looking at it, and you deprived me of all the joy in my life. I am the owner of the palace and garden, I received you as a dear guest and invitee, fed you, gave you something to drink and put you to bed, and you somehow paid for my goods? Know your bitter fate: you will die an untimely death for your guilt!..”

"You may die an untimely death!"

The honest merchant's fear made him lose his temper; he looked around and saw that from all sides, from under every tree and bush, from the water, from the earth, an unclean and countless force was creeping towards him, all ugly monsters. He fell to his knees in front of his big master, a furry monster, and said in a plaintive voice:

“Oh, you are, honest lord, beast of the forest, miracle of the sea: I don’t know, I don’t know how to exalt you! Don’t destroy my Christian soul for my innocent impudence, don’t order me to be chopped down and executed, order me to utter a word. But I have I have three daughters, three beautiful daughters, good and pretty; I promised to bring them a gift: the eldest daughter - a gem crown, the middle daughter - a crystal dress, and the youngest daughter - a scarlet flower, no matter what the most beautiful gift in the world is for the eldest daughters. I found, but could not find a gift for my youngest daughter; I saw such a gift in your garden - a scarlet flower, the most beautiful in this world, and I thought that such an owner, rich, rich, glorious and powerful, would not feel sorry for the flower. the scarlet one that my youngest daughter, my beloved, asked for. I repent of my guilt before your majesty. Forgive me, foolish and stupid, let me go to my dear daughters and give me a scarlet flower for a present for my youngest, beloved daughter. golden treasury, whatever you demand."

Laughter rang through the forest, as if thunder had thundered, and the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, said to the merchant:

“I don’t need your golden treasury: I have nowhere to put mine. There is no mercy from me for you, and my faithful servants will tear you into pieces, into small pieces. There is only one salvation for you. I will let you go home unharmed, I will reward you with an uncountable treasury, I will give you scarlet flower, if you give me an honest merchant’s word and a note from your own hand that you will send one of your good, pretty daughters in your place, I will not do her any harm, and she will live with me in honor and freedom, like you yourself; lived in my palace. I became bored of living alone, and I want to get myself a comrade.”

So the merchant fell on the damp ground, shedding burning tears; and he will look at the forest beast, at the miracle of the sea, and he will remember his daughters, good, beautiful, and even more than that, he will scream in a heart-rending voice: the forest beast, the miracle of the sea, was painfully terrible. For a long time, the honest merchant is killed and sheds tears, and he says in a plaintive voice:

“Honest sir, beast of the forest, miracle of the sea! And what should I do if my daughters, good and handsome, do not want to go to you of their own free will? Shouldn’t I tie their hands and feet and send them by force? And what way to to get to you? I’ve been traveling to you for exactly two years, but I don’t know which places, which routes.”

The beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, will speak to the merchant:

“I don’t want a slave: let your daughter come here out of love for you, of her own will and desire; and if your daughters do not go of their own free will and desire, then come yourself, and I will order you to be executed with a cruel death. How can you come to me? “It’s not your problem; I will give you a ring from my hand: whoever puts it on his right little finger will find himself wherever he wants, in a single moment I give you three days and three nights to stay at home.”

The merchant thought and thought and thought strongly and came up with this: “It’s better for me to see my daughters, give them my parental blessing, and if they don’t want to save me from death, then prepare for death as a Christian duty and return to the forest beast, the miracle of the sea.” . There was no falsehood on his mind, and therefore he told what was on his thoughts. The forest beast, the miracle of the sea, already knew them; Seeing his truth, he did not even take the note from him, but took the gold ring from his hand and gave it to the honest merchant.

And only the honest merchant managed to put it on his right little finger when he found himself at the gates of his wide courtyard; At that time, his rich caravans with faithful servants entered the same gate, and they brought treasury and goods three times as much as before. There was a noise and hubbub in the house, the daughters jumped up from behind their hoops, and they were embroidering silk flies in silver and gold; They began 13 to kiss their father, to be kind to him, and to call him various affectionate names, and the two older sisters fawned over him even more than the younger sister. They see that the father is somehow unhappy and that there is a hidden sadness in his heart. His elder daughters began to question him whether he had lost his great wealth; the younger daughter does not think about wealth, and she says to her parent:

“I don’t need your riches; wealth is a matter of gain, but reveal to me your heartfelt grief.”

And then the honest merchant will say to his dear, good and handsome daughters:

“I did not lose my great wealth, but gained three or four times the treasury; but I have another sorrow, and I will tell you about it tomorrow, but today we will have fun.”

He ordered to bring traveling chests, bound with iron; He got his eldest daughter a golden crown, Arabian gold, does not burn in fire, does not rust in water, with semi-precious stones; takes out a gift for the middle daughter, a toilette for oriental crystal; takes out a gift for his youngest daughter, a golden jug with a scarlet flower. The eldest daughters went crazy with joy, took their gifts to the high towers and there in the open they amused themselves with them to their fill. Only the youngest daughter, my beloved, saw the scarlet flower, shook all over and began to cry, as if something had stung her in the heart. As her father speaks to her, these are the words:

“Well, my dear, beloved daughter, don’t you take your desired flower? There is nothing more beautiful in this world.”

The youngest daughter took the scarlet flower just reluctantly, kisses her father’s hands, and she herself cries burning tears. Soon the older daughters came running, they tried14 their father’s gifts and could not come to their senses from joy. Then they all sat down at oak tables, at stained tablecloths,15 at sugar dishes, at honey drinks; They began to eat, drink, cool off, and console themselves with affectionate speeches.

In the evening the guests arrived in large numbers, and the merchant’s house became full of dear guests, relatives, saints, and hangers-on. The conversation continued until midnight, and such was the evening feast, the likes of which the honest merchant had never seen in his house, and where everything came from, he could not guess, and everyone marveled at it: gold and silver dishes, and outlandish dishes, such as never before never seen in the house.

The next morning the merchant called his eldest daughter to him, told her everything that had happened to him, everything from word to word, and asked: does she want to save him from cruel death and go to live with the beast of the forest, with the miracle of the sea? The eldest daughter flatly refused and said:

The honest merchant called his other daughter, the middle one, to his place, told her everything that had happened to him, everything from word to word, and asked if she wanted to save him from cruel death and go to live with the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea? The middle daughter flatly refused and said:

“Let that daughter help out her father, for whom he got the scarlet flower.”

