The Golden Cockerel has had a long-standing reputation as one of the most mysterious of Pu&shachek;kin's works. My intention is to re-examine it and to suggest a new interpretation. In this connection I will pose the following questions: Why did Pu&shachek;kin turn to the Oriental legend, but include it in his collection of Russian tales? What is The Golden Cockerel all about? How does it relate to other Pu&shachek;kin works of 1833–34?

After brief critical examination of existing interpretations (political, biographical, and Freudian), I will make my major point: unlike other Pu&shachek;kin Russian tales, The Golden Cockerel is a hybrid of an Oriental fairy tale and a Russian satirical tale, which creates the impression of sharp disharmony. This disharmony reflects a conflict in the two major motifs, Russian and Oriental, which are both not real, but highly conventional. The Orient, represented by the Astrologer, the &Shachek;emaxanskaja carica, and the Golden Cockerel, symbolizes evil irrational forces, of which the Russian car&soft; Dadon becomes the victim.

The idea of the overwhelming power of the irrational over man was haunting Pu&shachek;kin especially in the 1830s. This idea, caused to a large degree by the circumstances of his life, engendered tragic motifs in many of his works of that time. In this connection I intend, by developing the ideas of Michael Èp&shachek;tejn and Jurij Lotman, to juxtapose The Golden Cockerel with such works of Pu&shachek;kin, as The Fisherman and the Goldfish, The Bronze Horseman, and The Queen of Spades.