What a mistress of a copper mountain she is. "Mistress of the Copper Mountain" main characters

Now in the article there is a card "Literary character". However, according to many sources, Bazhov did not come up with the Mistress of the Copper Mountain himself, but only processed and popularized the character of the folk legends of the Ural workers.

A special cycle is made up of tales united by the images of common heroes - the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, the master Danila and his beloved. In them, Bazhov combined the Ural toponymic legends, bylichki and stories written down by him from old workers. As a result, a unique cycle of tales about fidelity and love, the true price and purpose of talent has developed.

)) , which is certainly not adequate to the character. - The character is not a goddess, and not Slavic. The Urals - there are actually indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples and the Ural race (Mansi, Yakuts, etc.), + Tatars, + Cossacks, among which there are many Caucasians, including directly the Caucasian Cossacks and Turks. By the way, for the same reason, a single extremely superficial mention in the Slavic Antiquities encyclopedia is only an indirect AI. For bylichki and tales about the Mistress of the Mednaya Gora mine are not "Slavic", and even more so "antiquities". Remember when Bazhov wrote, and when the Russian-speaking colonial miners came there and founded the mine. --Vladis13() 20:37 November 11, 2016 (UTC)

It was in this order and combination of words that perhaps the most famous Bazhov character appeared in the very first tale published in 1936 (Krasnaya Nov magazine, No. 11). The hostess here is a global mythologeme, but the Copper Mountain is the specific local name for the Gumyoshki mine, where copper ore was mined for the nearby copper smelter since the 18th century. The Mistress's possessions extended to the entire district, but the Azov-mountain in the vicinity of the village of Polevskoy was considered the place of her permanent residence. Hence one of the names of the Hostess - Maiden Azovka. Among her other names, common in the old days in the Urals, are the Mountain Mother, the Stone Maiden (woman), the Golden Woman, Malachitnitsa.
The appearance of the Hosts of the Mountains is generally a special conversation. Modern artists - illustrators of Bazhov's tales, as well as animators, creators of stage and game cinematic versions - greatly idealized the image of the Mountain Empress, depicting her in a typical Ugro-Finnish attire - with a kokoshnik. Bazhov himself did not finish everything. The actual image of the Mistress is quite different. Thus, the mistresses of the mountains, as they are represented by the various peoples of Altai, are usually described as red-haired women or girls chasing men. The mistress of the mountain suddenly appears naked before her chosen one and demands love. From ordinary women, she is distinguished by improbably large breasts, thrown over her shoulders or laid under her armpits. Having enjoyed love, the Mistress of the Mountain bestows good luck on her fleeting lover in his forthcoming affairs. It is not difficult to catch a strikingly similar storyline (scheme, model) that links the Altai and Ural legends, which in itself indicates a common source of their origin.

It was in this order and combination of words that perhaps the most famous Bazhov character appeared in the very first tale published in 1936 (Krasnaya Nov magazine, No. 11). The hostess here is a global mythologeme, but the Copper Mountain is the specific local name for the Gumyoshki mine, where copper ore was mined for the nearby copper smelter since the 18th century. The Mistress's possessions extended to the entire district, but the Azov-mountain in the vicinity of the village of Polevskoy was considered the place of her permanent residence. Hence one of the names of the Hostess - Maiden Azovka. Among her other names, common in the old days in the Urals, are the Mountain Mother, the Stone Maiden (woman), the Golden Woman, Malachitnitsa, and also (no matter how strange this may seem at first glance) male nicknames - Mountain Spirit, Mountain Elder, Mountain Master (6) (we will return to this strange discrepancy later).

The image of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in the interpretation of Bazhov has long become a textbook:

“Once two of our factory plants went to look at the grass. And they had long hauls. Somewhere behind Severushka. It was a festive day, and hot - passion. Parun is clean. And both were in grief, that is, on Gumyoshki. Malachite ore was mined, as well as blue tit. Well, when a beetle with a coil fell and there it was said that it would fit ...

It's good in the forest. The birds sing and rejoice, soaring from the earth, the spirit is light. They, listen, and exhausted. We reached the Krasnogorsk mine. At that time iron ore was mined there. Only suddenly the young one - exactly who pushed him in the side - woke up. He looks, and in front of him a woman is sitting on a pile of ore near a large stone. Back to the guy, and on the braid you can see - a girl. The scythe is black and does not dangle like our girls, but evenly stuck to the back. At the end of the ribbon is either red or green. They shine through and tinkle in a subtle way, like sheet copper. The guy marvels at the scythe, and he notes further. A girl of small stature, of herself, and such a cool wheel - she won’t sit still ... The guy was about to say a word, suddenly he hit him on the back of the head.

- You are my mother, but it is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are. How did I not notice right away? She averted her eyes with her scythe. And the clothes are truly such that you will not find another in the world. From a silk, you hear, malachite dress. This kind happens. A stone, but on the eye like silk, at least stroke it with your hand<…>». {7}

The main qualities of the Mistress of the Underworld are severity and justice, benevolence towards good people and ruthlessness towards evil ones. Or, in the words of Bazhov himself: "It is not enough joy for a thin person to meet her - grief and goodness." The miraculous metamorphoses of the Mistress herself and her possessions have also been repeatedly described not only orally and in print, but also reproduced by means of painting, cinema, theatrical scenery, animation and computer graphics:

«<…>And here we go. She is ahead, Stepan is behind her. Where she goes - everything is open to her. How large rooms have become underground, but their walls are different. Now all green, then yellow with golden flecks, on which again the flowers are copper. There are also blue ones, azure ones. In a word, embellished, which is impossible to say. And the dress on her - on the Mistress - is changing. Either it glitters like glass, or it suddenly fades, or it sparkles with a diamond scree, or it becomes red-copper, then again it casts green silk.<…>And Stepan sees a huge room, and in it beds, tables, stools - all made of king copper. The walls are malachite, and the ceiling is dark red under black, and on it are copper flowers. {8}

In the tale “The Stone Flower”, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain appears to Danila the Master near the Serpent Mountain and takes him to her underground halls. In other words, the domain of the Mistress is everywhere underground. But the most significant place has always been Azov-mountain. There is some invisible force in it that has attracted people here for many centuries and millennia. After all, it was here that the first ore was discovered, about which they reported to the capital to Tsar Peter himself. However, the archers who found the ore found it in old mines, where among the remains of ancient tools were scattered the bones of ancient miners, which in itself testified to the antiquity of mining in the Urals.

