At one point, it was claimed in the West that everything Russian is plagiarism. They said that the Kalashnikov rifle is a copy of the German StG 44, that car designs were borrowed from Ford, and that dumplings are not dumplings at all, but ravioli. Even Russian fairy tales were questioned: some hotheads insisted that "The Scarlet Flower" is a retelling of the French "Beauty and the Beast."

As is known, "The Scarlet Flower" was published in 1858 by the writer Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov. He claimed that he first heard this captivating story about a merchant's daughter from the key keeper Pelageya, who served in his parents' house. Little is known about Pelageya herself: she was a peasant from the Orenburg province who ran away in her youth from a despotic landlord. She settled in Astrakhan and worked almost her entire life as a maid in the homes of wealthy gentlemen, including Persian merchants, before coming to the Aksakovs. By that time, she was already over 40.

One day, while putting little Aksakov to bed, Pelageya told him an unusual tale about the Scarlet Flower. This "fable" delighted the future writer so much that he often asked her to repeat it. As an adult, Sergey Timofeyevich published it in a free interpretation as an appendix to his autobiography "The Childhood Years of Bagrov's Grandson." Since he had forgotten part of the plot, he invented some details himself. However, the basis was indeed the key keeper's tale, which explains the presence of expressions like "Arabian gold," "Eastern crystal," and mentions of "infidel, Turkish, and Indian" robbers, echoes of Pelageya's service with Persian merchants.

Later, it turned out that the plot is very similar to the European "Beauty and the Beast." But how could a simple peasant woman like Pelageya translate a French tale if she hardly knew French? According to one version, in 1758, the tale "The Story of Le Belle and the Beast" was translated in Russia, which later became the basis for "Beauty and the Beast." Perhaps Pelageya heard it in her childhood and perceived it as a folk tale. Over time, she forgot much and supplemented the "fable" with her own fantasies. As a result, a completely new work of verbal art emerged. What do you think?