The Black Chicken, or Underground Dwellers

Almost 200 years ago, Antoniy Pogorelskiy wrote a wonderful fairy tale for his nephew Alyosha - the future famous writer Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy.
The famous and beloved story about 10-year-old Alyosha shows how important it is to be hardworking, not to be conceited, and to keep one's word.

The boy Alyosha (about 9–10 years old) is studying at a boarding school in St. Petersburg in the 1780s. His parents live far away, so he spends all his holidays at the boarding school, while his classmates go home, and he misses them very much during these periods. In his free time, he often feeds the chickens kept at the kitchen, especially highlighting the black crested chicken, Chernushka. One day, the cook Trinushka decided to slaughter her for dinner, but Alyosha asked her not to do so, giving the cook a golden imperial - his only precious jewel, which was gifted to him by his grandmother.

That night, Alyosha hears in his bedroom how Chernushka calls him with a human voice...

The fairy tale comes to life on the pages of the book in the bright illustrations of Olga Ionaitis.