What does the fairy tale hen Ryaba teach children? Chronicles of the Rus. The relevance of the fairy tale in our time
The folk tale about the chicken Ryaba has been known to everyone since early childhood. It is easy to remember, children love it very much.
What is this tale about?
She talks about how one day a chicken that lived with her grandfather and woman suddenly laid a golden egg. The grandfather and woman could not break it, despite many attempts. But the mouse was able to do this by accident. All she had to do was wave her tail. But instead of being happy, for some reason the grandfather and woman were very upset. The hen calmed them down and said that they would have a new egg, an ordinary one, not a golden one.
However, this story has several variations. In some of them new characters appear: the priest and the priest.
The meaning of the fairy tale
This is, at first glance, a simple story. But what about the chicken Ryaba? This question is of interest to many. Some people believe that the fairy tale has no meaning at all. Most people are unlikely to agree with this statement. Fairy tales have long been told not only for fun, but also to teach something good. The meaning of this tale remains to be understood.
The main contradiction of the fairy tale is that the grandfather and grandmother are crying because the golden egg has broken. But they wanted it so bad! Perhaps the egg turned out to be empty, and the grandparents were disappointed. Maybe they just wanted to eat, and an egg accidentally broken by a mouse spilled across the floor? It is possible that it was not golden, but simply with a golden shell, but the old people thought that it was especially tasty.
Hidden meanings
Some researchers of the fairy tale have devoted many years to find its connection with mythology. Often the fairy tale is associated with ancient myths about the World Egg, from which either the entire Universe, or part of the world, or one of the gods is born. The image of a mouse is also symbolic. The myths of many peoples say that this animal was born from the earth. Thus, the fairy tale is associated with myths about the creation and end of the world.
In some fuller versions of the tale, after the egg broke, some misfortune befell everyone who knew about it.
There is an opinion that the fairy tale has a connection with pagan rituals. In this case, the egg is compared to the moon or the sun. The golden egg is the sun. The image of a gray mouse - evening. Broken golden egg - sunset. A simple egg is the moon.
M. E. Vigdorchik’s interpretation of the fairy tale is interesting. He believes that the golden egg represents a symbol of a child. Trying to break an egg is a symbol of raising a child. But the grandfather and grandmother didn’t succeed, but the mouse did. The mouse is a symbol of a frivolous daughter-in-law, who for her husband’s parents seems to be some kind of rival. They are offended that she was able to raise a child, but they were not.
Supporters of psychoanalysis (for example, S.Z. Agranovich) believe that the egg in the fairy tale plays the role of a savior, it is a kind of symbol of life. Gold symbolizes death. That's why the old people tried so hard to break it. But when the mouse did this, they were afraid, because they did not know what to expect next. The mouse is an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of the dead; it can do both good and bad deeds. At your own discretion. And when the hen says that she will lay an ordinary egg, everyone rejoices, since the future has become clearer. Life has won.
The relevance of the fairy tale in our time
Children's stories are a collection of folk wisdom, even if not in the form of a lesson. The tale about the chicken Ryaba is no exception. However, times are changing, new realities are emerging. Many authors try to tell a well-known legend in their own way. A very interesting tale about the chicken Ryaba in a new way by Olga Akhmetova. In her interpretation, the mouse, seeing the egg, wanted to steal it; she envied the fact that her grandfather and grandmother “would become rich,” but she, too, “worthy of a million.” They, in turn, thought for too long about what to do with the wealth that had fallen on their heads. As a result, the egg broke and no one got it. The meaning of this fairy tale is that everyone can have a lucky chance in life, but they need to use it wisely.
Another tale about the chicken Ryaba tells that the egg turned out not to be golden, but just a kinder surprise. In Igor Shandra’s fairy tale, Ryaba demolished it and took it to the bank for safekeeping so that it certainly wouldn’t break. But even in this version, tears awaited the grandparents. But the computer mouse turned out to be to blame: it “wagged its tail,” and the entire bank disappeared. And Ryaba consoled her with the fact that the fake had disappeared, and the real egg was safe and sound.
