August 8. Story of the Day: The Hen

This is one of Afanasjev's Russian folktales; I have translated it from the Russian, and since Afanasjev did not record the fully cumulative chain of grief, I have also provided a retelling with the full statements by all the characters down at the bottom of the post.

This is classified as ATU 2022B The Broken Egg, and you can see that it has a lot in common with other stories that feature a series of mourners.

Looking for more stories? Click here for previous Stories-of-the-Day.

THE HEN

(coloring book page)

There lived an old man with an old woman, and they had a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf.

A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke.

The old man weeps, the old woman cries, the stove is blazing, the roof of the hut is shaking, the granddaughter is choked with grief.

The baker woman comes, she asks why they are crying like that.

The old couple explain, "How can we not weep? We have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, the old woman is crying, the stove is blazing, the roof of the hut is shaking, the granddaughter is choked with grief."

The baker woman listened -- she broke all the communion loaves and threw them away.

The sexton comes up to the baker woman and asks why she threw the communion loaves away.

She explained to him all the sorrow; the sexton ran to the bell-tower and rang all the bells.

The priest comes and asks the sexton why he rang the bells.

The sexton explained all the sorrow to the priest, and the priest ran and ripped up all the books.

(rumvi.com)

Here is the Russian:

Курочка No 70 (online) Жил-был старик со старушкою, у них была курочка-татарушка, снесла яичко в куте под окошком: пестро, востро, костяно, мудрено! Положила на полочку; мышка шла, хвостиком тряхнула, полочка упала, яичко разбилось. Старик плачет, старуха возрыдает, в печи пылает, верх на избе шатается, девочка-внучка с горя удавилась. Идет просвирня, спрашивает: что они так плачут? Старики начали пересказывать: "Как нам не плакать? Есть у нас курочка-татарушка, снесла яичко в куте под окошком: пестро, востро, костяно, мудрено! Положила на полочку; мышка шла, хвостиком тряхнула, полочка упала, яичко и разбилось! Я, старик, плачу, старуха возрыдает, в печи пылает, верх на избе шатается, девочка-внучка с горя удавилась". Просвирня как услыхала -- все просвиры изломала и побросала. Подходит дьячок и спрашивает у просвирни: зачем она просвиры побросала? Она пересказала ему все горе; дьячок побежал на колокольню и перебил все колокола. Идет поп, спрашивает у дьячка: зачем колокола перебил? Дьячок пересказал все горе попу, а поп побежал, все книги изорвал.

~ ~ ~

Here is my amplified version:

There lived an old man with an old woman, and they had a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf.

A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke.

When the old man saw the broken egg, he began to weep.

When the old woman saw that the old man was weeping, she asked what was wrong.

"How can I not weep?" he replied.  "We have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping."

And then the old woman began to cry.

When the stove saw that the old man and the old woman were weeping and crying, it asked what was wrong.

The old man replied, "How can we not weep? We have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, and the old woman is crying."

And then the stove began to blaze.

When the roof of the hut saw that the stove was blazing, it asked what was wrong.

The old man exclaimed, "We have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, the old woman is crying, and the stove is blazing."

And then the roof of the hut started to shake.

When the granddaughter saw the roof of the hut shaking, she asked what was wrong.

The old man replied, "We have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, the old woman is crying, the stove is blazing, and the roof of the hut is shaking."

And then the granddaughter was choked with grief.

The baker woman came to the hut and saw all the weeping and grieving, so she asked the old man and the old woman what was wrong.

The old couple explained, "How can we not weep? We have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, the old woman is crying, the stove is blazing, the roof of the hut is shaking, and the granddaughter is choked with grief."

The baker woman listened, and then she broke all the communion loaves and threw them away.

The sexton came up to the baker woman and asked why she threw the communion loaves away.

The baker woman explained, "The old man and old woman have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, the old woman is crying, the stove is blazing, the roof of the hut is shaking, the granddaughter is choked with grief, and I threw the communion loaves away."

And then the sexton ran to the bell-tower and rang all the bells.

The priest came and asked the sexton why he rang the bells.

The sexton explained, "The old man and old woman have a Tatar hen. She laid an egg in a corner under the window: light, bright, sharp, smart! She placed it on the shelf. A mouse walked by, shook her tail, the shelf fell down, the egg broke. I, the old man, am weeping, the old woman is crying, the stove is blazing, the roof of the hut is shaking, the granddaughter is choked with grief, the baker woman threw the communion loaves away, and I am ringing the bells."

Then the priest ran and ripped up all the books.

And that is the end of the story.