The honest merchant called his youngest daughter and began to tell her everything, everything from word to word, and before he could finish his speech, the youngest daughter, his beloved, knelt before him and said:

“Bless me, my lord, my dear father: I will go to the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, and I will live with him. You got a scarlet flower for me, and I need to help you out.”

The honest merchant burst into tears, he hugged his youngest daughter, his beloved, and spoke to her these words:

“My dear, good, pretty, younger and beloved daughter, may my parental blessing be upon you, that you rescue your father from a cruel death and, of your own free will and desire, go to live a life opposite to the terrible beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea. You will live. You are in his palace, in great wealth and freedom; but where that palace is - no one knows, no one knows, and there is no way to it, neither on horseback, nor on foot, nor for flying animals, nor for migratory birds. We will not hear from you. no news from us, and even less so from us. And how can I live out my bitter life, not seeing your face, not hearing your kind words?

And the youngest, beloved daughter will say to her father:

“Don’t cry, don’t be sad, my dear sir; my life will be rich, free: I won’t be afraid of the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, I will serve him with faith and truth, fulfill his will of the Lord, and maybe he will take pity on me. Don’t mourn me alive as if I were dead: maybe, God willing, I’ll return to you.”

The honest merchant cries and sobs, but is not consoled by such speeches.

The older sisters, the big one and the middle one, came running and started crying all over the house: see, they feel so sorry for their little sister, their beloved; but the younger sister doesn’t even seem sad, doesn’t cry, doesn’t groan, and is getting ready for a long, unknown journey. And he takes with him a scarlet flower in a gilded jug.

The third day and third night passed, the time had come for the honest merchant to part, to part with his youngest, beloved daughter; he kisses, has mercy on her, pours burning tears on her and places his parental blessing on her on the cross. He takes out the ring of a forest beast, a miracle of the sea, from a forged casket, puts the ring on the right little finger of his youngest, beloved daughter - and at that very moment she was gone with all her belongings.

She found herself in the palace of the forest beast, the miracle of the sea, in tall stone chambers, on a bed of carved gold with crystal legs, on a down jacket of swan down, covered with golden damask17 she did not move from her place, she lived here for a whole century, she lay down exactly rest and wake up. Consonantal music began to play, such as she had never heard in her life.

She got up from her downy bed and saw that all her belongings and a scarlet flower in a gilded jug were standing right there, laid out and arranged on green tables of copper malachite, and that in that room there was a lot of goodness and belongings of all kinds, there was something to sit and lie on, there was There is something to dress up in, something to look at. And there was one wall all mirrored, and another wall gilded, and the third wall all silver, and the fourth wall made of ivory and mammoth bones, all decorated with semi-precious yachts; and She thought: “This must be my bedchamber.”

She wanted to examine the whole palace, and she went to examine all its high chambers, and she walked for a long time, admiring all the wonders; one chamber was more beautiful than the other, and more and more beautiful than what the honest merchant, her dear sir, told. She took her favorite scarlet flower from a gilded jug, she went down into the green gardens, and the birds sang their songs of paradise to her, and the trees, bushes and flowers waved their tops and bowed down before her; fountains of water began to flow higher and the springs began to rustle louder; and she found that high place, an ant-like hillock18 on which an honest merchant picked a scarlet flower, the most beautiful of which is not in this world. And she took that scarlet flower out of the gilded jug and wanted to plant it in its original place; but he himself flew out of her hands and grew back to the old stem and blossomed more beautifully than before.

She marveled at such a wonderful miracle, a wondrous wonder, rejoiced at her cherished scarlet flower and went back to her palace chambers; and in one of them there is a table set, and as soon as she thought: “Apparently, the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, is not angry with me, and he will be a merciful lord to me,” when fiery words appeared on the white marble wall:

“I am not your master, but an obedient slave. You are my mistress, and whatever you want, whatever comes to your mind, I will do with pleasure.”

She read the fiery words, and they disappeared from the white marble wall, as if they had never been there. And the thought dawned on her to write a letter to her parent and give him news about herself. Before she had time to think about it, she saw paper lying in front of her, a golden pen with an inkwell. She writes a letter to her dear father and her dear sisters:

“Don’t cry for me, don’t grieve, I live in a palace with a forest beast, a miracle of the sea, like a princess; I don’t see or hear him, but he writes to me on the white marble wall in fiery words; and he knows everything that I have on his mind, and at that very moment he does everything, and he does not want to be called my master, but calls me his mistress.”

Before she had time to write the letter and seal it, the letter disappeared from her hands and eyes, as if it had never been there. The music began to play louder than ever, sugar dishes, honey drinks, and all the utensils were made of red gold. She sat down at the table cheerfully, although she had never dined alone; she ate, drank, cooled off, and amused herself with music. After lunch, having eaten, she went to bed; the music began to play quietly and further away - for the reason that it would not disturb her sleep.

After sleep, she got up cheerfully and went for a walk again through the green gardens, because before lunch she had not had time to walk around half of them and look at all their wonders. All the trees, bushes and flowers bowed before her, and the ripe fruits - pears, peaches and juicy apples - climbed into her mouth. After walking for a considerable time, almost until the evening, she returned to her lofty chambers, and she saw: the table was set, and on the table there were sugar dishes and honey drinks, and all of them were excellent.

After dinner she entered that white marble chamber where she had read fiery words on the wall, and she again saw the same fiery words on the same wall:

“Is my lady satisfied with her gardens and chambers, food and servants?”

“Don’t call me your mistress, but always be my kind master, affectionate and merciful. I will never step out of your will. I thank you for all your treats. Better than your high chambers and your green gardens cannot be found in this world: then how can I not be content? I have never seen such miracles in my life. I have not yet come to my senses of such a wonder, but I am afraid to rest alone; in all your lofty chambers there is not a human soul.”

Fiery words appeared on the wall:

“Don’t be afraid, my beautiful lady: you won’t rest alone, your hay girl19 is waiting for you, faithful and beloved; and there are many human souls in the chambers, but you don’t see or hear them, and all of them, together with me, take care of you and day and night: we will not let the wind blow on you, we will not let even a speck of dust settle.”

And the merchant’s young daughter, a beautiful woman, went to rest in her bedchamber, and saw: her hay girl, faithful and beloved, was standing by the bed, and she was standing almost alive from fear; and she rejoiced at her mistress, and kisses her white hands, hugs her playful legs. The mistress was also glad to see her, and began to ask her about her dear father, about her older sisters and about all her maiden servants; after that she began to tell herself what happened to her at that time; They didn’t sleep until the white dawn.

And so the merchant’s young daughter, a beautiful woman, began to live and live. Every day new, rich outfits are ready for her, and decorations are such that they have no price, neither in a fairy tale nor in writing; every day there are new, excellent treats and fun: riding, walking with music in chariots without horses or harnesses through dark forests; and those forests parted in front of her and gave her a wide, wide and smooth path. And she began to do needlework, girlish needlework, embroidering flies with silver and gold and trimming fringes with fine pearls; she began to send gifts to her dear father, and gave the richest fly to her affectionate owner, and to that forest animal, a miracle of the sea; and day by day she began to go more often to the white marble hall, to speak kind words to her merciful master and to read on the wall his answers and greetings in fiery words.

You never know, how much time has passed: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done, - the young merchant’s daughter, a written beauty, began to get used to her life; She no longer marvels at anything, is not afraid of anything; invisible servants serve her, serve her, receive her, ride her in horseless chariots, play music and carry out all her commands. And she loved her merciful master day by day, and she saw that it was not for nothing that he called her his mistress and that he loved her more than himself; and she wanted to listen to his voice, she wanted to have a conversation with him, without going into the white marble chamber, without reading fiery words.

She began to beg and ask him about it; Yes, the forest beast, the miracle of the sea, does not quickly agree to her request, he is afraid to frighten her with his voice; she begged, she begged her kind owner, and he could not be opposite to her, and he wrote to her for the last time on the white marble wall in fiery words:

“Come today to the green garden, sit in your beloved gazebo, plaited with leaves, branches, flowers, and say this: “Talk to me, my faithful servant.”

And a little later the merchant’s young daughter, a beautiful woman, ran into the green gardens, entered her beloved gazebo, plaited with leaves, branches, flowers, and sat down on a brocade bench; and she says breathlessly, her heart is beating like a caught bird, she says these words:

“Do not be afraid, my kind and gentle lord, to frighten me with your voice: after all your mercies, I will not be afraid of the roar of an animal; speak to me without fear.”

And she heard exactly who sighed behind the gazebo, and a terrible voice was heard, wild and loud, hoarse and hoarse, and even then he spoke in an undertone. At first the merchant’s young daughter, a beautiful woman, shuddered when she heard the voice of the forest beast, the miracle of the sea, but she only controlled her fear and did not show that she was afraid, and soon his kind and friendly words, his intelligent and reasonable speeches, she began to listen and listened, and her heart felt joyful.

From that time on, from that time on, they began to talk, almost all day long - in the green garden during festivities, in the dark forests during skating sessions, and in all the high chambers. Only the young merchant’s daughter, the written beauty, will ask:

“Are you here, my good, beloved sir?”

The forest beast, the miracle of the sea, answers:

“Here, my beautiful lady, is your faithful slave, unfailing friend.”

Little or much time has passed: soon the tale is told, the deed is not soon done, - the young daughter of the merchant, a written beauty, wanted to see with her own eyes the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, and she began to ask and beg him about it. He doesn’t agree to this for a long time, he’s afraid of scaring her, and he was such a monster that he couldn’t be said in a fairy tale or written down with a pen; not only people, but wild animals were always afraid of him and fled to their dens. And the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, spoke these words:

“Don’t ask, don’t beg me, my beautiful lady, my beloved beauty, that I show you my disgusting face, my ugly body. You’ve become accustomed to my voice; we live in friendship, in agreement with each other, honor, we are not separated , and you love me for my unspeakable love for you, and when you see me, terrible and disgusting, you will hate me, unfortunate one, you will drive me out of sight, and in separation from you I will die of melancholy.”

The young merchant's daughter, a beautiful woman, did not listen to such speeches, and began to beg more than ever, swearing that she would not be afraid of any monster in the world and that she would not stop loving her merciful master, and she spoke to him these words:

“If you are an old man, be my grandfather, if you are Seredovich21, be my uncle, if you are young, be my sworn brother, and while I am alive, be my heartfelt friend.”

For a long, long time, the forest animal, the miracle of the sea, did not succumb to such words, but could not resist the requests and tears of its beauty, and says this word to her:

“I cannot be opposite to you for the reason that I love you more than myself; I will fulfill your desire, although I know that I will ruin my happiness and die an untimely death. Come to the green garden in the gray twilight, when the red sun sets behind the forest, and say: “Show yourself, faithful friend!” - and I will show you my disgusting face, my ugly body. And if it becomes unbearable for you to stay with me anymore, I don’t want your bondage and eternal torment: you will find it in your bedchamber. under your pillow, my gold ring. Put it on your right little finger - and you will find yourself with your dear father and will never hear anything about me.”

The young merchant’s daughter, a real beauty, was not afraid, she was not afraid, she firmly relied on herself. At that time, without hesitating a minute, she went into the green garden to wait for the appointed hour, and when the gray twilight came, the red sun sank behind the forest, she said: “Show yourself, my faithful friend!” - and from afar a forest beast, a miracle of the sea, appeared to her: it passed only across the road and disappeared into the dense bushes; and the merchant’s young daughter, a beautiful woman, did not see the light, clasped her white hands, screamed in a heart-rending voice and fell on the road without memory. Yes, and the beast of the forest was terrible, a miracle of the sea: crooked arms, animal claws on the hands, horse legs, great camel humps in front and back, all shaggy from top to bottom, boar tusks protruded from the mouth, a hooked nose like a golden eagle, and the eyes were owls.

After lying down for how long, who knows how long, the young merchant’s daughter, a beautiful woman, came to her senses, and heard: someone was crying next to her, shedding bitter tears and saying in a pitiful voice:

“You have ruined me, my beautiful beloved, I will no longer see your beautiful face, you will not even want to hear me, and it has come for me to die an untimely death.”

And she became pitiful and ashamed, and she mastered her great fear and her timid girlish heart, and she spoke in a firm voice:

“No, don’t be afraid of anything, my kind and gentle lord, I won’t be more frightened by your terrible appearance, I won’t be separated from you, I won’t forget your mercies; show yourself to me now in your former form; I was just scared for the first time.”