These are such interesting stories, and this is only a small part. Everything suggests that in our time the fairy tale about the chicken Ryaba arouses interest not only among children, but also among adults.
Disputes about the moral of the tale
Serious research into a fairy tale commands respect, but it is unlikely that an ordinary person will look for hidden meanings. But what does this story teach? What is the moral of the story about the chicken Ryaba?
Everyone can understand it in their own way. There is an opinion that the egg is a symbol of love that the grandfather and grandmother could not protect. The speckled chicken is a symbol of the Higher Mind, which is why it is black and white, since it combines both good and evil. The mouse is some kind of gossip. If you break love for a long time, then the relationship may end because of some little thing like gossip. And a simple egg is not love, but a habit that appeared over time. Moral - we must value relationships, cherish love.
Some people think that the fairy tale says that one should not be stupid and envious. After all, the grandfather and grandmother did not even understand why they wanted to break the egg, and when the mouse did it, they simply envied her. Moral - you need to think about your actions and not be envious.
Perhaps the golden egg represents a symbol of wealth, which one does not need to strive for so desperately. Grandfather and grandmother struggled for a long time to achieve material wealth, but then a mouse (by chance) showed them by breaking an egg that there was nothing special about it. A simple egg, which the chicken later promised, is a symbol of eternal values. Moral - you can be happy without the desire to accumulate wealth.
There is also a version that the fairy tale teaches not to plan life down to the smallest detail. There is always room for chance.
Is the child able to understand this fairy tale?
It is not for nothing that they say that through the mouth of a baby Despite many interpretations, the fairy tale about the chicken Ryaba is still a children's work.
Grandfather and grandmother, according to many children, are crying because they themselves could not break the golden egg. This is where so many worries come from.
Of course, later parents can offer their child their own version of what this fairy tale teaches. It would be a good educational conversation.
I have long been interested in the meaning of the fairy tale "Ryaba the Hen", but it turns out there is...
Famous children's fairy tale:
Once upon a time there lived Grandfather and Baba. And they had Chicken Ryaba. The hen laid an egg. Yes, not simple, but golden. Grandfather beat and beat, but did not break. Baba beat and beat, but she didn’t break it. The mouse ran, waved its tail - the egg fell and broke. Grandfather is crying, Baba is crying, and the Chicken is cackling: “Don’t cry, Grandfather, don’t cry, Baba. I will lay you another egg - not a golden one, but a simple one.”
A familiar fairy tale?
Now let's check ourselves:
- Grandfather and Baba wanted to break an egg?
- If you wanted to, then why did you cry when it broke?
- Why didn’t Grandfather and Baba pawn the shells at the pawnshop if they were gold?
- What was in the testicle when it broke?
- How often have you thought about the situation of a fairy tale when telling it to a child?
- Why do you tell certain fairy tales if they are always full of contradictions?
- What do you expect from reading this fairy tale?
Moral: often, when communicating with a child, we do not think about what we are really doing. And then we wonder why he grows up like this when we raised him completely differently. You need to be especially careful with fairy tales. There is not a single fairy tale that does not carry an extremely POWERFUL psychological meaning (most often in a fairy tale there is not even one “second bottom”, but three or four). Moreover, the information contained in fairy tales carries messages that have a much greater impact than all the words spoken directly to the child. Why do you think there is even such a direction in psychology as fairy tale therapy? Precisely because a fairy tale can have a colossal influence on the development, attitudes and worldview of a child. Are you familiar with the meaning and “message” of the fairy tales that you tell your child?
" So, about Ryaba.
A fairy tale is always a metaphorical model of the Cosmos (not Cosmos in the literal sense, but in the sense of Life, the Universe). It carries knowledge about how the world works and how one should behave in it - again in a metaphorical form.
Let's move on to Ryaba's analysis.
