Began vs. Had Its Beginning

Question

which one is correct option: began or had its beginning:

The interesting tale "had its beginning/began" more than fifty years ago.

Had takes third form of verb with it. So grammatically had its beginning is wrong. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Answer 1

Since you asked, you are wrong.

... had its beginning

is not the form of the Past Perfect Tense (which uses "had" and past participle). It's Past Indefinite of "have its beginning".

Both forms are fine. The longer one is more literary, more elaborate, nicer. The short form was perhaps too dry for that author.