Hen that lays golden eggs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A hen or chicken that is usually depicted laying golden eggs for its owner. The idea of such a mystical creature has been encountered in fairy tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk as well as the occult with the story of The Black Pullet - teaching an individual how to create such a creature through talismanic magic.
There have also been references to other creatures that produce golden eggs or are of a golden nature, such as Aesop's fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs or the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Golden Goose.
An expression which loosely corresponds to Alchemy referring to the ideal of gaining pure gold from lead (something from nothing through magical means), thus a person who has suddenly come into a lot of money is said to have a "hen that lays golden eggs".
In the later period of Egyptian history, a cult of Thoth gained prominence, thus giving rise to the adjustment of mythology in order to give Thoth a greater role. This included varying the Ogdoad cosmogony myth so that it was Thoth who gives birth to Ra/Atum/Nefertum/Khepri, as a result of laying, as an ibis, an egg containing them. Later it was said that this was done in the form of a goose - literally as a goose laying a golden egg.