Grandfather and Baba are a model of family relationships, but not with information about gender relations (then there would be a young family), but with information about All People Living Together. They have some resources, experience, knowledge. In particular, they have chicken. They fully expect predictable actions from her: she must lay eggs. But suddenly the chicken lays not an ordinary egg, but a golden one. What does this mean? Firstly, life itself decides when and what surprises to present to us. And this does not depend either on status, or on superstitions, or on the person. There is a place for accidents in life. The Golden Egg is here as a chance, as an opportunity, as an Event. But old people, being fearful, THE FIRST THING THEY TRY TO DO WITH THE UNKNOWN IS TO DESTROY. Because new things are always scary. (After all, you could lay an egg and see what hatches from it, for example). And then the Mouse appears. Very often in fairy tales the mouse symbolizes Chance, the Hand of God, Fate. The mouse takes away from the old people (All People) what they do not know how to use. Therefore, Grandfather and Baba begin to cry.
But what does Life answer to this? Don’t cry - well, you’ve missed the Chance now, (golden egg), but I’ll give you a simple one (that is, even though you’re not ready for something new now, the resources that you had haven’t gone anywhere, the end of the world with the loss of a chance did not occur).
Among other things, in the original version of this tale there is a continuation, in which it is reported that when some fifth or tenth relatives heard this story, someone unexpectedly broke the tub, spilled water, and so on. This suggests that events in one person affect the entire environment.
Now let’s summarize: how much information ABOUT LIFE is hidden in five lines of a fairy tale? And now I just carried out a superficial analysis, according to the main scenario. And with careful attention, usually three or four more topics stand out..."
Do you have an opinion about this fairy tale?
From the comments:
"Psychoanalysis of Ryaba." Here is a children's fairy tale about Ryaba, about a mouse, grandfather, eggs, woman. At first glance, it’s complete nonsense, but what would Sigmund Freud say? My grandfather had egg necrosis, oblique hernia and phimosis. And the grandmother was tormented by desire, she wanted sex in her subconscious. And grandma Ryaba asked: “Understand me like a woman, a woman. So that my grandfather climbs on me at night, bring him a prosthetic ball. Made of silicone, so that it’s like a pear, otherwise you’ll go like Bush’s legs!” Ryaba got smart with a prosthesis and gave birth to an egg from gold. In short, complete bullshit: the grandfather walks around jingling his eggs! A mouse looked out of the hole: “Why are you walking around and ringing?” And so that this ringing would die out, she lashed her tail between her legs. Grandfather and grandmother curse the mouse - an infection that immediately deprived them of sex. We all learned the moral: MEN NEED TO TAKE CARE OF EGGS!
This fairy tale is not as simple and primitive as adults sometimes imagine. It truly reflects the model of the Universe. Over the years and since the fairy tale was told to very young children, illiterate grandmothers thought that EGG is a diminutive of EGG. Initially, the Chicken laid an EGG! And size has nothing to do with it, it’s an ostrich egg, and it’s also a quail egg. Testicles are a property of males, that is, males. What children supposedly do not understand is not entirely true; through fairy tales, a child receives information on an unconscious level about his family, his people, his homeland, etc. at the archetypal level.
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Russian fairy tale “Ryaba Hen” - cosmic calendar
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.N. Toporov attributes the plot of the Russian folk tale “Ryaba the Hen,” in which the beginning of the world is represented in the form of an egg, to the most ancient mythological and astronomical religious Russian tradition.
In order to correctly understand the depth of the storyline embedded in this fairy tale by the millennia-old wisdom of the Russian people, let’s consider its key terms.
The term “star-” in the words “old man” and “old woman” in Russian means the antiquity of events, equal to cosmic - stellar. Therefore star - lit. old, that is, “star”. The suffixes -ik and -ukha denote male and female persons, respectively.
The term “Chicken” is an ornithomorphic embodiment of the goddess Mokosh, who personifies the Universe and Time and exercises power over them.