Already in the 20th century, archaeologists found traces of copper smelting on Mount Azov, and shortly before World War II, in 1940, a group of teenagers found a stunning treasure near one of the rocky outcrops, consisting of forty bronze objects (mostly bird-like creatures). Five items were lost (stolen) even before the discovery was handed over to the museum. For half a century, some episodic additions were made, but in full the unique treasure became available for public viewing only in the 21st century: in 2001 it was exhibited in the Yekaterinburg local history museum, in 2002 - in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The origin of the treasure and its subsequent fate still remain a mystery.

No less mysterious is the very name of the Azov-mountain. There is no doubt the consonance of this oronym (9) with the ancient self-name Sea of ​​Azov and the city of Azov, located on the banks of the Don, not far from the confluence of the latter into the Taganrog Bay. The coincidence of toponyms is clearly not accidental and is associated with the ethnolinguistic community of the peoples who once lived here. The linguistic relationship of names just proves the former relationship of ethnic groups, more precisely, their past unity. With regard to the Indo-European peoples, this is relatively easy to prove. Shortly before his death, the world-famous Norwegian traveler and explorer Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) was engaged in solving this problem. During the course organized and financed by him archaeological sites he intended to discover in the Azov region the ancestral home of the Vikings and the place of residence - no more no less - the Scandinavian gods! In his research, Heyerdahl relies on a geographical and historical encyclopedia compiled in the 13th century by the great Icelander Snorri Sturluson and called by him "The Circle of the Earth." It is here that it is said that the lord of the Scandinavian pantheon Odin lived with his people in the territory of southern Russia in the city of the gods Asgard, the first syllable of which coincides with the name of Azov (and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov), if this toponym (and hydronym) is read as Asov. Then, according to Heyerdahl, the leader of the proton-Norwegians took his people away from these places, fearing the invasion of the Romans, in order to settle in Scandinavia. This happened around the 5th century AD. Somewhere near the Don was the oldest sanctuary of the Scandinavians, which they called As-Hof. It is As-Hof Thor Heyerdahl considers identical to the name Azov.

As can be understood from some Scandinavian sagas, the Thunderer Odin was once an ordinary person, only later deified. And he brought the future Vikings to Scandinavia, apparently, from the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. However, this migration of the ancient Scandinavians from the South to the North is secondary. Long before that, as a result of a global cosmic-planetary cataclysm, the same great-ancestors of the Norwegians (and other northern peoples) already once migrated as part of an undifferentiated Indo-European ethno-cultural community, but in a different direction - from North to South (which happened at least five thousand years ago). Subsequently, relying on ancient tribal traditions and secret knowledge about optimal route(after many centuries it turned into a path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”), the Scandinavians returned to their historical (Hyperborean) ancestral home.

But Hyperborean migrations, caused by a cosmic planetary cataclysm and a sharp cooling in the northern latitudes, also passed through other regions of modern Russia, and in particular through the Urals. There are also many toponymic traces left by the Hyperborean settlers, who subsequently gave all the ethnic variegation of modern peoples. One of them is Azov Mountain.

Legends about the gigantic cave, about which Bazhov told in the tale "Dear Name", are also associated with it. That cave occupies the entire space inside the mountain, is supposedly endowed with a secret witchcraft power, and the entrance to it was closed for the time being, only groaning and crying are sometimes heard from under the ground. It is believed that in the near future no one will be able to penetrate there at all. Meanwhile, a colossal library is stored in the sacred underground space, in which all the most ancient knowledge accumulated long before the appearance of modern people is concentrated. There are ten such libraries in the Urals. The adherents of the Bazhov movement are sincerely convinced of this, about which the time has come to speak at least briefly.

From a modern reference book, one can learn that the Bazhovites, as they call themselves, are a destructive (?) semi-religious organization of a sectarian persuasion that originated in Chelyabinsk in the early 1990s and quickly spread its influence throughout the Urals. Its leader and active propagandist-publisher is Vladimir Sobolev, who calls himself "the prophet of the Bazhov faith." As sacred texts, Bazhovites use tales from the "Malachite Box", which they declared to be the "Gospel from the Urals". The origins of this doctrine go back to ancient Hyperborea. Bazhov people believe that secret knowledge is hidden in Bazhov's fairy tales. The Mistress of the Copper Mountain (Mistress of the Urals) is considered a cult deity. According to the doctrine of the Bazhovites, just as Zoroaster "rules" Altai and the Himalayas, so the patroness-demiurge of the Urals is the Mistress of the Copper Mountain - the assistant of the Mother of the World (borrowed from the teachings of N.K. and E.I. Roerichs). From the propaganda literature of the Bazhovites, one can also learn that the Mistress of the Urals is the herald of the Hierarchy of Light. The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms are subject to her. Her assistants are Veliky Poloz, Grandmother Sinyushka, Firefly-jump and other Bazhov characters. The hostess of the Urals, according to the Bazhovites, has psychic energy capable of turning feces into gold, and the Bazhovites dream that the Hostess will eventually reveal this mystery and skill to her followers.

In parallel with the veneration of the Hostess, there is also worship of the conqueror of Siberia, Yermak, who among the Bazhovites is considered a “great divine incarnation,” since he connected Europe and Asia, opened the way to the East, from where light always comes, where the mysterious Belovodye is located, which has always attracted seekers of God and the meaning of life. Yermak allegedly knew about all this, trying to reach the innermost land, but "dark forces" prevented him (10). Based on their teachings, Bazhovites regularly hold folklore festivals, which in essence are the creation of a neo-pagan cult and the revival of archaic pagan traditions. Other mystics and esotericists attempted to bring the Mistress of the Copper Mountain closer to the New Testament Wife clothed in the sun, the symbolist Maiden of the rainbow gate, the fabulous Snow Queen, and even Alice in Wonderland.

The question of the sacred symbolism of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain and her attributes is quite complicated and has several levels of comprehension. Even if we confine ourselves to only symbols associated with key concepts, then striking parallels and mutual correspondences of the original mythologies are already found here. For example, from the ancient Greek myth about Danae, it is known that the Argive princess was imprisoned by her father deep underground V copper palace, where Zeus penetrated to her in the form golden rain. There is a symbolic triad - "copper - gold - underworld", easily and organically projected onto the possessions of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain.

It is clear that the Mistress of the Copper Mountain appeared everywhere in the Urals, and not only in the old Sysert mining district, which included Sysert - the birthplace of Bazhov - and Polevskoy, near which the Copper Mountain was located (otherwise the Gumyoshkinsky mine). And in general it is known everywhere where there are mountains (and even where they are not). For the image of the Mistress of the Mountain is not a specific Ural phenomenon, but a global phenomenon. As a through line and in its various guises, it passes through different historical epochs and milestones of world culture. Sometimes the mythologeme is visualized in the most unexpected guises, not immediately recognizable under the masks veiled by time.

