Once upon a time there lived an old man and a woman, and they had a hen called Ryaba. They fed the chicken for three years and expected eggs from it any day now.
Exactly three years later the hen laid an egg for them, and that egg was not an ordinary one, but a golden one. The grandfather and woman are happy, they don’t know what to do with this egg, they don’t believe their eyes that the chicken laid a golden egg.
We tried to break it, but it was so strong that it didn’t break. The grandfather beat and beat, but did not break, the woman beat and beat, but did not break. They put the egg on the shelf; A mouse was running, its tail touched it, an egg fell on the table and broke. The grandfather is crying, the woman is crying, and the chicken is clucking:
“Don’t cry, grandfather, don’t cry, woman, I’ll bring you something else, not a simple one, but a golden one, just wait three years.”
The grandfather and woman picked up the golden shells and sold them to the Jews. We received little money. They wanted to build a new hut, but there wasn’t enough money, they had to wait another three years to have enough for a hut. They waited a week, waited a second, waited a third, it seemed to them a painfully long time, they were tired of waiting.
So the grandfather says to the woman:
- You know what, old woman? Why should we wait three whole years? Let us immediately slaughter the chicken and get the golden egg out of it. Yes, there is apparently more than one there, maybe there are three, or even four of them. Then we’ll live, we’ll have a new house, we’ll buy some land and we won’t bow to anyone.
- Oh, really, grandpa, let's kill him! They slaughtered a chicken, but not a single one was in the middle of the testicle. Grandfather and grandmother began to cry again.
The mouse stuck its head out of the hole and said:
- Don’t cry, grandfather, don’t cry, woman, bury your chicken in the kindergarten, at the crossroads, wait three years, and then dig up a treasure in that place. Let it be written on your nose so that you remember until your death that everything you wish for does not happen right away.
The woman buried the chicken near the garden at the crossroads, right next to the overgrowth, and stuck a stick in as a sign. They wait a year, wait a second, they don’t have enough patience, they want to quickly dig up the treasure. The third year has already arrived, and they are still waiting. So the woman says to the grandfather:
“Let’s take a look, grandpa.” “Don’t rush, old woman, let’s wait a little, there’s not much left.” We waited longer, now there’s less to wait. “No, old man, we won’t touch anything, we’ll just see if our treasure is pecked there.” “Look, old woman, so as not to ruin the whole thing.” “Don’t be afraid, grandpa, nothing bad will happen.”
They went into the garden with a spade. They dug and dug and dug up a whole bunch of gold beetles. The beetles buzzed and scattered in all directions.
So the grandfather and woman were left to live in the old hut; they didn’t have a chance to build a new one. And the mouse stuck its head out of the hole and said:
- You are already old, but stupid. Why didn't you wait until you were three years old? You would have had a big pile of chervonets, but now they have all scattered.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru