# The Miraculous Hen explained — Russian Folktales > Chapter companion for Russian Folktales by A. N. Afanasyev. ## What happens A tale of two brothers who, after being saved from death by a cook, embark on separate paths. The elder becomes king when his candle lights by itself. The younger uses a magical hen's liver to generate gold, wins a princess's hand by feeding her army for three years, but is betrayed when she steals the liver. He acquires magical items (a barrel, flying carpet, whip), raises an army, and transforms the princess into a mare. He reunites with his brother, reveals their mother's treachery during a feast, and she is punished. The younger brother then transforms the mare back into the princess and marries her. ## Themes in this chapter ### Trickery and Cunning The younger brother uses cunning to acquire magical items by tricking the three fighting men, and later uses the whip to transform the princess as revenge. ### Family and Betrayal The mother betrays her children by ordering their deaths, and the princess betrays the younger brother by stealing the hen's liver. ### Fate and Divine Justice The brothers' paths are determined by the inscription on the column; the mother and apprentice are punished for their crimes, and the younger brother ultimately marries the princess. ## Character check-ins ### The Youngest Son The younger brother who uses the hen's liver to produce gold, wins the princess, is betrayed, acquires magical items, and ultimately transforms the princess into a mare before marrying her. ### The Elder Son The elder brother who goes to the right, becomes king when his candle lights by itself in the cathedral. ### The Princess The fair princess who weds the younger brother after he feeds her army, but betrays him by stealing the hen's liver; later transformed into a mare and then back into a maiden. ### The Stepmother The mother who orders her children killed for their livers and brains, but is later revealed and punished by being chopped up. ### The Servant The cook who spares the boys and takes puppies' livers instead, allowing the boys to escape. ### The Apprentice The apprentice who becomes a fool after eating the roasted puppies' livers and brains. ## Key lines > And the doughty youth fell sick, and he vomited up the liver of the hen, and the Tsarévna swallowed it. From that day gold fell from her lips, and she would not have her bridegroom with her. The young hero became ill and regurgitated the hen's liver, which the princess swallowed. Thereafter, gold dropped from her mouth, and she rejected her fiancé. _The princess steals the magical source of the hero's wealth, leading to his downfall and her betrayal._ > But he took the whip, struck her on the back: 'You are a maiden, now become a mare!' And the Tsarévna turned into a mare. He used the whip to transform the princess into a mare by striking her back and commanding the change. _The hero uses the magical whip to punish the princess by turning her into a horse._ > Then the whole story came out, and the father bade his wife be chopped up into bits. He tied the apprentice to the tail of horses, and the horses broke in every direction and scattered his bones over the fields. The truth was revealed, and the father ordered his wife to be dismembered and the apprentice to be torn apart by horses. _The mother and apprentice are brutally punished for their treachery._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se/chapters/the-miraculous-hen - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se/chapters