The term “Ryaba” is formed using the suffix -b(a) “of nouns denoting the process of movement (request, threshing, friendship, marriage, wedding, etc.), but in the Old Russian language there were much more of these words, and they were formed mainly from nouns." This also includes the word “fate”, which denotes one of the spheres controlled by the goddess Makosh. Fate - from judge + -ba; Wed Russian last fate will judge. And the first part of the word “Ryaba” comes from the ancient Russian verb “ryat” (ryast, ryatat), denoting plurality, abundance, brightness. Compare Russian ryasnym “decoration, necklace”, ryasnym “thick, hanging in thick clusters”, ryasnym “row, low, string of necklace, beads”, ryasnym-ryasnym “visibly-invisibly”, the stars look low, clear and ryasno. Thus, Ryaba is space, flickering and rippling with its multitude of stars. And the full name Chicken Ryaba stands for “space-Makosh, twinkling with many stars.”
The egg is an extremely common and well-known symbol of the world - its beginning and end.
The term “mouse” is the oldest sacred term. It has been known to almost all nations since time immemorial. What is evidenced by the invariability of the word “mouse”: Ukrainian. mish, bulg. mish, Serbohorv. mish, slovenian. mm, gen. n. mni, Czech., Slvts. mu, Polish mysz, v.-luzh., n.-luzh. mу. Indo-European base on consonant: Old Indian. mьs- m. “mouse”, new-pers. mь, Greek m. “mouse, muscle”, lat. mьs, alb. mi “mouse”, d.-v.-s. mys - the same, Armenian. mukn “mouse, muscle”; other-ind. mсsati, musati, musnдti “steals”.
From “mouse” the name of the Milky Way is derived - Mouse Trail. According to popular belief, the Milky Way, like the rainbow, is the road along which the soul goes to the next world. Wed. lit. Paыkciu kлlias, Paыkciu tгkas “milky way”, lit. “bird road, path”, English-German. kaurat - the same, in fact, “cow path”. Linguist Trubachev, commenting on M. Vasmer’s dictionary, adds that “most likely, this is one of the oldest Indo-European taboo names for animals - *mьs, actually, “gray” - akin to the words fly, moss.”
According to ancient Russian legends, the Milky Way was formed by milk flowing from the teats of the Cow Zemun (Makoshi) and the Goat Sedun (Satan). Makosh generally has three dimensions: the first is Makosh herself, as a judge, as the ruler of eternity and the Universe, space and time. The second is Makosh, equal to Living Water, Alive, Share, Srecha. The third is Makosh, equal to Dead Water, Mara, Nedolya, Nesrecha. In general, Mokosh’s influence on the world is as follows: within Mokosh-eternity, Mokosh-Zhiva gives birth to the world anew, and after the cycle of life, Mokosh-Mara takes the world into the womb of death.
The last essence of Mokosh - death - is the MOUSE. And the tail that the mouse waved and broke the egg is the end of the period (code, era, etc.).
From what has been said, the meaning of the cosmic Russian fairy tale is also visible, which in simple words can be conveyed as follows: in the power of Mokosh are both the birth of the world and its death; the souls of the Russians, who have joined the stars, are also in the power of Mokosh and can receive a new incarnation from her - in the form of a simple egg, that is, earthly life.
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Here's a simple fairy tale for you!
I’ve been reading this fairy tale to my daughter for days now and I’m indignant! What kind of stupid chicken couldn’t lay a normal egg right away? Why was it so difficult? In a fit of anger, so to speak, I was puzzled by the question of what exactly is the moral of this fairy tale. The first link that Google gave me was very informative)) I quote:
I’ve been telling my child a bedtime story about the chicken Ryaba for six months, and every time I’m tormented by guesses as to what its moral is.
Finally, I decided to do a little research on this topic. And here is the result!