For example, Tannhäuser is the hero of a medieval German legend (ballad), well known from the opera of the same name by Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The plot of the saga and the libretto written on its basis by the composer himself are well known. The young minnesinger knight falls into the love trap of not just anyone, but the goddess Venus herself. He forgets about the flourishing earthly life in its lifeless underground chambers. I did not make a reservation - exactly underground, for the scenes of Tannhäuser corresponding to the folklore basis do not take place somewhere in a luxurious valley or on the shore of a radiant sea, but in a deep and gloomy cave inside Mount Gerselberg (which means “not extinguished fiery ash”), which with its outlines resembles a giant tomb . It was here, according to ancient German ideas, that the underground possessions of the ruler of winter and the snowstorm Holda were located. In the Middle Ages, it was identified with ancient Venus, and its mountain refuge was popularly called Venusberg.

In the medieval and subsequent romantic interpretation, Venus embodies the unbridled and passionate pagan element as opposed to the insipid Christian piety. However, this is quite consistent with the true essence of the ancient goddess of love, which was distinguished not by effeminacy and infantilism, but, on the contrary, by inexhaustible sexual insatiability and promiscuity in choosing partners. For she only crowned the general line of development of matriarchal love, which began with the universal Great Mother Goddess and, having passed through the incarnations of the Sumerian Inanna and Akkadian Ishtar, ended in the Hellenic Aphrodite and the Latin Venus.

If we ignore the historical specifics, then the scheme of the seduction of the knight Tannhäuser by the Mistress of Mount Gerzelberg is not much different from the seduction of the Ural miner Stepan by the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in the famous Bazhov tale. By the way, both of them were overtaken by the revenge of the mountain mistresses and suffered the same fate - death: Tannhäuser perishes because he neglected the love of Venus; Stepan, ultimately, because he rejected the persistent offers of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain to become his bride.

People living in the 21st century have to assimilate many mythological images and plots through the medium of later fiction. If the latter is a classic, and not a modern handicraft, then you can be quite sure that you are dealing with a solid foundation that reflects a genuine folk worldview. The same applies to the Masters of the mountain world. Take, for example, the classic creation of the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) - the dramatic poem "Peer Gynt", entirely built on the material of Norwegian folklore. The extensive episode here (voiced in a well-known musical miniature by another great Norwegian, Edvard Grieg) takes place in deep mountain cave and is connected with the story of the daughter of the Mountain King - the nameless Green Princess, in her status, like her father, who is the Mistress of the mountains. In the course of the action, she becomes another wife of the loving Per, and after the flight of the indefatigable guy, she even gave birth to a child from him.

Mountain King - Classic troll and chief among many of the same underground inhabitants masculine and feminine. It is believed that trolls are huge creatures with a vicious disposition and not sparkling with a special mind. In Ibsen, the growth of the Mountain King, his Green daughter and numerous subjects is quite normal (in addition, according to one of the most famous folklore stories, Peru Gynt managed to plant one troll in a nut even before the start of his adventures). But we are interested in something completely different here. Firstly: the story of a short-term love affair between Peer Gynt and the Green Mountain Mistress – albeit in a repeatedly distorted form – in one way or another resembles the model of relations between the Mistress of the Copper Mountain and her “cavaliers”. Secondly: The refuge of the Mountain King recreated in Peer Gynt quite adequately illustrates the ideas of the Scandinavian peoples about the Underworld and its hierarchy, which, in turn, go back to the very origins of common Indo-European mythology.

By the way, motifs similar to the Ural and European folklore can be found, if desired, in very remote countries, say, in Japan. Here the familiar features of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain are found in the goddess sacred mountain and the symbol of the Land of the Rising Sun - Fujiyama. The name of the underground mistress, who lives in a deep cave with a dragon - Sengen-sama. In Japanese medieval legends tells about the meeting with her samurai Tadatsune. At some points, this narrative resembles the plots of Bazhov's tales.

Then you can move to another continent, for example, to sultry Brazil. Don't believe? Then carefully read the legend-tale "Agreement with the lizard." Here, too, a sorceress from a deep cave, who can turn into either an ugly old woman, or a seductive girl, or even lizard (do you feel the familiar flavor?), endows the poor young man with untold wealth, albeit in a somewhat unusual form: just one gold coin, which cannot be spent by any means, another immediately appears in its place. The rest of this Brazilian fusion of Indian, Negro and Portuguese folklore is almost like in the underground halls of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain or in the cave of the Mountain King:

"Now Gaucho ( the Portuguese-speaking equivalent of the Spanish-speaking "gauchos" - the so-called mestizos born to Indian women from fathers of European origin. — V.D.) saw through the mountain, as if it were transparent. He saw everything that happened in her bowels; its inhabitants: jaguars, skeletons, dwarfs, beautiful girls, a rattlesnake - all entwined into one ball, all whirled, all wriggled in a red flame that flared up and went out in all the underground corridors, from which smoke came, it went thicker and thicker; roar, screams, screeches, howls, moans merged into a rumble that stood above the crest of the mountain. The wrinkled old woman turned into lizard, a lizard into a Moorish princess, a Moorish princess into a beautiful Indian woman from the Tapuyas tribe<…>». {11}

The appearance of the Hosts of the Mountains is generally a special conversation. Modern artists - illustrators of Bazhov's tales, as well as animators, creators of stage and game cinematic versions - strongly idealized the image of the Lady of the Mountains, depicting her in typical Russian attire and with a kokoshnik. Bazhov himself did not finish everything. The actual image of the Mistress is quite different. Thus, the mistresses of the mountains, as they are represented by the various peoples of Altai, are usually described as red-haired women or girls chasing men. The mistress of the mountain suddenly appears naked before her chosen one and demands love. From ordinary women, she is distinguished by improbably large breasts, thrown over her shoulders or laid under her armpits. Having enjoyed love, the Mistress of the Mountain bestows good luck on her fleeting lover in his forthcoming affairs (12). It is not difficult to catch a strikingly similar storyline (scheme, model), related to the Altai and Ural legends, which in itself bears witness to the common source of their origin. The mistress of the Mednaya Mountain also persistently offers herself as a wife, promising her untold riches as a dowry (although in Bazhov's tales - seemingly to no avail).

Bazhov’s literary self-censorship is also evident: it is quite clear that he deliberately gave his tales an aesthetically decent look and completely omitted the sexual-erotic aspect of the tales, which, no doubt, occupied an important place in the original versions of the “secret tales” processed by the writer; in addition, he extended the stay of the captive Mistress of the Copper Mountain in her underground halls for many years. Naturally, as a result of such love affairs, sooner or later children should be born. The folklore of the Ural peoples (at least published) speaks rather dully on this subject. Nevertheless, clear evidence has been preserved that the Mistress of the Copper Mountain had a daughter named Zmeegorka. In addition, in Bazhov's tales there are also many lizards, like their mistress, capable of shapeshifting, which the Mistress calls either her army, or servants, or children.

A specific matriarchal type - however, now the Mistresses are not of the Underground Kingdom, but of the steppe South Ural expanses, where mountain and rocky spurs of the Ural Range are also marked everywhere - can be seen in an ancient drawing found in the Kyshtym region ( Chelyabinsk region), from where, however, to the Bazhov places - Sysert and Polevsky - within easy reach. A naked young maiden with two swords sheathed at her hips - and an imaginary picture involuntarily appears before your eyes: a swift avalanche of such Ural Amazons with swords raised above their heads rushes at the enemy, sweeping away everything and everything in its path. Perhaps it was just such a matriarchal horde that besieged the legendary Arkaim, took it with the help of a diabolical female cunning, destroyed it and burned it. Now, the amazing remains of an ancient spiral fortress, wiped off the face of the earth, are hidden under a carpet of steppe grasses: archaeologists who unearthed and explored Ural Troy in the 80-90s of the 20th century again filled it up for the time being - this is the procedure for conducting field archaeological works.

No less colorful in the representation of the Siberian peoples are the male owners of the mountains. Mountain Shoria is located in the center of Kuzbass, in the spurs of the Kuznetsk Alatau, where ancient people have lived for centuries Shors, speaking one of the Turkic languages ​​(close to Khakass). They revere not the Mistress, but the Master of the mountains - with green hair, the same eyes and stone boots. The meeting with him is told in the legend of the Iron Mountain (Temirtau). A poor hunter once got into the underground palace of the Master of the Mountains and was gifted with a full bag of precious stones. And among them was one completely inconspicuous stone - heavy and brown. They decided to test him with fire, threw him into a hot hearth, and suddenly a fiery liquid flowed from a white-hot stone. As it solidified, it turned into a hard and malleable metal. This is how iron was discovered. (13)

Mythological stories about the spirits - the owners of the mountains are spread all over the world. And not only among the peoples-inhabitants of large mountain systems and massifs, such as, for example, the Urals, Altai, Sayan Mountains, the Caucasus, etc. Indigenous peoples live on Sakhalin and along the banks of the Amur Nivkhs(in past - Gilyaks), whose number does not reach five thousand. Among them there are also ancient myths about the spirits of the mountains:

“The Nivkhs have long observed that there was a kind of “battle path” on the seashore: there were scattered seaweeds and spruce branches. Only now, after what is described below, can the Nivkhs say who won: the spirit of the mountain or the spirit of the sea. Once a Nivkh hunter got lost in the forest. In a dream, a man appeared to him, who invited him to his village, according to him, the entrance to it was in the middle of the mountain. The Nivkh went up the hill, and there was a hole in the middle. Entering, he found himself in a village where there were 30 dwellings. Approaching one of the dwellings, he saw a man coming out of his dream. He invited the Nivkh to the house, there were six more people. The owner of the house put the Nivkh on a bunk for honored guests, fed him, explained to him that in their village there is no night and no winter, no rain. He called himself kurn - the main spirit of the mountains. Later, the owner of the house told the Nivkh that from time to time mountain people allow themselves to be killed by an evil spirit - a sea man. By law, the spirits of the mountains and the spirits of the sea must periodically fight, and the defeated one allows himself to be killed; but the mountain man is always defeated. Nivkh decided to help his new friend.

Once the owner of the house told the Nivkh that spring was already coming on the land of people, in six days he would have to go to war, and he was already preparing to accept death. On that day they went out together to the surface of the mountain. The owner got into a bear's skin and turned into a huge bear; invited the Nivkh to climb on his back in order to quickly descend to the sea. The bear stopped near a human settlement, and the Nivkh got down from it. Suddenly the bear shook with fear, and the Nivkh saw a huge sea lion swimming towards the shore. The man told the bear not to be afraid, since according to the law of the Nivkhs they kill and eat sea lions, and instead of the mountain owner, he will fight with this sea lion. As soon as the sea lion crawled out onto the siliceous sand, the Nivkh killed him with a spear. Having butchered the sea lion, he fried its meat on the fire. The Nivkh wanted to feed the bear with sea lion meat, but the bear refused; later, having taken off his skin and taken on a human form, the mountain man nevertheless tasted the meat of the sea lion, he liked it and ate a lot. Then, wanting to thank the Nivkh, the mountain master persuaded him to go to the mountain village again; The Nivkhs rode a bear again. The mountain master told the other inhabitants of this village that he had eaten the meat of a sea lion, easily killed by the Nivkh, and that now, as he understood from everything, since he had tasted their meat evil spirit, then in the upcoming battles, victory will not always be for the sea people, but sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. In gratitude, the Nivkh was given the sister of the owner of the dwelling as his wife, and together with his wife the hero went down to the human village. Since then, the most diverse forest animals themselves came to the Nivkh in his canopy, and he killed them, lived richly. {14}

But the Slavs do not lag behind the rest of the world. In the Slovak fairy tale "The Lord of Stones and Ores" one can see many underground realities and plot nuances, familiar both from the legends of other peoples and from Bazhov's tales:

“Mountains are already moving, they are getting higher. They found themselves in a gorge so narrow that the carriages could hardly pass. Here is the end of the gorge, it rests on a dead end. No, not to a dead end - the entrance to the cave gapes in front of them, like the jaws of a stone dragon. The horses, without slowing down, flew there. As soon as they entered, the earth shook, a rumble was heard behind them - it was an avalanche that came down from the mountains, blocked the entrance to the cave. At once it became dark, even gouge out the eye. The young woman was frightened, clung to her husband, looking for protection. He reassures her:

“Don’t be afraid, wife, everything is as it should be. We'll be home soon.

In fact, it got brighter ahead. They left the cave again for the mountains. The forest grows on the ledges of the mountains. And the mountains are outlandish, and the forest is outlandish. The young woman looked closely - everything around was made of tin. Tin rocks, tin branches and leaves on oaks and aspens, tin bark on spruces and pines, tin needles. The young woman leaned out the window, looked up - and the sky above her was pewter, glowing with a dim light. Everything seems to be frozen in a dream, it doesn’t move, and where does the wind come from under the ground ?! The tin mountains parted at last. A wide valley in front of them. Everything sparkled around. The grass there is made of green stone, the flowers are semi-precious, the sky above is made of blue stone. And in the middle of the valley stands a golden palace with silver windows. {15}

The mistress of the mountains, as a rule, combines positive and negative qualities. In a few cases, the latter predominate, and then their bearer acts as an exceptionally malicious and insidious creature. However, upon closer and closer examination, the demonic appearance turns out to be the result of later ideological discrediting. A typical example is the legendary story of the origin of the Tibetan people, whose progenitor is considered to be the Mountain Witch - an unambiguous correlate of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, with the only difference that her partners are not the Ural stone cutters and miners, but a bodhisattva, who is also a monkey king.

This monkey king was a Buddhist virgin and saint, a follower of one of the eminent bodhisattvas of Avalokita. The bloodthirsty and lustful Mountain Witch fell in love with him, persistently seeking reciprocity:

Oh, monkey king, hear me, I pray!
By the power of evil fate I am a demon, but I love.
And, burned by passion, now I strive for you.
You will not lie with me, I will merge with the demon.
We will kill ten thousand souls,
We will eat the bodies and lick the blood,
And we will give birth to children cruel, like us.
They will enter Tibet, and in the realm of snowy darkness
These evil demons will have cities,
And they will devour the souls of all people then.
Think of me and be merciful
After all, I love you, come to my chest!

For a correct understanding of the true background of the image of the Mistress of the (Copper) Mountain and the entire subsequent presentation, one will have to turn to the very depths of human history, when the cult of the Great Mother Goddess dominated everywhere, due to the matriarchal way of all social life. In modern ethnography and theoretical sociology, under matriarchy (from latin. mater (matris) - "mother" + Greek. arche- "power") is understood as existing in ancient era the dominion of women that preceded patriarchy. It was such a stage in the development of human society, based on the maternal lineage, when successive generations, due to the lack of legal marriage, led their genealogy exclusively through the female line.

According to the classical scientific tradition, the emergence, strengthening, and then the disappearance of matriarchy is explained quite simply and quite convincingly. In conditions promiscuity(that is, disordered and uncontrolled sexual relations), the child did not know his real father and his ancestry, quite naturally, was conducted through his mother. In addition, the main burden fell on the woman’s shoulders not only in raising children, but also in housekeeping, cooking, maintaining a fire in the hearth, etc. This determined her central role in primitive society. But this also later led to the world-historical defeat of the female sex, as scientists sometimes express themselves somewhat pompously. For, remaining tied to the hearth and performing a limited range of domestic duties, a woman turned out to be unclaimed in other areas of human activity - cattle breeding and agriculture, participation in war and management of various social structures.

The transition from matriarchy to patriarchy (that is, to the power of men) took place, although naturally, but by no means painless. Many of the women's positions they won were hard to give up, and some did not yield at all. Therefore, the remnants of matriarchy persisted for a very, very long time, while some of these remnants among individual ethnic groups have survived to this day. This especially applies to traditional customs and beliefs, including the sacred area of ​​spells and incantations, divination and divination, healing and witchcraft.

In the distant past, in essence, all human history and prehistory began with the worship of the feminine and feminine nature. First of all, this refers to the processes of reproduction of their own kind, where the main role is played by a woman who is destined to be a mother. Not without reason in the language of North American Indians Navajo earth is called naestsan, which literally translates as “overturned on her back” (that is, “a woman preparing for intercourse”). At the same time, according to the ideas of the Indians, Mother Earth has four wombs, in the deepest of them people once originated and originally lived.

Mistress of the Copper Mountain: Character Story

Folklore character, mistress of the Ural Mountains from mining legends. The spirit of the mountains, the keeper of valuable minerals. Takes on various forms. In anthropomorphic form, she appears as a beautiful short girl with green eyes and a black plait intertwined with copper ribbons that tinkle thinly. The Mistress is wearing a stone malachite dress, which from the side looks like silk, casts with diamonds and copper. The rich appearance of the Mistress symbolizes the beauty of her possessions - mines with precious stones and metals.

The mistress of the Copper Mountain can also look infernal - like evil spirits with the head of a woman and the body of a green lizard. Able to appear in the form of a disembodied spirit. In this case, it manifests itself only in a voice that is sonorous, but often unintelligible, speaks with chuckles, and has fun.

The mistress of the Copper Mountain patronizes miners, simple and courageous hard workers, and is usually hostile to the "administration". The hostess turns Severyan's clerk into a "waste breed", and the heroine helps those who are in search.

The owner of the wealth hidden in the bowels of the earth disposes of them at her own discretion. Any development is possible only with her consent, the Mistress can "take away" valuable minerals and not allow them to be mined. The mistress of the Copper Mountain is subject to lizards and a brown cat with fiery ears, which roams under the surface of the earth. The hostess keeps the secrets of stone processing skills.

History of creation

The writer and folklorist of the first half of the 20th century literary processed the Ural working folklore and wrote a number of tales, which he published in the collection "Malachite Box". Among other characters there is also the Mistress of the Copper Mountain.

In the 1930s, the study of working folklore was set as a task after a series of discussions that took place in Leningrad and Moscow. It was decided to publish a collection that would include pre-revolutionary Ural folklore. In December 1935, the collection was supposed to be published, but the first editor could not find the very "working folklore". The new editor of the collection got in touch with Pavel Bazhov - and things went well. Later, Bazhov himself became the editor of this collection and wrote three tales for him, among which was "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain."

The main idea of ​​the tale: the beauty of nature inspires a person and pushes him to creative search.

Legends of the Ural miners

Bazhov heard a lot of mining legends in his childhood, which passed in the city of Sysert. There, the writer's father worked at a metallurgical plant. Later, my father transferred to a copper smelter in Polevskoy. Pavel Bazhov met an old miner there, in whose retelling he recognized folklore legends. This miner, who worked as a watchman in a wood warehouse and retold miners' legends to children, became the prototype of Bazhov's grandfather Slyshko's character.

The prototype of the Copper Mountain was the Gumeshevsky copper mine, where malachite and copper ore were mined. The image of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain is strongly associated with the local folklore of the city of Polevskaya, where she appears as the spirit of the place, the "mistress" of the Gumeshevsky mine.

There is a similar folklore image associated with Mount Azov, located 10 kilometers from the mine. This is the girl-Azovka, the spirit of the mountain, the keeper of the treasure hidden in the cave by robbers or "old people". Azovka was also associated with a gold mine, which was located in the lower reaches of the mountain.

Both folklore characters were created in the same environment and could influence the formation of each other's images.

Screen versions of the image

In 1946, the film-tale "Stone Flower" directed by Alexander Ptushko was released, a film adaptation of two fairy tales by Pavel Bazhov at once - "Mining Master" and "Stone Flower". The actress played the role of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, and the actor played the role of Danila the Master.

The mistress of the Copper Mountain lures master Danila into her own possessions, who has been trained to skillfully process stone since childhood, but strives for even greater skill. Danila is dissatisfied with his own creativity, although those around him invariably admire his work.

Danila comes to the underworld of the Mistress to create a stone flower there, which cannot be distinguished from a living one. The mistress of the Copper Mountain expects to win Danila's heart with the incalculable riches of the mountain bowels, her own beauty and creative possibilities that open up to the master in her possessions. But it doesn't work. Danila does not forget the world of people, and the Mistress has to let him go back. Upstairs, the master is already looking for his beloved - Katenka. Having solved the mystery of the stone, Danila returns to her.

In the 70s of the twentieth century, a series of puppet cartoons based on Bazhov's tales was released, filmed by director Oleg Nikolaevsky at the Sverdlovsk film studio. The Mistress of the Copper Mountain is present in two of them. The first cartoon - "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" - was released in 1975. And in 1977, the same plot was played again in another cartoon in the series - "Stone Flower". The mistress of the Copper Mountain is voiced by Tatyana Yushkova.

The scenario is the same: the skillful stone carver Danila cannot find peace and, in search of mastery, goes to the kingdom of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, leaving his bride Katya in the “world of people”. In the bowels of the mountain, Danila perfects his skills, and the Mistress dreams of keeping the master with her and making him forget his past life.

In 1976, the film-fairy tale "Stepanova Memo" was released at the Lenfilm film studio. The script was based on several fairy tales by Bazhov. The role of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain is played by actress Larisa Chikurova. Film director - Konstantin Ershov.

The plot is as follows: Stepan, an expert in mining, falls in love with the Mistress of the Copper Mountain - she opened the “soul of stone” to him. Under the influence of love for this folklore lady, Stepan is transformed and eventually dies. Stepan has a daughter, Tanya, who inherited talent, stubbornness and a proud disposition from her father. As a child, the Mistress of the copper mountain comes to Tanya under the guise of a wanderer, stops at the house and teaches the girl to embroider with silk and beads. Having become an adult, the girl goes to St. Petersburg with a young master who wants to marry her. Tanya needs to see the Malachite Room created by Stepan.

In 1978, the Soyuzmultfilm studio released the cartoon The Mining Master based on the fairy tale The Stone Flower. Directed by Inessa Kovalevskaya.

In 2016, the Rech publishing house published a new edition of Bazhov's tales - the book "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" with illustrations by the artist Vyacheslav Nazaruk.

Quotes

“Here she is, so what a Mistress of the Copper Mountain! To meet a bad person with her is grief, and for a good one there is little joy.

The stone girl, or the mistress of the Copper Mountain, is a character of the Ural legends, thanks to the tales of Bazhov, she gained great fame. The hostess of the Copper Mountain in the works of Bazhov appears in the form beautiful girl in a malachite dress. Bazhov's tales are based on Ural folklore and are of interest to readers of all ages. The protagonist of The Mistress of the Copper Mountain is Stepan, a simple worker who met the mistress of the Copper Mountain herself, but this meeting did not bring him happiness.

Characteristics of the heroes of "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain"

Main characters

Minor characters

This was a brief description of the heroes of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, which can be used in a literature lesson.

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain is a fairy tale by Pavel Bazhov, which revealed to many children the charm of the legend of the Ural land. It shows the story of the peasant boy Stepan. He worked, extracting ore and gems for his master. Once Stepan met a beauty in the steppe, she gave him an order for the clerk. The guy did the job. What happened to him later, who the girl turned out to be, find out from the fairy tale. He teaches to be conscientious, hardworking, attentive, faithful, keep one's word and not succumb to temptations to the detriment of loved ones.

Went once two of our factory grass to look.

And they had long hauls. Somewhere behind Severushka.

It was a festive day, and hot - passion. Parun (hot day after the rain. - Ed.) Clean. And both robbed in grief, that is, in Gumyoshki. Malachite ore was mined, as well as blue tit. Well, when a beetle with a coil fell, and there it was said that it would do.

There was one young guy, an unmarried man, and it began to cast green in his eyes. Another older one. This one is completely ruined (disabled person - Ed.). The eyes are green, and the cheeks seem to turn green. And the man was coughing all the time (constantly. - Ed.).

It's good in the forest. The birds sing and rejoice, soaring from the earth, the spirit is light. They, listen, and exhausted. We reached the Krasnogorsk mine. At that time iron ore was mined there. It means that ours lay down on the grass under the mountain ash and immediately fell asleep. Only suddenly the young one, exactly who pushed him in the side, woke up. He looks, and in front of him a woman is sitting on a pile of ore near a large stone. Back to the guy, and on the braid you can see - a girl. The scythe is black and does not dangle like our girls, but evenly stuck to the back. At the end of the ribbon is either red or green. They shine through and tinkle so thinly, like sheet copper.

The guy marvels at the scythe, and he notes further. A girl of small stature, of herself is fine and such a cool wheel - she will not sit still. He leans forward, looks exactly under his feet, then leans back again, bends on that side, on the other. He jumps to his feet, waves his arms, then bends down again. In a word, artut-girl (mobile. - Ed.). Hearing - muttering something, but in what way - it is not known, and with whom he speaks - it is not visible. All just a laugh. Fun, she can see.

The guy was about to say a word, when he suddenly got hit on the back of the head.

“You are my mother, but this is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are. How did I not notice right away? She averted her eyes with her scythe.

And the clothes are truly such that you will not find another in the world. From a silk, you hear, malachite dress. This kind happens. A stone, but on the eye like silk, at least stroke it with your hand.

“Here,” the guy thinks, “the trouble! As if only to carry away the legs, until I noticed. From the old people, you see, he heard that this Mistress - a malachite girl - loves to philosophize over a person.

As soon as she thought about it, she looked back. He looks merrily at the guy, bares his teeth and says in a joke:

“What are you doing, Stepan Petrovich, staring at a girl’s beauty for nothing? After all, they take money for a look. Come closer. Let's talk a little.

The guy was frightened, of course, but he does not show it. Attached. Although she is a secret force, but still a girl. Well, he's a guy - that means he's ashamed to be timid in front of a girl.

“No time,” he says, “I have to talk. We overslept without that, and went to look at the grass. She laughs and then says:

- It will be good news for you. Go, I say, there is work.

Well, the guy sees - there is nothing to do. I went to her, and she looms with her hand, go around the ore from the other side. He walked around and sees - there are countless lizards here.

And everything, listen, is different. Some, for example, are green, others are blue, which flow into blue, otherwise they are like clay or sand with golden specks. Some, like glass or mica, shine, while others are faded like grass, and which 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 hands, the lizards fled, they gave the way.

Here the guy came closer, stopped, and she again clapped her hands and said, and all with laughter:

“Now you have nowhere to go. If you crush my servant, there will be trouble.

He looked under his feet, and there was no knowledge of the earth. All the lizards huddled together in one place, like the floor became patterned underfoot. Stepan looks - fathers, but this is copper ore! All sorts and well polished. And mica right there, and blende, and all kinds of glitter, which resemble malachite.

- Well, now he recognized me, Stepanushko? - asks the malachite girl, and she laughs and bursts into laughter. Then, a little later, he says:

- Don't be scared. I won't do you any harm.

The guy felt sorry (offensive. - Ed.) It became that the girl was mocking him and even saying such words. He became very angry and even shouted:

- Whom should I be afraid of, if I shy away in grief!

“That’s all right,” the malachite replies. - I just need such a person who is not afraid of anyone. Tomorrow, how to go downhill, your factory clerk will be here, you tell him, but look, do not forget the words:

“The mistress, they say, the Copper Mountain ordered you, stuffy goat, to get out of the Krasnogorsk mine. If you still break this iron hat of mine, then I’ll send you all the copper in Gumeshki there, so that there’s no way to get it. She said this and frowned.

"Do you understand, Stepanushko?" In grief, you say, you rob, you are not afraid of anyone? So tell the clerk as I ordered, and now go and say nothing to the one who is with you. He is a spoiled man, that he should be disturbed and involved in this matter. And so she said to the little titmouse to help him a little.

And again she clapped her hands, and all the lizards fled.

She herself also jumped to her feet, grabbed a stone with her hand, jumped up and, like a lizard, ran over the stone. Instead of arms and legs, her paws have green steel, her tail sticks out, there is a black stripe halfway along the ridge, and her head is human. She ran to the top, looked back and said:

“Don't forget, Stepanushko, as I said. She ordered, they say, you, a stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. If you do it, I'll marry you!

The guy even spat in the heat of the moment:

- Ugh, what a bastard! So that I marry a lizard.

And she sees him spitting and laughing.

“Okay,” he shouts, “we’ll talk later.” Maybe you think?

And now over the hill, only the green tail flashed.

The guy was left alone. The mine is quiet. You can only hear how another snores behind a breast of ore. Woke him up. They went to their mowing, looked at the grass, returned home in the evening, and Stepan had in mind: what should he do? Saying such words to the clerk is no small matter, but he was also, and it’s true, stuffy - he had some kind of rottenness in his gut, they say. Not to say it's also scary. She's the Mistress. What he likes ore can be thrown into a blende. Do your lessons then. And worse than that, it’s a shame to show yourself as a braggart in front of a girl.

Thought and thought, laughed:

“I wasn’t, I’ll do as she ordered.” The next day in the morning, as people gathered at the trigger drum, the factory clerk came up. Everyone, of course, took off their hats, was silent, and Stepan came up and said:

- I saw the Mistress of the Copper Mountain in the evening, and she ordered to tell you. She tells you, stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. If you spoil this iron hat for her, then she will sink all the copper in Gumeshki there, so that no one can get it.

The clerk's mustache even trembled.

- What are you? Drunk Ali mind decided? What hostess? To whom are you speaking these words? Yes, I will rot you in grief!

“Your will,” Stepan says, “but that’s just what I was ordered to do.”

“Flog him,” shouts the clerk, “and lower him up the hill and chain him in the face!” And in order not to die, give him dog oatmeal and ask lessons without indulgence. A little something - to fight mercilessly.

Well, of course, they whipped the guy and up the hill. The overseer of the mine, - also not the last dog - took him to the face - nowhere worse. And it's wet here, and there is no good ore, it would be necessary to quit long ago. Here they chained Stepan to a long chain, so that, therefore, it was possible to work. It is known what time it was - a fortress (serfdom. - Ed.). Everyone was galling (mocked. - Ed.) over a person. The warden also says:

- Cool down here a bit. And the lesson from you will be pure malachite so much, - and he appointed it completely inappropriate.

Nothing to do. As the guard left, Stepan began to wave the kayolka (a tool for beating ore. - Ed.), But the guy was still nimble. Look, it's okay. So malachite is poured, exactly who throws it with his hands. And the water went somewhere from the bottom. It became dry.

“Here,” he thinks, “that’s good. Apparently, the Mistress remembered me.

I just thought, suddenly it sounded. He looks, and the Mistress is here, in front of him.

“Well done,” he says, “Stepan Petrovich. It can be honoured. Not frightened stuffy goat. Well told him. Let's go, apparently, to look at my dowry. I don't go back on my word either.

And she frowned, as if she didn't feel good about it. She clapped her hands, the lizards ran in, the chain was removed from Stepan, and the Mistress gave them a routine:

- Break the lesson in half here. And so that there was a selection of malachite, a silk variety. - Then he says to Stepan: - Well, fiancé, let's go look at my dowry.

And here we go. She is ahead, Stepan is behind her. Where she goes - everything is open to her.

How large rooms have become underground, but their walls are different. Either all green or yellow with golden dots. On which again the flowers are copper. There are also blue ones, azure ones. In a word, embellished, which is impossible to say. And the dress on her - on the Mistress - is changing. Now it shines like glass, then it suddenly fades, and then it sparkles with a diamond scree, or it becomes red copper, then again it casts green silk. They go, they go, she stopped.

And Stepan sees a huge room, and in it beds, tables, stools - all made of king copper. The walls are malachite with a diamond, and the ceiling is dark red under black, and on it are copper flowers.

“Let’s sit,” he says, “here, we’ll talk.” They sat down on stools, malachite and asked:

- Did you see my dowry?

“I saw it,” Stepan says.

"Well, what about marriage now?" And Stepan does not know how to answer. He had a fiancee. A good girl, an orphan alone. Well, of course, against malachite, where is her beauty to equal! Simple man, ordinary. Stepan hesitated, hesitated, and said:

- Your dowry fits the kings, and I'm a working man, a simple one.

“You,” he says, “dear friend, do not wobble. Tell me straight, do you marry me or not? - And she frowned at all.

Well, Stepan answered bluntly:

- I can’t, because another was promised.

He said something like that and thinks: now he is on fire. And she seemed happy.

“Well done,” he says, “Stepanushko. I praised you for the clerk, but for this I will praise you twice. You didn’t look at my riches, you didn’t exchange your Nastenka for a stone girl. - And the guy’s name was definitely Nastya’s bride. “Here,” he says, “you have a present for your bride,” and gives a large malachite box.

And there, listen, every female device. Earrings, rings and protcha, which not even every rich bride has.

- How, - the guy asks, - will I go upstairs with this place?

- Don't worry about it. Everything will be arranged, and I will release you from the clerk, and you will live comfortably with your young wife, only here is my tale for you - don’t think about me, mind you, then. This will be my third test for you. Now let's eat a little.

She clapped her hands again, lizards ran in - the table was set full. She fed him good cabbage soup, fish pie, lamb, porridge and protchi, which, according to the Russian rite, is supposed to be.

Then he says:

"Well, goodbye, Stepan Petrovich, don't think of me." - And at the very tears. She offered this hand, and the tears, drip-drip, and grains freeze on her hand. Half a handful. - Come on, take it for a living. People give big money for these pebbles. You will be rich, - and gives it to him.

The pebbles are cold, but the hand, listen, is hot, as it is alive, and shakes a little.

Stepan accepted the stones, bowed low and asked:

— Where should I go? - And he also became unhappy. She pointed with her finger, and a passage opened in front of him, like an adit, and it was light in it, like daylight. Stepan went along this adit - again he had seen enough of all kinds of land riches and came just in time to his face. He came, the adit was closed, and everything became the same as before. The lizard came running, put the chain on his leg, and the box with gifts suddenly became small, Stepan hid it in his bosom. Soon the mine overseer came up. He got along well to laugh, but he sees that Stepan has heaped up on top of the lesson, and selection of malachite, variety by variety. “What,” he thinks, “for a thing? Where does it come from?" He climbed into the face, examined everything and said:

- In some kind of slaughter, everyone will break as much as he likes. - 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 beetle with a coil began to fall, and at that one - at the nephew - tell me, there’s nothing good, everything’s a little thing (waste rock. - Ed.) Yes snag goes. Here the warden and swept the case. I ran to the clerk. Anyway.

“Not otherwise,” he says, “Stepan sold his soul to evil spirits.

The clerk says to this:

- It's his business, to whom he sold his soul, and we need to have our own benefit. Promise him that we will release him into the wild, let him only let him find a hundred-pood malachite block.

All the same, the clerk ordered Stepan to be unchained, and he gave such an order - to stop work on Krasnogorka.

Who, he says, knows him? Maybe this fool from the mind then spoke. Yes, and the ore went there with copper, only damage to cast iron.

The warder announced to Stepan what was required of him, and he replied:

- Who will refuse the will? I’ll try, but if I find it, that’s how my happiness will suit.

Soon Stepan found them such a block.

They dragged her upstairs. They are proud - that's what we are, but they didn’t give Stepan the will.

They wrote to the gentleman about the block, and he came from, you hear, Sam-Petersburg. He found out how it was, and calls Stepan to him.

“That’s what,” he says, “I give you my word of nobility to let you go free, if you find me such malachite stones, so that, therefore, they can cut down pillars of at least five sazhens from them.

Stephen answers:

- I've already been spanked. I am a scientist. First, write freely, then I will try, and what happens - we'll see.

The master, of course, shouted, stamped his feet, and Stepan had his own:

- I almost forgot - prescribe a free order for my bride, too, but what kind of order is this - I myself will be free, and my wife in the fortress.

The master sees - the guy is not soft. Wrote him an act paper.

“Na,” he says, “just try to look.

And Stepan is all his own:

- It's like looking for happiness.

Found, of course, Stepan. What is he, if he knew the inside of the mountain and the Mistress herself helped him. They cut down the poles they needed from this malachite, dragged them upstairs, and the master sent them to the butt in the main church in Sam-Petersburg. And that block, which Stepan first found, is still in our city, they say. How rare it is cherished.

From that time on, Stepan went free, and after that all wealth disappeared in Gumeshki. Lots and lots of blue tit goes, but more of a snag. They didn’t hear about a kinglet with a coil and a rumor, and the malachite left, the water began to be added (overcome. (Ed.) It began. So from that time on, the Goumeshki began to wane, and then they were completely flooded. They said that it was the Mistress who fired behind the pillars - that they were placed in a church, and she doesn't need it at all.

Stepan also did not have happiness in his life. He got married, started a family, built a house, everything was as it should be. He would have lived evenly and rejoiced, but he became sad and lost his health (weakened. (Ed.). So he melted before our eyes.

The sick man came up with the idea of ​​​​starting a shotgun and got into the habit of hunting. And that’s all, listen, he goes to the Krasnogorsk mine, but he doesn’t bring the booty home. In the autumn he left so and so with the end. Here he is gone, here he is gone... Where did he go? Shot down, of course, the people, let's look. And he, listen, is lying dead in the mine near a high stone, smiling evenly, and his rifle is lying on the sidelines right there, not shot from it. Which people were the first to come running, they said that they saw a green lizard near the dead man, and such a big one, which did not happen at all in our places. It is as if she is sitting over the dead man, she raised her head, and her tears are dripping.

As people ran closer - she was on a stone, only they saw her. And when they brought the dead man home and began to wash it, they look: he has one hand firmly clamped, and you can barely see the green grains from it. Half a handful. Then one knowledgeable happened, looked sideways at the grains and said:

- Why, it's a copper emerald! Rare stone, dear. Whole wealth is left for you, Nastasya. Where does he get these stones from?

Nastasya - his wife - explains that the deceased never spoke about any such pebbles. I gave the casket to her when I was still a groom. A large box, malachite. There is a lot of kindness in her, but there are no such pebbles. Didn't see.

They began to get those pebbles out of Stepanov's dead hand, and they crumbled into dust. They never found out at that time where Stepan had them from. Then they dug in 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. I didn’t sell them, hey, to anyone, secretly kept them from my own, and accepted death with them. A?

Here she is, so what a Mistress of the Copper Mountain! A bad person to meet her is grief, and a good one has little joy.