Scarlet Sails- The Legend and the Movie

[ladislav]

There was a story written by a man in Crimea some 100 years ago, and I think it was based on an old legend that I do not know origins of. Anyway, the story went like this: in this small seaside town there was this single father bringing up a daughter. Her name was Assol. The man was very poor and really struggling. No one in the town liked him or his family because they were poor and ill- tempered. The girl would run away from the poverty of her home and roam on the seaside. One day as she was walking on the hills overlooking the sea, she met this very old man who told her a fairy tale about her future. He said that when she grows up she will marry a handsome captain of a rich foreign ship. The ship will sail into the harbor with bright red( scarlet) sails. A captain will walk off the ship and take the girl as his wife and they will sail into a far away land. This was, of course, nonsense. But to the girl it became an escape fantasy. Every week she would go to the hills and look out into the sea hoping to catch the glimpse of scarlet sails on the horizon. Thus, to the town folks she became known as the local crazy. Years went by and she grew up, but, of course, no ship with scarlet sails appeared. Everyone made fun of her. But she would not give up. Sometimes she would fall asleep on top of the hill waiting for the sails.
One day a ship did dock into the harbor and its captain decided to walk around. He got lost and found a girl sleeping on the hill. He asked the folks who she was. They said," Her name is Assol, she is the village idiot. Someone played a prank on her and told her that one day a captain of some ship with scarlet sails will dock into the port and marry her".

Well, then the captain did this- he went to a cloth shop and bought a few hundred yards of bright scarlet silk. At night, the sailors sewed sails from it and hanged them on the masts. Then, he reentered the harbor. In the morning, to the absolute total shock of the whole town, a ship with scarlet sails appeared on the horizon. The captain walked off the ship, called Assol by her name and took her to the far away country.

The message is- it is in our hands to make dreams come true.

Anyway, the movie is rather long but this is the scene when the scarlet sails appear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utSPtQ4H ... re=related

No need to understand the language, you can just watch. The appearance of the sails is slightly to the right of the the middle of this clip.

A beautiful story and a good, positive message.

Of course, you can watch all the other clips to the right to get the full movie.

And the message to American men is: in many countries girls await your coming like Assol awaited her captain.