“The Mistress of the Copper Mountain” is one of the most famous tales of the Russian writer Pavel Bazhov (1879 – 1950). The tale was first published in 1936. Copper Mountain is the name of the Gumeshki copper mine in the Urals. Bazhov heard stories about the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in his family and among the factory elders. The image of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain or Malachite in mining folklore has various options: Mountain queen, Stone girl, Golden woman, Azov girl, Mountain spirit, Mountain elder, Mountain master. All these folklore characters are guardians of the riches of the mountain subsoil. Bazhov's image of Malachite is much more complex. The writer embodied in it the beauty of nature, inspiring a person to creative pursuits.

Summary of the tale "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain"

One day, two mine workers went to look at their hayfields, and when they reached the Krasnogorsk mine, they lay down to rest in the grass and fell asleep. The junior worker, whose name was Stepan, woke up after some time and saw a girl with a black braid sitting with her back to him. Based on her malachite dress, the guy guessed that this was the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. Stepan wanted to run away from her unnoticed, but the Mistress turned around and called him over to talk.

The Mistress's retinue included countless lizards. The hostess ordered Stepan the next day to convey the following words to the factory clerk: “The hostess, they say, of Copper Mountain ordered you, a stuffy goat, to get out of the Krasnogorsk mine. If you still break this iron cap of mine, then I will send you all the copper in Gumeshki there.” that there is no way to get it." After this, the Mistress turned into a lizard with a human head and shouted to Stepan goodbye: “If you do it my way, I’ll marry you!”

Stepan was afraid to incur the wrath of the clerk, but the anger of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain was even more terrible and Stepan still conveyed the words of the Mistress to the clerk. The clerk became angry and ordered Stepan to be flogged, sent to work in a damp mine with bad ore and chained. And as a task, Stepan was assigned to extract a huge amount of pure malachite. But the Mistress of the Copper Mountain took care of Stepan, he had plenty of malachite, and the water left the mine. Soon the Mistress took Stepan to look at her dowry.

Having looked at the wealth of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Stepan said that he could not marry her, because... he already has a bride - orphan Nastya. In response to this, the Mistress did not get angry, but was happy: “I praised you for being a clerk, and for this I will praise you twice. You didn’t overlook my wealth, you didn’t exchange your Nastenka for a stone girl.” And the Mistress gave a gift to Stepan’s girlfriend - a malachite box with earrings, rings and other rich jewelry. Saying goodbye to Stepan, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain ordered not to remember her, began to cry and ordered to collect her tears - gems. After this, the Mistress returned Stepan to the mine.
Seeing the abundance of malachite mined by Stepan, the mine supervisor put his nephew in Stepan’s mine, and transferred Stepan to another mine. Seeing that Stepan was still mining a lot of malachite, and his nephew could not get anything, the overseer ran to the clerk: “No other way, Stepan sold his soul to evil spirits.” The clerk said to this: “It’s his business to whom he sold his soul, "But we need to get our own benefit. Promise him that we will release him into freedom, just let him find a malachite block worth a hundred pounds."
The clerk remembered the words of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, conveyed to him by Stepan, and decided to stop work at the Krasnogorsk mine. Stepan found a malachite block, but he was deceived and was not released. They wrote to a master from St. Petersburg about the block, he came and told Stepan to find malachite stones to cut out pillars five fathoms long. Stepan refused to look for stones until they wrote a free document in his name and in the name of his fiancee Nastya. Stepan found the pillars, he and his bride were freed from serfdom, and the malachite pillars were placed in a church in St. Petersburg.
The mine where the stones for the pillars were found was soon flooded. They said that this was the anger of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain because the pillars were standing in the church.
Stepan got married, but was sad all the time; he often went to the abandoned mine to hunt, but did not bring home any spoils.

Stepan at an abandoned mine. Artist Vyacheslav Nazaruk

One day Stepan was found dead near the mine. A smile froze on his face. They said that a large lizard was seen crying near his body.