A forest animal, a miracle of the sea, appeared to her, in its terrible, disgusting, ugly form, but it did not dare to come close to her, no matter how much she called him; They walked until the dark night and had the same conversations as before, affectionate and reasonable, and the merchant’s young daughter, a beautiful woman, did not sense any fear. The next day she saw a forest animal, a miracle of the sea, in the light of the red sun, and although at first she was frightened when she saw it, she did not show it, and soon her fear completely passed away. Here they began to talk more than ever: almost day after day, they were not separated, at lunch and dinner they ate sugar dishes, cooled off with honey drinks, walked through green gardens, rode without horses through dark forests.

And a lot of time has passed: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done. So one day, in a dream, a young merchant’s daughter, a beautiful woman, dreamed that her father was lying unwell; and an incessant melancholy fell upon her, and in that melancholy and tears the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, saw her, and began to spin violently and began to ask: why is she in anguish, in tears? She told him her bad dream and began to ask him for permission to see her dear father and her dear sisters. And the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, will speak to her:

“And why do you need my permission? You have my gold ring, put it on your right little finger and you will find yourself in the house of your dear father. Stay with him until you get bored, and only I will tell you: if you are in exactly three days and three “If you don’t come back at night, I won’t be in this world, and I’ll die that very minute, for the reason that I love you more than myself, and I can’t live without you.”

She began to assure with cherished words and oaths that exactly one hour before three days and three nights she would return to his lofty chambers. She said goodbye to her kind and merciful owner, put a gold ring on her right little finger and found herself in the wide courtyard of an honest merchant, her dear father. She goes to the high porch of his stone chambers; the servants and servants of the courtyard ran up to her and made noise and shouting; the kind sisters came running and, when they saw her, they were amazed at her maiden beauty and her royal, royal attire; The white men grabbed her by the arms and led her to her dear father; and the father is unwell. I lay there, unhealthy and joyless, remembering her day and night, shedding burning tears; and he did not remember with joy when he saw his dear, good, comely, younger, beloved daughter, and he marveled at her maiden beauty, her royal, royal attire.

They kissed for a long time, showed mercy, and consoled themselves with affectionate speeches. She told her dear father and her older, kind sisters, about her life with the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, everything from word to word, without hiding any crumbs. And the honest merchant rejoiced at her rich, royal, royal life, and marveled at how she was accustomed to looking at her terrible master and was not afraid of the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea; He himself, remembering him, trembled in his trembling. The older sisters, hearing about the countless wealth of the younger sister and about her royal power over her master, as if over her slave, became envious.

A day passes like a single hour, another day passes like a minute, and on the third day the older sisters began to persuade the younger sister so that she would not return to the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea. “Let him die, that’s his way...” And the dear guest, the younger sister, became angry with the elder sisters, and said these words to them:

“If I pay my kind and affectionate master for all his mercies and ardent, unspeakable love with his fierce death, then I will not be worth living in this world, and it is worth giving me then to wild animals to be torn to pieces.”

And her father, an honest merchant, praised her for such good speeches, and it was ordered that, exactly one hour before the due date, she should return to the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, a good, comely, younger, beloved daughter. But the sisters were annoyed, and they conceived a cunning deed, a cunning and unkind deed; They took and set all the clocks in the house a whole hour ago, and the honest merchant and all his faithful servants, the courtyard servants, did not know it.

And when the real hour came, the young merchant’s daughter, a written beauty, began to ache and ache in her heart, something began to wash her away, and she looked every now and then at her father’s, English, German watches - but still she went into the distant path. And the sisters talk to her, ask her about this and that, detain her. However, her heart could not bear it; the youngest daughter, beloved, written beauty, said goodbye to the honest merchant, her father, received the parental blessing from him, said goodbye to the older, dear sisters, to the faithful servants, the courtyard servants, and, without waiting a single minute before the appointed hour, she put a gold ring on right little finger and found herself in a white-stone palace, in the lofty chambers of a forest beast, a miracle of the sea, and, marveling that he did not meet her, she shouted in a loud voice:

“Where are you, my good lord, my faithful friend? Why don’t you meet me? I returned before the appointed time, an hour and a minute.”

There was no answer, no greeting, the silence was dead; in the green gardens the birds did not sing heavenly songs, the fountains of water did not gush and the springs did not rustle, and music did not play in the high chambers. The heart of the merchant's daughter, a beautiful woman, trembled; she sensed something unkind; She ran around the high chambers and green gardens, calling in a loud voice to her good master - there was no answer, no greeting and no voice of obedience anywhere. She ran to the anthill, where her favorite scarlet flower grew and adorned itself, and she saw that the forest animal, a miracle of the sea, was lying on the hillock, clasping the scarlet flower with its ugly paws. And it seemed to her that he had fallen asleep while waiting for her, and was now fast asleep. The merchant's daughter, a beautiful woman, began to wake him up little by little, but he did not hear; she began to wake him up, grabbed him by the furry paw - and saw that the forest animal, a miracle of the sea, was lifeless, lying dead...

Her clear eyes grew dim, her quick legs gave way, she fell to her knees, wrapped her white hands around the head of her good master, an ugly and disgusting head, and screamed in a heart-rending voice:

“You get up, wake up, my dear Friend, I love you like a desired groom!..”

And as soon as she uttered these words, lightning flashed from all sides, the earth shook from great thunder, a stone thunder arrow struck the anthill, and the young merchant’s daughter, a beautiful woman, fell unconscious. How long or how long she lay unconscious, I don’t know; only, having woken up, she sees herself in a high, white marble chamber, she is sitting on a golden throne with precious stones, and a young prince, a handsome man, on his head with a royal crown, in gold-plated clothes, hugs her; in front of him stands his father and sisters, and around him a great retinue is kneeling, all dressed in brocades of gold and silver. And the young prince, a handsome man with a royal crown on his head, will speak to her:

“You fell in love with me, beloved beauty, in the form of an ugly monster, for my kind soul and love for you; love me now in human form, be my desired bride. The evil sorceress was angry with my late parent, the glorious and mighty king, and stole me , still a small child, and with her satanic witchcraft, unclean power, she turned me into a terrible monster and cast such a spell so that I could live in such an ugly form, disgusting and terrible for every person, for every creature of God, until there is a red maiden, no matter what kind and no matter her rank, she will love me in the form of a monster and wish to be my lawful wife - and then the witchcraft will all end, and I will again become a young and handsome man. And I lived as such a monster and scarecrow for exactly thirty years, and I brought eleven red maidens into my enchanted palace, you were the twelfth. Not one of them loved me for my caresses and pleasures, for my kind soul. , for my unspeakable love for you, and for this you will be the wife of a glorious king, a queen in a mighty kingdom."

