Kurochka Ryaba

Kurochka Ryaba («Курочка Ряба») is an Eastern Slavic folk tale of Ukraine and Russia. The story follows an old man and an old woman who have a hen named Ryaba. One day, the hen lays an egg that is not simple but golden. When the old couple cannot crack it, a mouse accidentally knocks it to the floor, and it breaks. The old man and woman cry, but the hen comforts them, promising to lay a new egg—not golden, but simple. The tale has been interpreted by Darra Goldstein, Professor of Russian at Williams College, 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.