In 1975, director Oleg Nikolaevsky made a puppet cartoon “The Mistress of the Copper Mountain” based on Bazhov’s tale. Next you can watch this cartoon online:

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And Stepan sees a huge room, and in it there are beds, tables, stools - all made of king copper. The walls are malachite with diamond, and the ceiling is dark red under blackening, and on it there are copper flowers.
“Let’s sit,” he says, “here, we’ll talk.”
They sat down on stools, and the malachite girl asked:
-Have you seen my dowry?
“I saw it,” says Stepan.
- Well, how about marriage now?

But Stepan doesn’t know how to answer. Listen, he had a fiancée. Good girl, one orphan. Well, of course, compared to malachite, how can she compare in beauty? A simple person, an ordinary person. Stepan hesitated and hesitated, and then said:
“Your dowry is fit for a king, but I am a working man, a simple one.”
“You,” he says, “are a dear friend, don’t wobble.” Tell me straight, are you marrying me or not? - And she herself completely frowned.
Well, Stepan answered directly:
- I can’t, because another one was promised.
He said so and thinks: he’s on fire now. And she seemed happy.
“Well done,” says Stepanushko. I praised you for being a clerk, and for this I will praise you twice as much. You didn’t get enough of my wealth, you didn’t exchange your Nastenka for a stone girl. - And the guy’s fiancee’s name was probably Nastya. “Here,” he says, “is a gift for your bride,” and hands over a large malachite box. And there, listen, every woman’s device. Earrings, rings and other things that not even every rich bride has.
“How,” asks the guy, “will I get up to the top with this place?”
- Don't be sad about it. Everything will be arranged, and I will free you from the clerk, and you will live comfortably with your young wife, but here’s my story for you - don’t think about me later. This will be my third test for you. Now let's eat a little.

She clapped her hands again, the lizards came running - the table was set full. She fed him good cabbage soup, fish pie, lamb, porridge and other things that are required according to the Russian rite. Then he says:
- Well, goodbye, Stepan Petrovich, don’t think about me. - And there are tears right there. She put her hand up, and the tears drip-drop and freeze on her hand like grains. Just a handful. - Here you go, take it for a living. People give a lot of money for these stones. You will be rich. - And gives it to him.
The stones are cold, but the hand, listen, is hot, as if it were alive, and shakes a little.
Stepan accepted the stones, bowed low and asked:
-Where should I go? - And he himself also became gloomy. She pointed with her finger, and a passage opened in front of him, like an adit, and it was light in it, like during the day. Stepan walked along this adit - again he saw enough of all the land riches and came just to his slaughter. He arrived, the adit closed, and everything became as before. The lizard came running, put a chain on his leg, and the box with gifts suddenly became small, Stepan hid it in his bosom. Soon the mine overseer approached. He got along with a laugh, but he sees that Stepan has a lot of tricks on top of the lesson, and the malachite is a selection, a variety of varieties. “What,” he thinks, “is this thing? Where does it come from?" He climbed into the face, looked at everything and said:
- In this face, anyone will break as much as they like. - And he took Stepan to another face, and put his nephew in this one.
The next day, Stepan began to work, and the malachite just flew off, and even the wren began to fall with a coil, and with his nephew, tell me, there is nothing good, everything is just a shambles and a snag. It was then that the warden took notice of the matter. He ran to the clerk. Anyway.
“No other way,” he says, “Stepan sold his soul to evil spirits.”
The clerk says to this:
- It’s his business, to whom he sold his soul, but he’ll take advantage of us. It's necessary. Promise him that we will release him into the wild, just let him find a malachite block worth a hundred pounds.
The clerk still ordered Stepan to be unchained and gave the following order - to stop work on Krasnogorka.
“Who,” he says, “knows him?” Maybe this fool was talking out of his mind then. And the ore and copper went there, but the cast iron was damaged.
The warden announced to Stepan what was required of him, and he replied:
- Who would refuse freedom? I’ll try, but if I find it, that’s my happiness.