Then everyone marveled at this, the retinue bowed to the ground. The honest merchant gave his blessing to his youngest daughter, his beloved, and the young prince-royalty. And the elder, envious sisters, and all the faithful servants, the great boyars and the military cavaliers, congratulated the bride and groom, and without hesitation they began to have a merry feast and the wedding, and began to live and live, make good money. I was there myself, I drank beer and honey, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth.

Notes

1 In some - in some. There are many old words in the tale; it is written as it was told by the housekeeper Pelageya.

2 Treasury - money.

3 Brocade is silk fabric woven with gold or silver threads.

4 Burmitsky pearls are especially large and round pearls.

5 Toilet - toilet, mirror.

6 Indus - even.

7 Karmazinnoe - bright red.

8 Dishes - food, dishes.

9 Without hesitation - without doubt, without fear.

10 To keep more than the apple of your eye - to protect, to keep something more than your eyes.

11 Manual entry - receipt.

12 Fly - here: wide towel.

13 We started - we started.

14 We tried it - here: we looked, tried it on.

15 A broken tablecloth is a tablecloth woven with patterns.

16 Jumping - swift, fast.

17 Kamka - silk colored fabric with patterns.

18 Ant - here: overgrown with grass (ant).

19 The hay girl is a servant.

20 Venuti - to blow, to blow.

21 Seredovich is a middle-aged man.

Fedoskino miniature

Vladimir Soloukhin in his essay "Aksakov places"

writes about the fairy tale “The Scarlet Flower”:

“The main thing in her is kindness and love.

And what bad feelings are:

greed, envy, selfishness -

do not triumph, but black evil is defeated.

What defeated? With love,

Hello,With gratitude.

These qualities live in the human soul,

they are the essence of the soul and its best intentions.

They are that scarlet flower,

which is sown in the soul of every person,

the only important thing is that it germinates and blossoms" .

The pages of the fairy tale “The Scarlet Flower,” familiar to us from childhood, are also connected with the Aksakov family. We'll just flip through some of them.

It is difficult for a person to experience old age. It is difficult to get up in the morning, feeling aching bones, overcoming cutting pains in the stomach or back and listening to the beating of a worn-out heart. It is difficult to leave the house, slowly descending a slippery and steep staircase that previously seemed neither slippery nor steep... It is difficult to expect death, knowing that it will come, unwanted, but called more than once in moments of bodily suffering. Most readers do not know that S.T. Aksakov wrote his main works, the famous trilogy “The Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson,” in the midst of such senile, physical and mental labors, overcoming pain, fatigue, blindness and constantly expecting a near end.

In the fall of 1854, his middle son, Grigory, came from St. Petersburg to Abramtsevo near Moscow, where he lived almost forever, and brought with him his five-year-old daughter Olenka. It seems that it was then that Sergei Timofeevich felt healthy and young for the last time. Joyful, Olenka ran around the house and did not stop talking: “Grandfather, you promised to go to the river!.. Grandfather, where does the forest Bear live?.. Grandfather, tell me a fairy tale!..”

And he began to tell her about his childhood games, about the old books that he once read avidly in distant Ufa, about his winter and summer trips from the city to the village and back, about fishing, which he was interested in almost from infancy, about butterflies that I caught and collected... But there was no fairy tale. After staying for a while, Olenka left. Winter has come. On December 26, 1854, she turned six years old, and her grandfather sent her a gift: a poem - completely childish and brilliant in its simplicity:

If God gives strength, About little birds,

Exactly one year later About the nest of testicles,

Ole, dear granddaughter, beautiful butterflies,

Grandfather will send playful moths,

A small book about the forest bear,

And in it he will tell about the white mushroom -

About the flowers of the fields, Olya will write a book...

The grandfather fulfilled his promise, although not a year later, but a little later, almost before his death. By that time he was very ill and almost blind, so he did not write himself, but dictated his memories to his daughters.

The book came out with a dedication: “ To my granddaughter Olga Grigorievna Aksakova.”

3. The history of the creation of the fairy tale “The Scarlet Flower”

An appendix to the story, but a completely independent work, is “The Scarlet Flower” - one of the kindest and wisest fairy tales. “The Tale of the Housekeeper Pelageya” is listed in the subtitle.

Once, the “village Scheherazade,” the housekeeper Pelageya, came to the little boy Seryozha Aksakov before going to bed, “prayed to God, went to the handle, sighed several times, as was her habit, saying every time: “Lord, have mercy on us sinners,” sat down by the stove, she became sad with one hand and began to speak in a slightly sing-song voice:

“In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a rich merchant, an eminent man. He had a lot of all kinds of wealth, expensive overseas goods, pearls, precious stones, gold and silver treasury; and that merchant had three daughters, all three were beautiful, and the youngest was the best..."

Who was this Pelageya? Serf peasant woman. In her youth, during the Pugachev rebellion, she fled with her father from the cruel treatment of her landowner Alakaev from Orenburg to Astrakhan. She returned to her native place only twenty years after the master’s death. Pelageya was the housekeeper in the Aksakovs' house. In the old days, the housekeeper was in charge of all the food supplies in the house, she kept the keys to all the premises, and she was in charge of the house servants.

Pelageya knew many fairy tales and was an expert at telling them. Little Seryozha Aksakov often listened to her stories as a child. Subsequently, the writer, while working on the book “The Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson,” recalled the housekeeper Pelageya, her wonderful fairy tales, and wrote “The Scarlet Flower.”

Aksakov himself wrote to his son Ivan: “I am now busy with an episode in my book: I am writing a fairy tale that I knew by heart as a child and told everyone for fun with all the jokes of the storyteller Pelageya. Of course, I completely forgot about her; but now, rummaging in the storeroom of childhood memories, I found a bunch of fragments of this fairy tale in a lot of different trash, and when it became part of “Grandfather’s Stories,” I began to restore this fairy tale.”

Baranova E. N.

Illustrations by Nadezhda Komarova

This fairy tale is the best way to point us to the modern principles of society. Namely, the fact that society refuses to accept and appreciate people who were unable to realize themselves in family ties. Transformation into a beast in fairy tales tells us that we need to look deep into ourselves, understand and remember our mistakes, and maybe rethink our existence as a whole.

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Matsaeva A.V.

Fairy tale by Aksakov S.T. “The Scarlet Flower” is like a family story.

In almost every fairy tale, it all begins with a description of a family that lives in a familiar and familiar world. In this case, we face a world of wealth and prosperity. From the very first pages of the tale, all luxury and apparent balance is called into question. This happens due to the description of the merchant’s daughters. It is not for nothing that Aksakov tries to show the contrast between the material and spiritual values ​​of a person. And for this he chooses a completely accurate image - the image of the person himself, in his usual environment - his family.

If you look in more detail at each hero, you can identify several typified characters.

The first type is represented by two sisters (older and middle). It’s not for nothing that they are mentioned first. They personify the most terrible human feelings and emotions. Terrible because it is envy, anger and selfishness towards loved ones, relatives, and one’s family that destroys everything beautiful in a person. Their prudence and reluctance to think about anything other than luxury immediately gives us an idea of ​​their attitude towards their younger sister and father. As soon as the conversation starts about gifts, one wants a “golden crown made of semi-precious stones”, the other dreams of a “toilet made of oriental crystal, solid, immaculate, so that, looking into it, she sees all the beauty under heaven...”. Such requests immediately allow us to see their boundless consumer attitude towards their parent. And what is very important, they thought about these simple gifts for three whole days.

Moving on to the mention of the gift that the youngest daughter desired, one cannot help but attach importance to her spiritual purity and humanity. What does the scarlet flower tell us? Its very diminutive meaning characterizes the youngest daughter (the second type of character). She is gentle, kind, responsive, and this cannot be disputed, because if she were different, the gift she desired would be similar to the previous two. We cannot even say that it was a need or a thirst to receive it. Rather, it was a trembling dream that she carried in her heart. It may seem strange that she asks her father, a rich, wealthy merchant, for some kind of flower. But in this way she shows her reverent attitude towards him. There is a more subtle spiritual connection between them than with other daughters. For her father, she is an eternal reflection of her deceased wife, whom he probably loved very much. For her, he is the very connecting part that always reminds her of her mother. Why did this particular daughter become a favorite? Why weren't the eldest and middle ones suitable for this role? The answer is simple: a person always retains in his memory to a greater extent events that occurred in the recent past. And it was the youngest daughter who became the key link between husband and wife.

The merchant himself (the third type of hero) is a kind of synthesis of commercialism, vanity and spiritual purity. The first two qualities are manifested in his attitude towards his eldest and middle daughters. One of his first phrases in the fairy tale tells us this, his response to requests for gifts: “... for my treasury there is no opposite.” This formulation shows his boundless confidence in himself and his wealth. He is proud that he can get such delicacies that only overseas kings and sultans have. However, after just a few lines, a slightly different side of his being is revealed to us. It is the younger one’s request that undermines his confidence: “... if you know what to look for, then how not to find it, but how to find something that you yourself don’t know?” . Further, when he gets to the monster’s palace, he reveals his attitude towards the family to the fullest. After all, it is his daughters that he thinks about. He dreams of seeing them in his dreams. And again, the scarlet flower for his youngest daughter, which he picked, because of which he almost died, proves to us his reverent attitude towards his child. Returning home with immense wealth, he never stops thinking about his family. He is not worried about his salvation, but about how his dear daughters will be able to live in the palace, because it is not by their own desire and love that they have to go to distant lands.

Further events fully reveal to us true family relationships. The merchant reveals his soul to his daughters, his experiences and explains the essence of the act that one of them can commit in the name of saving their father. And what does he hear in response from the first two: “Let that daughter help out her father, for whom he got the scarlet flower.” They were not at all disturbed by the thought of the possible loss of a loved one. Although, it is unlikely that they even had this thought. After all, seeing his worried face, they were interested in something completely different - whether he had lost his great wealth. Only the words of the younger one prove the thoughts about their close spiritual connection: “I don’t need your riches; wealth is a matter of gain, but tell me your heartfelt grief.” He did not have time to finish his speech. How his daughter knelt before him and said: “Bless me, my dear sir, I will go to the beast of the forest, the miracle of the sea, and I will live with him. You got a scarlet flower for me, and I need to help you out.” The kneeling itself speaks of her respect and love for her parent. Yes, of course, such a gesture was always acceptable, but why then is this not shown in the behavior of the other two daughters? Precisely for a brighter contrast between the sisters. For visible differences between members of the same family.

The monster, in my opinion, the main character of the fairy tale (the fourth type of character), cannot be ignored. It is thanks to him that our heroes open up and show the depths of their souls. The beast combines external ugliness, an animalistic nature that frightens people, and the brightest human qualities: kindness, honesty, selflessness and, of course, love. The author depicted in it the interweaving of two polarly different images. Such a merger proves to us how sometimes appearances can be deceiving. No wonder the monster was enchanted. The spell cast on him is the same deceptive opinion that most people are subject to. Oddly enough, the children's fairy tale showed how sometimes gold and jewelry cover up humanity, spirituality and external ugliness. After all, it was wealth that aroused the hatred and envy of the sisters. With his care and kindness, he pointed out to us the possibility of sincere and pure love that could arise in a girl. The forest animal, being in precisely this guise, was able to bring family relationships to the fore.

It’s safe to say that “The Scarlet Flower” is not just a children’s fairy tale. This is a deep and meaningful work that has become a classic. A beautiful and exciting story with a happy ending is just a shell; under the bark lies the whole essence of the diversity of human relationships. The central driving force here is love (love for a parent, for a child, between a man and a woman), often depicted in a certain color scheme. The scarlet flower is a prototype of love; it contains a sacred meaning. The color red has always been endowed with certain properties: it is the fire of creativity and love, the jewel of a ruby ​​or garnet, a symbol of power and beauty. A girl’s craving for such a plant indicates her loyalty to her ideals and values. The scarlet flower represents beauty and harmony, which should reign not only in the family, but throughout the world.

Any fairy tale is metaphorical - this is its longevity. Thus, family history in a fairy tale is another interpretation, content, facet.

We examined the system of relationships in the family and the typology of characters.

The family story told in the fairy tale updates the traditional interpretation of the family. Fundamental foundations and family values ​​are revealed. The problem is relevant in our time and its development in this text can be quite fruitful.

