Ryaba the hen laid, as she was supposed to according to the fairy tale, a golden egg. And then no fairy tales - just cool realism, so familiar to readers and admirers of Anatoly Kurchatkin. The Jack London gold rush - with night shooting and attacks on collectors - whatever you say, is not the most traditional plot for the Russian rural hinterland. But this fever is shaking the heroes who are quite ours - juicy, Gogolian, painfully familiar... Not one of them will emerge from the battle for the golden shells without losses.