Stepan soon found them such a block. They dragged her upstairs. They are proud - that’s what we are, but they didn’t give Stepan any freedom. They wrote to the master about the block, and he came from, hey, Sam-Petersburg. He found out how it happened and calls Stepan over.
“That’s what,” he says, “I give you my noble word to set you free if you find me such malachite stones that I can cut out pillars from them no less than five fathoms across the valley.”
Stepan answers:
- I’ve already been spun around. I am not a scientist. First, write freely, then I will try, and we’ll see what comes out.
The master, of course, screamed, stamped his feet, and Stepan said one thing:
- I almost forgot - register my bride’s freedom too, but what kind of order is this - I myself will be free, and my wife will be in the fortress.
The master sees that the guy is not soft. I wrote him a document.
“Here,” he says, “just try to look.”
And Stepan is all his:
- It’s like looking for happiness.
Of course, Stepan found it. What does he need if he knew the whole inside of the mountain and the Mistress herself helped him. They cut out the pillars they needed from this malachite, dragged them upstairs, and the master sent them to the butt of the most important church in Sam-Petersburg. And the block that Stepan first found is still in our city, they say. How rare it is to take care of it.
From that time on, Stepan was released, and after that all the wealth in Gumeshki disappeared. There are a lot of blue tits coming, but more of them are snags. It became unheard of to hear about the bead with a coil, and the malachite left, and water began to be added. So from that time on, Gumeshki began to decline, and then they were completely flooded. They said that it was the Mistress who was burning for the pillars, hear that they were placed in the church. And she doesn’t need it at all.
Stepan also had no happiness in his life. He got married, started a family, furnished the house, everything was as it should be. He should have lived smoothly and been happy, but he became gloomy and deteriorated in health. So it melted before our eyes.

The sick man came up with the idea of ​​getting a shotgun and got into the habit of hunting. And yet, hey, he goes to the Krasnogorsk mine, but doesn’t bring the spoils home. In the autumn he left and that was the end. Now he’s gone, now he’s gone... Where did he go? They shot it down, of course, people, let's look for it. And hey, hey, he’s lying dead in the mine next to a high stone, he’s smiling evenly, and his little gun is lying to the side, unfired. The people who were the first to come running said that they saw a green lizard near the dead man, and such a big one, the likes of which had never been seen in our area. It’s as if she’s sitting over a dead man, with her head raised, and her tears just falling. As people ran closer, she was on the stone, and that was all they saw. And when they brought the dead man home and began to wash him, they looked: he had one hand tightly clasped, and green grains were barely visible from it. Just a handful. Then one person who knew happened, looked at the grains from the side and said:
- Yes, this is a copper emerald! A rare stone, dear. There is a whole wealth left for you, Nastasya. Where did he get these stones from?
Nastasya - his wife - explains that the deceased never spoke about any such stones. I gave her the box when I was still a fiance. A large box, malachite. There is a lot of goodness in her, but there are no such stones. I haven't seen it.
They began to take those stones out of Stepan’s dead hand, and they crumbled into dust. They never found out at that time where Stepan got them from. Then we dug around Krasnogorka. Well, ore and ore, brown, with a copper sheen. Then someone found out that it was Stepan who had the tears of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. He didn’t sell them to anyone, hey, he kept them secretly from his own people, and he died with them. A?
This means what a Mistress of the Copper Mountain she is!
For the bad to meet her is grief, and for the good there is little joy.

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Two of our factory workers went to look at the grass. And their mowing was far away. Somewhere behind Severushka.
It was a holiday day, and it was hot - passion. Parun is clean. And both of them were timid in grief, at Gumeshki that is. Malachite ore was mined, as well as blue tit. Well, when a kinglet with a coil came in, there was a thread that would fit.
He was a single young guy, unmarried, and his eyes began to turn green. The other one is older. This one is completely ruined. There is green in the eyes, and the cheeks seem to have turned green. And the man kept coughing.
It's good in the forest. The birds sing and rejoice, the earth soars, the spirit is light. Listen, they were exhausted. We reached the Krasnogorsk mine. Iron ore was mined there back then. So our guys lay down on the grass under the rowan tree and immediately fell asleep. Only suddenly the young man, just as someone pushed him in the side, woke up. He looks, and in front of him, on a pile of ore near a large stone, a woman is sitting. Her back is to the guy, and you can see from her braid that she’s a girl. The braid is gray-black and doesn’t dangle like our girls’, but sticks straight to the back. At the end of the tape are either red or green. They shine through and ring subtly, like sheet copper. The guy marvels at the scythe, and then he notices further. The girl is small in stature, good-looking and such a cool wheel - she won’t sit still. He will lean forward, look exactly under his feet, then lean back again, bend to one side, to the other. He jumps to his feet, waves his arms, then bends down again. In a word, artut girl. You can hear him babbling something, but in what way he speaks it is unknown, and with whom he speaks is not visible. Just a laugh. Apparently she's having fun.
The guy was about to say a word, when suddenly he was hit on the back of the head.
- My mother, but this is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are something. How did I not notice it right away? She averted her eyes with her oblique.
And the clothes are truly such that you won’t find anything else in the world. Made of silk, hear me, malachite dress. There is such a variety. It’s a stone, but it’s like silk to the eye, even if you stroke it with your hand.
“Here,” the guy thinks, “trouble! As soon as I could get away with it before I noticed.” From the old people, you see, he heard that this Mistress - a malachite woman - loves to play tricks on people.
Just when she thought something like that, she looked back. He looks at the guy cheerfully, bares his teeth and says jokingly:
- What, Stepan Petrovich, are you staring at the girl’s beauty for nothing? They take money for a look. Come closer. Let's talk a little.
The guy was scared, of course, but he didn’t show it. Attached. Even though she is a secret force, she is still a girl. Well, he’s a guy, which means he’s ashamed to be shy in front of a girl.
“I have no time,” he says, “to talk.” Without that we slept and went to look at the grass.
She chuckles and then says:
- I'll play a tune for you. Go, I say, there’s something to do.
Well, the guy sees that there is nothing to do. I went to her, and she loomed with her hand, go around the ore on the other side. He walked around and saw that there were countless lizards here. And everyone, listen, is different. Some, for example, are green, others are blue, which fade into blue, or like clay or sand with gold specks. Some, like glass or mica, shine, while others, like faded grass, and some are again decorated with patterns.
The girl laughs.
“Do not part,” he says, “my army, Stepan Petrovich.” You are so big and heavy, but they are small for me. - And she clapped her palms, the lizards ran away, they gave way.
So the guy came closer, stopped, and she clapped her hands again and said, all laughing:
- Now you have nowhere to step. If you crush my servant, there will be trouble.
He looked at his feet, and there wasn’t much ground there. All the lizards huddled together in one place, and the floor became patterned under their feet. Stepan looks - fathers, this is copper ore! All sorts and well polished. And there is mica, and blende, and all sorts of glitter that resemble malachite.
- Well, now you recognize me, Stepanushko? - asks the malachite girl, and she bursts into laughter.
Then, a little later, he says:
- Don't be scared. I won't do anything bad to you.
The guy felt miserable that the girl was mocking him and even saying such words. He became very angry and even shouted:
- Who should I be afraid of, if I am timid in grief!
“Okay,” answers the malachite girl. “That’s exactly what I need, someone who’s not afraid of anyone.” Tomorrow, as you descend the mountain, your factory clerk will be here, you tell him, yes, look, don’t forget the words:
“The owner of Copper Mountain, they say, ordered you, the stuffy goat, to get out of the Krasnogorsk mine. If you still break this iron cap of mine, I’ll dump all the copper in Gumeshki there for you, so there’s no way to get it.”
She said this and squinted:
- Do you understand, Stepanushko? In grief, you say, you are timid, you are not afraid of anyone? So tell the clerk as I told you, and now go and don’t say anything to the one who is with you. He is a frightened man, why bother him and involve him in this matter. And so she told the blue tit to help him a little.

And she clapped her hands again, and all the lizards ran away. She also jumped to her feet, grabbed a stone with her hand, jumped up and, like a lizard, also ran along the stone. Instead of arms and legs, its paws were green, its tail stuck out, there was a black stripe halfway down its spine, and its head was human. She ran to the top, looked back and said:
- Don’t forget, Stepanushko, as I said. She allegedly told you, the stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. If you do it my way, I’ll marry you!
The guy even spat in the heat of the moment:
- Ugh, what trash! So that I marry a lizard.
And she sees him spitting and laughs.
“Okay,” he shouts, “we’ll talk later.” Maybe you'll think about it?
And immediately over the hill, only a green tail flashed.
The guy was left alone. The mine is quiet. You can only hear someone else snoring behind a pile of ore. Woke him up. They went to their mowing, looked at the grass, returned home in the evening, and Stepan had one thing on his mind: what should he do? To say such words to the clerk is no small matter, but he was also, and it’s true, stifling—there was some kind of rot in his gut, they say. Not to say, it’s also scary. She is the Mistress. What kind of ore can he throw into the blende? Then do your homework. And worse than that, it’s a shame to show yourself off as a braggart in front of a girl.
I thought and thought and laughed:
- I wasn’t, I’ll do as she ordered.
The next morning, as people gathered around the trigger drum, the factory clerk came up. Everyone, of course, took off their hats, remained silent, and Stepan came up and said:
- I saw the Mistress of the Copper Mountain last night, and she ordered me to tell you. She tells you, the stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. If you spoil this iron cap for her, she will dump all the copper on Gumeshki there, so that no one can get it.
The clerk even began to shake his mustache.
- What are you doing? Drunk or crazy? What Mistress? Who are you saying these words to? Yes, I will rot you in grief!
“Your will,” says Stepan, “and that’s the only way I was told.”
“Flog him,” the clerk shouts, “and take him down the mountain and chain him in the face!” And so as not to die, give him dog oatmeal and ask for lessons without any concessions. Just a little - tear mercilessly!
Well, of course, they flogged the guy and went up the hill. The mine overseer, also not the last dog, took him to the slaughter - it couldn’t be worse. It’s wet here, and there’s no good ore, I should have given up long ago. Here they chained Stepan to a long chain, so that he could work. It is known what time it was - the fortress. They made fun of the person in every possible way. The warden also says:
- Cool off here for a bit. And the lesson will cost you so much pure malachite, - and assigned it completely incongruously.
Nothing to do. As soon as the warden left, Stepan began waving his stick, but the guy was still agile. He looks - okay. This is how malachite falls, no matter who throws it with their hands. And the water left somewhere from the face. It became dry.
“Here,” he thinks, “that’s good. Apparently the Mistress remembered me.”
I was just thinking, and suddenly there was a light. He looks, and the Mistress is here, in front of him.
“Well done,” says Stepan Petrovich. You can attribute it to honor. I was not afraid of the stuffy goat. Well told him. Let's go, apparently, to look at my dowry. I also don’t go back on my word.
And she frowned, it just didn’t feel good for her. She clapped her hands, the lizards came running, the chain was removed from Stepan, and the Mistress gave them the order:
- Break the lesson here in half. And so that there is malachite for selection, of the silk variety. - Then he says to Stepan: - Well, groom, let's go look at my dowry.
And so, let's go. She is in front, Stepan is behind her. Where she goes - everything is open to her. How large the rooms became underground, but their walls were different. Either all green, or yellow with gold specks. Which again have copper flowers. There are also blue ones and azure ones. In a word, it is decorated, which cannot be said. And the dress on her - on the Mistress - changes. One minute it shines like glass, then suddenly it fades, and then it sparkles like a diamond scree or turns reddish like copper, then again it shimmers like green silk. They're going, they're coming, she stopped.
“Further,” he says, “the speckled yellows and grays will go for many miles.” Why watch them? And this is us right next to Krasnogorka. This is my most expensive place after Gumeshki.

Picture 35 from the presentation “Tales of Pavel Bazhov” for literature lessons on the topic “Bazhov”

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Bazhov

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