Firstly, I learned that there are a lot of variations on the theme of the fairy tale about the hen Ryaba. Here are examples:
Attempts to interpret its meaning are also very broad, from simple statements like “what we have, we don’t keep; if we lose it, we cry,” “we haven’t lived richly, so there’s nothing to start with,” or “old age is not a joy: they have two less strength left, than a mouse” to entire parables, for example, about love: “5 years ago, when I was a student, a certain aunt-professor told me that the golden egg is Love, which my grandparents did not save. The grandfather beat and drank, walked..., the grandmother beat and walked, did not wash the floors and did not wash the shirts. A mouse is a little nasty thing like gossip or some household trifle. Like, if you beat Love for a long time and diligently, then in order to completely smash it, a little thing is enough. Well, a simple egg is a habit that my grandfather and grandmother received instead of love. Chicken Ryaba, respectively, Fate or Supreme Intelligence. And she is pockmarked because she is pockmarked, i.e. black and white, i.e. combines both the black and white sides of life” or about the ecological end of the world:
Here are a few more interpretations:
Perhaps all these interpretations are not without meaning, but the most plausible decoding (as it seems to me) is offered by E. Nikolaeva in the book “111 tales for child psychologists” « (if you don’t have the strength to read the whole thing, pay attention to at least the last 5 paragraphs):
“Once upon a time there lived Grandfather and Baba. And they had Chicken Ryaba. The hen laid an egg. Yes, not simple, but golden. Grandfather beat and beat, but did not break. Baba beat and beat, but she didn’t break it. The mouse ran, waved its tail - the egg fell and broke. Grandfather is crying, Baba is crying, and the Chicken is clucking: “Don’t cry, Grandfather, don’t cry, Baba. I will lay another egg for you - not a golden one, but a simple one.”
Ask your parent to tell you this story. It's hard to find a person who doesn't know her. You can start by asking whether the parent has read this fairy tale to the child. If you read it, let him retell it. If there is a hitch in the story, you can help. And when the parent tells the whole story, it’s worth asking a few questions.
Grandfather and Baba wanted to break an egg?
If you wanted to, then why did you cry?
Why didn’t Grandfather and Baba pawn the shells at the pawnshop if they were gold?
What was in the testicle when it broke?
How often has a parent thought about the situation when telling a fairy tale to a child?
Why does a parent read this particular fairy tale to a child if it is full of contradictions?
What can we expect from reading this fairy tale?
Moral: often, when communicating with a child, we do not think about what we are really doing, and therefore we offer him something to which we ourselves do not know the answer.
Comment: Most parents will report that they have never thought about the content of the fairy tale. Those who say that they were always confused by its contents will add that they never found an explanation for the strange behavior of Grandfather and Baba. Here it is worth paying attention to the fact that, remaining perplexed, we often do not change our behavior and do not trust the child, for example, after consulting with him about the content of a fairy tale. After all, you could just ask the child about what Grandfather and Baba are doing, why are they crying?
It is quite possible that the psychologist will hear a parent’s counter-question about how one can consult with a one-and-a-half-year-old child to whom the parent read a fairy tale? Then you can simply ask, how often does the parent even ask for the child’s opinion? And this in itself can be a separate topic for conversation.
However, if the parent remains confused about the previous one (that is, the psychologist clearly grasped the context of the unconscious), then it is better to develop the “fairytale” direction further, rather than rise again to the level of consciousness.
We can say that the parent just retold this fairy tale word for word, because he remembered it not when he read it to the child, but when his parents read it to him, still a child. We retain information received at an early age throughout our lives and perceive it without criticism, because at this age we do not have developed critical thinking. Therefore, when reading a fairy tale as an adult, we continue to treat it without a shadow of doubt.
But a fairy tale is only an excuse for discussing what a parent is doing when reading a fairy tale or otherwise interacting with a child. When communicating, the child remembers all the statements of the parents and, just like a fairy tale, treats them uncritically. Therefore, already as an adult, a person sees in the mirror not himself, but the image that he formed under the influence of the words of people significant to him: “You are such and such. You won’t amount to anything” or: “You will grow up, work hard and achieve everything you want.” These words and the attitude towards a child under 5 years old form a scenario that entangles a person with invisible threads and forces adults to act not in accordance with the real situation, but in accordance with those ideas about themselves and their purpose that were formed in childhood.
