The Stone Flower

"The Stone Flower"
Author	Pavel Bazhov
Original title	"Каменный цветок"
Translator	Alan Moray Williams (first), Eve Manning, et al.
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian
Series	The Malachite Casket collection (list of stories)
Genre(s)	skaz
Published in	Literaturnaya Gazeta
Publication type	Periodical
Publisher	The Union of Soviet Writers
Media type	Print (newspaper, hardback and paperback)
Publication date	10 May 1938
Preceded by	"Marko's Hill"

"The Stone Flower" (Russian: Каменный цветок, tr. Kamennyj tsvetok; IPA: [ˈkɑmʲənʲɪj tsvʲɪˈtok]), also known as "The Flower of Stone", is a folk tale (also known as skaz) of the Ural region of Russia collected and reworked by Pavel Bazhov, and published in Literaturnaya Gazeta on 10 May 1938 and in Uralsky Sovremennik. It was later released as a part of the The Malachite Box collection. "The Stone Flower" is considered to be one of the best stories in the collection. The story was translated from Russian into English by Alan Moray Williams in 1944, and several times after that.

Pavel Bazhov indicated that all his stories can be divided into two groups based on tone: "child-toned" (e.g. "Silver Hoof") with simple plots, children as the main characters, and a happy ending, and "adult-toned". He called "The Stone Flower" the "adult-toned" story.

The tale is told from the point of view of the imaginary Grandpa Slyshko (Russian: Дед Слышко, tr. Ded Slyshko; lit. "Old Man Listenhere").

The Moscow critic Viktor Pertsov read the manuscript of "The Stone Flower" in the spring of 1938, when he travelled across the Urals with his literary lectures. He was very impressed bt it and published the shortened story in Literaturnaya Gazeta on 10 May 1938. His complimenting review The fairy tales of the Old Urals (Russian: Сказки старого Урала, tr. Skazki starogo Urala) which accompanied the publication.

...
Wikipedia