Ryaba the Hen (Cyrillic: Курочка Ряба, Kurochka Ryaba) is an Eastern Slavic folktale of Ukraine and Russia.
Plot
There lived an old man and an old woman, and they had a hen named Ryaba. One day, the hen laid an egg. It was not a simple egg, but a golden one. The old man tried to crack it, but could not. The old woman tried to crack it, but could not. A mouse ran by. With a mere sway of the mouse's tail, the egg fell, cracking upon hitting the floor. The old man cried. The old woman cried. "Don't cry", said Ryaba the hen, "I'll lay you a new egg, not a golden egg, but a simple one".
Interpretation
Professor of Russian at Williams College, Darra Goldstein, interpreted the story's meaning for children as teaching children to "value what is simple and real in life, for those are the things that nourish and sustain us, rather than riches we haven’t earned, which can disappear as suddenly as they appear."
In popular culture
Stamps
Kurochka Ryaba was featured in a 2002 stamp series of the Ukrainian national postal service, Ukrposhta.
Films based on the tale
A 1982 film by Moscow's Soyuzmultfilm entitled About an Old Man, an Old Woman and Their Hen Ryaba A 1994 Russian-French comedy film referencing the folk tale entitled, Assia and the Hen with the Golden Eggs.
Statues
A statue in Kazka park in Sumy, Ukraine.
Other
A hotel in Krasnodar, Russia.