When we read a fairy tale to a child, he reacts not to it, but to our attitude towards it.
A fairy tale told in childhood allows us to understand many features of adult behavior. In addition, this fairy tale is not an everyday one, it is not easy to interpret. It differs from others in that it is told to all children of our culture, therefore it bears the imprint of this culture.
The version of “The Ryaba Hen,” which the parent will most likely remember, appeared in the 19th century, when the great teacher K. D. Ushinsky for some reason took away the ending from this very ancient fairy tale. And the ending can be found in the three-volume work of A. N. Afanasyev “Russian Folk Tales”. When reading this version, it turns out that after Grandfather and Baba cried, the granddaughters came, found out about the egg, broke the buckets (they went for water), and spilled the water. The mother, having learned about the egg (and she was kneading the dough), broke the kneading bowl, the father, who was in the forge at that moment, destroyed the forge, and the priest, who was passing by, demolished the bell tower. And the peasants, having learned about this event, in different versions of the tale, hanged themselves or drowned.
What kind of event is this, after which no stone was left unturned?
Most likely, such details will confuse the parent, so we can continue that the events, actions and heroes participating in them that are repeated in different parts of the world, K. Jung called archetypes - ancient ideas. They are transmitted through fairy tales to people of the same culture. At a moment of extreme stress, a person begins to behave in a way that is not characteristic of his personality, but exhibits behavior common to a given people. If we take into account that this fairy tale is not an everyday tale, but carries the characteristics of our culture, then we can read it differently.
Someone gave Grandfather and Baba something they had never encountered. The egg as an archetype, which is regularly found in myths and fairy tales of all nations, is a symbol of the birth of something. It is golden because it does not look like what the Hen was carrying before. That is why Grandfather and Baba do not run to the pawnshop to pawn a golden shell and then buy a mountain of ordinary eggs. Gold, like the egg itself, is only a symbol here. But the old people are trying to destroy something that they have never encountered before in their lives. But you could wait, put it aside and see who will hatch from it. But they don’t do that, and are in a hurry to destroy this new thing. And here another archetypal hero appears in the story - the Mouse. We write her name with a capital letter, because this is also not a small rodent, but a symbol. It is not without reason that in many Russian fairy tales she is the key subject who resolves the problems that arise. The mouse as an archetype is a substitute for God. And then the one who gave takes away what people do not know how to use. And then another archetype arises in the fairy tale.
But it will be better if the psychologist does not simply say what kind of archetype this is, but helps the parent feel its existence. The psychologist may tell him that he would like to prove the existence of this archetype, and not just report it. After all, it was precisely to introduce it into the unconscious of every child of a given culture that this fairy tale was created, and for this reason it is passed on from generation to generation.
The psychologist asks the parent to completely trust him for two minutes, close his eyes, listen to his voice and compare what he hears with what is happening at that moment in his soul. If the parent agrees to such an experiment, then the psychologist, in a slow, clear voice appropriate for suggestion, says: “Imagine that there is Someone about whom you know that any word he says will surely come true. And now this Someone comes in and tells you: “From this moment on, nothing new will ever, EVER happen in your life. Just an eternal repetition of what you have already experienced. Never anything new. The eternal cycle of already accomplished events."
What do you feel? - you ask your parent in a normal voice. Obviously, he will say that he either didn’t believe you (the worst case scenario), or that he felt scared, unpleasant, or bad (you succeeded). Then you say that right now a person felt the reality in himself of the most important archetype, which all people of the same culture pass on to each other from generation to generation - this is the archetype of Miracle. We live because we know for sure that if not today, then tomorrow, if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow, a miracle will definitely happen to us. Everyone has their own. But for everyone it is extremely attractive.