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

1. Aksakov S.T. Scarlet Flower., Mosaic-synthesis, 2013.
2. Aksakov S.T. Family chronicle. Childhood years of Bagrov - grandson.
3. Introduction to literary criticism. / Author: L.V. Chernets et al. M., 1999.
4. Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. L., 1928.
5. Tamarchenko N.D. System of characters // Literary terms (materials for the dictionary) / Edited by: G.V. Kraskov, Kolomina., 1997.

Tales of Aksakov

Adventure Aksakov's fairy tale about magic The Scarlet Flowerand its terrible owner - an enchanted prince in the guise of a monster. Based onfairy tales The Scarlet FlowerA lot of cartoons have been shot. The rich merchant went on his business to the thirtieth kingdom, and his daughters ordered him to bring gifts from overseas. And the choice of the merchant’s youngest and most beloved daughter fell onThe Scarlet Flower. The merchant fulfilled the wishes of all his daughters, but having found and tornscarlet flowerincurred the wrath of the monster overseas, the ownerScarlet Flower. The monster wanted to kill the merchant forThe Scarlet Flower, but then she set a condition - to send one of her daughters to live with him in her place, otherwise the merchant would die. The merchant returned, told his daughters everything, and the youngest daughter volunteered to live with the monster. It did not offend her, but was an obedient slave and fulfilled all her desires. After some time, the daughter missed her father and asked to go home and visit her father. The monster let her go, but warned that if she did not return in 3 days, he would die, because he loved her and could live without her. The daughter kept her word and returned to the monster a minute before the deadline, but found him lifeless. She began to feel sorry for him and said that she loved him. After these words, the monster turned into a handsome prince, and the spell fell off of him. And then they lived happily ever after.

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In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a rich merchant, an eminent man.

He had a lot of all kinds of wealth, expensive goods from overseas, pearls, precious stones, gold and silver treasury, and that merchant had three daughters, all three were beautiful, and the youngest was the best; and he loved his daughters more than all his wealth, pearls, precious stones, gold and silver treasury - for the reason that he was a widower and he had no one to love; He loved the older daughters, but he loved the younger daughter more, because she was better than everyone else and was more affectionate towards him.

So that merchant is going on his trade affairs overseas, to distant lands, to the distant kingdom, to the thirtieth state, and he says to his dear daughters:

“My dear daughters, my good daughters, my beautiful daughters, I am going on my merchant business to distant lands, to the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state, and you never know, how much time I travel - I don’t know, and I punish you to live honestly without me and peacefully, and if you live without me honestly and peacefully, then I will bring you such gifts as you want, and I give you three days to think, and then you will tell me what kind of gifts you want.”

They thought for three days and three nights and came to their parent, and he began to ask them what gifts they wanted.
The eldest daughter bowed at her father’s feet and was the first to say to him:

“Sir, you are my dear father! Do not bring me gold and silver brocade, nor black sable furs, nor Burmita pearls, but bring me a golden crown of semi-precious stones, and so that there will be such light from them as from a full month, as from the red sun, and so that there is it is as light in a dark night as in the middle of a white day.”

The honest merchant thought for a moment and then said:

“Okay, my dear, good and pretty daughter, I will bring you such a crown; I know such a person overseas
who will get me such a crown; and one overseas princess has it, and it is hidden in a stone storage room, and that storage room is located in a stone mountain, three fathoms deep, behind three iron doors, behind three German locks. The work will be considerable: but for my treasury there is no opposite.”

The middle daughter bowed at his feet and said:

“Sir, you are my dear father! Don’t bring me gold and silver brocade, nor black Siberian sable furs, nor a necklace of Burmitz pearls, nor a gold semi-precious crown, but bring me a tovalet made of oriental crystal, solid, immaculate, so that, looking into it, I can see all the beauty under heaven and so that, looking at it, I would not grow old and my girlish beauty would increase.”

The honest merchant became thoughtful and, after thinking for who knows how long, he says to her these words:

“Okay, my dear, good and pretty daughter, I’ll get you such a crystal toilette; and the daughter of the king of Persia, a young princess, has an indescribable, indescribable and unknown beauty; and that Tuvalet was buried in a high stone mansion, and he stood on a stone mountain, the height of that mountain was three hundred fathoms, behind seven iron doors, behind seven German locks, and there were three thousand steps leading up to that mansion, and on each step stood a warrior Persian, day and night, with a naked damask saber, and the princess carries the keys to those iron doors on her belt. I know such a man overseas, and he will get me such a toilet. Your work as a sister is harder, but for my treasury there is no opposite.”

The youngest daughter bowed at her father’s feet and said this:

“Sir, you are my dear father! Don’t bring me gold and silver brocade, nor black Siberian sables, nor a Burmita necklace, nor a semi-precious crown, nor a crystal tovalet, but bring me a scarlet flower, which would not be more beautiful in this world.”

The honest merchant thought more deeply than before. Whether he spent a lot of time thinking or not, I can’t say for certain; having thought about it, he kisses, caresses, caresses his youngest daughter, his beloved, and says these words:

“Well, you gave me a harder job than my sisters: if you know what to look for, then how can you not find it, and how can you find something that you don’t know? It’s not hard to find a scarlet flower, but how can I know that there is nothing more beautiful in this world? I’ll try, but don’t ask for a gift.”

And he sent his daughters, good and handsome, to their maiden houses. He began to get ready to hit the road, to the distant lands overseas. How long it took, how much he planned, I don’t know and don’t know: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done. He went on his way, down the road.

Here an honest merchant travels to foreign lands overseas, to unprecedented kingdoms; he sells his goods at exorbitant prices, buys other people's at exorbitant prices, he exchanges goods for goods and even more, with the addition of silver and gold; Loads ships with golden treasury and sends them home. He found a treasured gift for his eldest daughter: a crown with semi-precious stones, and from them it is light on a dark night, as if on a white day. He also found a treasured gift for his middle daughter: a crystal toilette, and in it all the beauty of heaven is visible, and, looking into it, a girl’s beauty does not age, but increases. He just can’t find the treasured gift for his youngest, beloved daughter - a scarlet flower, which would not be more beautiful in this world.

