Scarlet Sails (novel)
Scarlet Sails () is a 1923 romantic novel with elements of fantasy by Russian writer Alexander Grin. The author described the genre of the novel as féerie. It is a story about a dream coming true no matter how futile it seems. It was written during 1916–1922.

Plot summary 
Plot line 1: As a little girl, Assol lived with her widowed father, sailor Longren, who made his living by making toys. One day Assol was sent to  a city with a batch of toys, including a yacht with scarlet sails. Assol let it sail along a stream, and as she followed it she met a stranger, old Egl, who prophesied that many years in the future a prince will carry her away on a ship with scarlet sails. Since then Assol has dreamt of this prophecy and the locals consider her crazy.

Plot line 2: The second protagonist, Arthur Gray, a rich heir. Inspired by a seascape painting, he ran away from home and joined the crew of the schooner Anselm. When it sailed to the place where Assol lived, Gray saw a sleeping girl, fancied her, and put his ring on her finger. In the local tavern he learned that the girl was a local crazy dreaming of a prince with scarlet sails. Later when Gray becomes a captain of his own ship, he makes sails of purple silk and sails to Assol's village.

Finale: Assol sees a white ship with purple sails, its captain takes Assol in a boat to the ship, and the prophecy is fulfilled.

Commentary

The prophecy is the only fantastic element of the novel. The first version had a bit more of it: the "Scarlet Sails" was supposed to be a story within a story, with the frame story involving the narrator and a flying man Mas-Tuel.

Scarlet Sails had a tremendous impact on Russian culture.

Adaptations

Film
 Scarlet Sails (1961), directed by Alexandr Ptushko
 Scarlet (2022), directed by Pietro Marcello
, a 1982 feature-length film by Boris Stepantsev with elements of animation

Scene
2013:

Music
Assol, a 1965 children's operetta by Eugen Kapp

See also
Scarlet Sails (tradition)

References

Alexander Grin
1923 Russian novels
Romanticism