There is one difference between the Russian archetype of a miracle and the similar archetype of other nations (and everyone has it, since it is this that allows us to survive when there is simply no hope, when life drives us into a dead end). For many Russian speakers, this miracle happens for nothing, “for free,” since many of our fairy tales tell how a miracle happens without any effort on our part. And here the psychologist has the opportunity to talk about how a miracle will definitely happen to the child and to any other person, but not for free, but through teamwork. This is a long way to create a miracle, but very effective. If you manage to conduct such a mini-training with a parent, then future cooperation with him is guaranteed.”
Perhaps every Russian heard this fairy tale in childhood, and years later he himself told it to his children and grandchildren. At the same time, few can say what the story about the chicken and the egg is really about. We do not analyze fairy tales, do not look for morality in them and, as a rule, read in a version adapted for children, where the editor has removed everything “unnecessary” and “incomprehensible”. But every detail of the fairy tale was not invented by our distant ancestors by chance and has an important meaning, which, alas, is no longer easy for us to understand. So, what is this tale about?
What we see: Grandfather and Baba are not a boy and a girl, not a boy and a girl; Grandfather and Baba are not grandfather and grandfather, not woman and woman, but creatures of different sexes - that is, humanity in its entirety. Then a golden egg appears. Any normal person of our time will immediately think about where to put it... Anything, but not to break it. And Grandfather and Baba are just starting to break the egg! They beat and beat, but did not break. But the Mouse ran by, waved its tail, and broke it. What Grandfather and Baba so desired happened. But they do not rejoice, but begin to weep. Then the Ryaba Hen appears, promises to lay an ordinary egg, and Grandfather and Baba rejoice.
In the extended (unedited) version, very strange things happen before Ryaba's second appearance. There are different options, but with one common message: everything is turned upside down. The gates and the bridge are collapsing, the birds and animals are crying... The old people tell about everything that happened to the prosvirna (the woman who bakes the prosvira) - that the roof of their house is shaking, the girl-granddaughter hanged herself out of grief, etc. The prosvirnya threw all the prosvirna and broke them and retold the story to the deacon's family. He heard this and ran to the bell tower, where he broke all the bells. The priest, having learned about the golden egg and the Mouse, cut his hair, that is, took off his hair (removed his priesthood), tore up the holy books and burned the church. And the priest’s wife spilled the dough and began to wash the floor with it... And then, we know, the Ryaba Hen laid an ordinary egg, and everything became fine again...
So why were Grandfather and Baba so afraid of the golden egg? What is it? The fact is that a long time ago the egg was not perceived as something born alive. In the concept of ancient people, it was a kind of mineral. Then something living was born from a non-living egg. So the egg became a symbol of life. In the mythology of some peoples, at the beginning of the world, there was a Great Egg, which split, and then the first living creature emerged from it or all living things were formed (there are other similar options). Now about gold. Long before this precious metal became a symbol of wealth, it was associated exclusively with death, as it was associated with the underworld. Let's remember the Greek god of the underworld Hades - he owns gold. Our Koschey is also “wasting away over gold.” And then an egg, a symbol of life, suddenly appears as a sign of imminent death. Here the reaction of Grandfather and Baba becomes clear, whose advanced age brings them closer to death every day. In addition, they symbolize all of humanity. An apocalyptic picture logically emerges: chaos ensues, the world dies.
But then the Mouse appears - a magical creature living in two worlds: the world of the living (earthly) and the world of the dead (underground). Therefore, in fairy tales, the mouse is an intermediary between these two worlds; it can do both good and bad. And the fact that she, possessing supernatural powers, managed to break the golden egg is not surprising. But no one knows what this could mean, since the mouse has two faces. However, the ending is joyful: Ryaba the Hen promises to lay an ordinary egg, everyone rejoices, the end of the world is canceled, the world is saved...
It turns out that the children's fairy tale about the Ryaba Hen is not as simple and meaningless as it might seem at first glance. In this case, it is a story about life and death, about the fear of the unknown, about the interconnection of all things.