He found in the gardens of the kings, royals and sultans many scarlet flowers of such beauty that he could neither tell a fairy tale nor write them down with a pen; Yes, no one gives him guarantee that there is no more beautiful flower in this world; and he himself doesn’t think so. Here he is traveling along the road with his faithful servants through the shifting sands, through dense forests, and out of nowhere, robbers, Busurmans, Turkish and Indians, flew at him, and, seeing the inevitable trouble, the honest merchant abandoned his rich caravans with his servants faithful and runs into the dark forests. “Let me be torn to pieces by fierce beasts, rather than fall into the hands of filthy robbers and live out my life in captivity in captivity.”

He wanders through that dense forest, impassable, impassable, and as he goes further, the road becomes better, as if the trees part before him, and the frequent bushes move apart. Looks back. - he can’t stick his hands in, he looks to the right - there are stumps and logs, he can’t get past the sideways hare, he looks to the left - and even worse. The honest merchant marvels, thinks he can’t figure out what kind of miracle is happening to him, but he goes on and on: the road is rough under his feet. He walks day from morning to evening, he does not hear the roar of an animal, nor the hiss of a snake, nor the cry of an owl, nor the voice of a bird: everything around him has died out. Now the dark night has come; All around him it would be prickly to poke out his eyes, but under his feet there is little light. So he walked, almost until midnight, and began to see a glow ahead, and he thought: “Apparently, the forest is burning, so why should I go there to certain death, inevitable?”

He turned back - you can’t go, right, left - you can’t go; leaned forward - the road was rough. “Let me stand in one place, maybe the glow will go in the other direction, or away from me, or it will go out completely.”

So he stood there, waiting; but that was not the case: the glow seemed to be coming towards him, and it seemed to be getting lighter around him; he thought and thought and decided to go forward. Two deaths cannot happen, but one cannot be avoided. The merchant crossed himself and went forward. The further you go, the brighter it becomes, and it almost became like white day, and you can’t hear the noise and crackling of a fireman. At the end he comes out into a wide clearing and in the middle of that wide clearing stands a house, not a house, a palace, not a palace, but a royal or royal palace, all on fire, in silver and gold and in semi-precious stones, all burning and shining, but there is no fire to be seen; The sun is exactly red, and it’s hard for your eyes to look at it. All the windows in the palace are open, and consonant music is playing in it, such as he has never heard.

He enters a wide courtyard, through a wide open gate; the road was made of white marble, and on the sides there were fountains of water, tall, large and small. He enters the palace along a staircase covered with crimson cloth and with gilded railings; entered the upper room - there was no one; in another, in a third - there is no one; on the fifth, tenth - there is no one; and the decoration everywhere is royal, unheard of and unprecedented: gold, silver, oriental crystal, ivory and mammoth.

The honest merchant marvels at such unspeakable wealth, and doubly marvels at the fact that there is no owner; not only the owner, but also no servants; and the music doesn’t stop playing; and at that time he thought to himself: “Everything is fine, but there is nothing to eat” - and a table grew up in front of him, cleared away: in gold and silver dishes there were sugar dishes, and foreign wines, and honey drinks. He sat down at the table without hesitation, got drunk, ate his fill, because he had not eaten for a whole day; the food is such that it is impossible to even say - just look at it, you will swallow your tongue, but he, walking through the forests and sands, became very hungry; He got up from the table, but there was no one to bow to and no one to say thank you for the bread or the salt. Before he had time to get up and look around, the table with food was gone, and the music was playing incessantly.

The honest merchant marvels at such a wonderful miracle and such a wondrous wonder, and he walks through the decorated chambers and admires them, and he himself thinks: “It would be nice to sleep and snore now” - and he sees a carved bed standing in front of him, made of pure gold, on crystal legs, with a silver canopy, fringe and pearl tassels; the down jacket lies on her like a mountain, soft, swan-like down.

The merchant marvels at such a new, new and wonderful miracle; He lies down on the high bed, draws the silver curtains and sees that it is thin and soft, as if silk. It became dark in the room, just like twilight, and the music was playing as if from afar, and he thought: “Oh, if only I could see my daughters in my dreams!” - and fell asleep at that very moment.

The merchant wakes up, and the sun has already risen above the standing tree. The merchant woke up, and suddenly he couldn’t come to his senses: all night he saw in a dream his kind, good and beautiful daughters, and he saw his eldest daughters: the eldest and the middle, that they were cheerful and cheerful, and only the youngest daughter, his beloved, was sad; that the eldest and middle daughters have rich suitors and that they are going to get married without waiting for his father’s blessing; the beloved youngest daughter, a real beauty, doesn’t even want to hear about suitors until her dear father returns. And his soul felt both joyful and not joyful.

He got up from the high bed, his dress was all prepared, and a fountain of water beats into a crystal bowl; He gets dressed, washes himself and doesn’t marvel at the new miracle: there is tea and coffee on the table, and with them a sugar snack. Having prayed to God, he ate, and he began to walk around the chambers again, so that again he could admire them in the light of the red sun. Everything seemed better to him than yesterday. Now he sees through the open windows that around the palace there are strange, fruitful gardens and flowers blooming of indescribable beauty. He wanted to take a walk through those gardens.

He goes down another staircase made of green marble, copper malachite, with gilded railings, and goes straight into the green gardens. He walks and admires: ripe, rosy fruits hang on the trees, just begging to be put into his mouth, and sometimes, looking at them, his mouth waters; the flowers are blooming beautifully, double, fragrant, painted with all sorts of colors; unprecedented birds fly: as if lined with gold and silver on green and crimson velvet, they sing heavenly songs; fountains of water gush out high, and when you look at their height, your head falls back; and the spring springs run and rustle along the crystal decks.

An honest merchant walks around and marvels; His eyes widened at all such wonders, and he didn’t know what to look at or who to listen to. He walked for so long, or for how little time - we don’t know: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done. And suddenly he sees a scarlet flower blooming on a green hillock, a beauty unprecedented and unheard of, which cannot be said in a fairy tale or written with a pen. An honest merchant's spirit is occupied; he approaches that flower; the smell from the flower flows in a steady stream throughout the garden; The merchant’s arms and legs began to shake, and he said in a joyful voice:

“Here is a scarlet flower, which is not more beautiful in this world, which my youngest, beloved daughter asked me for.”

And, having uttered these words, he came up and picked a scarlet flower. At that same moment, without any clouds, lightning flashed and thunder struck, and the earth began to shake under his feet - and a beast grew up, as if from the earth, before the merchant, a beast not a beast, a man not a man, but some kind of monster, scary and shaggy , and he roared in a wild voice: