A very brief retelling of the fairy tale “The Malachite Box”.
After the death of her husband, miner Stepan, the widow Nastasya is left with a gift from the mistress of the copper mountain - a malachite jewelry box. Knowing the value of these treasures, the widow refused to sell them, despite poverty and deprivation.
Three children grew up in the family of Stepan and Nastasya - two sons and the youngest daughter Tanyushka, a girl of extraordinary beauty. As a child, she often played with jewelry from the box. Having matured, the girl began to wear and walk around the house in jewelry that suited her.
One day Tanya was trying on jewelry, and a thief wandered in. He wanted to rob the girl and take the stones. But when he saw the shine of the jewelry, he seemed to go blind. People realized that the box was special and advised the widow to hide the thing away from human eyes. Stepanov’s daughter found a box hidden by her mother and quietly admired the jewelry, secretly from everyone.
To feed themselves, the widow and her sons worked in the fields, and Tanya sewed at home. One day a wanderer came to them and asked to stay for a while. And in exchange for shelter, she promised to teach the girl handicrafts. Yes, she taught me how to sew so skillfully that a better craftswoman than Tatyana could not be found in all of Polevaya.
The girl got used to the stranger and told her about the box. She persuaded her to put on jewelry and showed her the malachite room, where the guests were standing and Tanya in a beautiful green dress. To the girl’s questions, the wanderer answered that Tanya would learn everything over time. When leaving, the wanderer gave Tanya a magic button.
When the woman left the house, a fire broke out and all her property was burned. They only managed to take out the box. In order to somehow survive, Nastasya decided to sell the stones. And a young clerk and his wife had just arrived in Polevaya with an appointment. The clerk's wife heard about the jewelry and bought it.
She wanted to show off to her husband at home, but as soon as she tried on the jewelry, the headdress with stones began to pull out her hair, the rings began to squeeze her fingers, and the earrings began to pull back her ears.
The lady rushed to local craftsmen to remake the jewelry. But all the masters refused, answering that it was impossible to redo something that was made for one. The lady decided to sell the box.
At the same time, the old master dies and his son, young Turchaninov, comes to Polevaya. Seeing the box, the master bought the jewelry and was eager to find the owner. Locals pointed to Nastasya’s daughter.
As soon as Turchaninov saw Tanyushka, he immediately wanted to marry her. And she answered. Like, I’ll be yours if you show the queen in the malachite room. We agreed to meet in the capital.
The time for the meeting came, but the master did not wait for his bride at the porch of the palace, as agreed. I was ashamed of her poor clothes. And under her old fur coat she put on a beautiful green dress and jewelry given by the master. She came to the palace and let’s look for the very malachite room that the wanderer showed her.
The queen, having heard a lot about the beauty of the Turkish bride, came to the appointed room to look at her, but it was empty. Everyone followed Tanya to the malachite chambers. She got angry. How is it possible to govern yourself in the royal chambers?!
She ran there, and there Tanyushka stood there, adamant, angrily swearing at Turchaninov that he promised to show the queen to her, but he arranged everything so that she was brought to show her. She said these words and disappeared. She only left stones behind.
The master tried to collect them, the decorations melted in his hands with water. The master raised his button, and from there Tanyushka laughed, saying, “You’re not good enough to marry me... Turchaninov went crazy and started drinking heavily.
Since then, in Polevaya they say that they saw two Mistresses of the Copper Mountain in green decorations and dazzling jewelry.
The main characters of the tale
Main characters:
- Prokopich is an old master of malachite affairs, a stern but kind man.
- Danilka Nedokormysh is an orphan, a student of Prokopich, who dreamed of knowing the beauty of stone.
- The Mistress is a sorceress who lives in Snake Mountain, the mistress of gems.
Other characters:
- Barin is a wealthy owner who owned large deposits of malachite.
- The clerk is an evil and narrow-minded, but efficient assistant to the master.
- Katya Letemina is Danilka’s fiancée, a sweet, loving girl.
A brief summary of the fairy tale “The Malachite Box” in detail.
Stepan's widow, Nastasya, left a wedding gift for her husband from the Mistress of the Copper Mountain - a malachite box with women's stones and devices. Nastasya grew up an orphan; she did not like to be fashionable. During the first years of family life, I still wore rings and earrings that were given to me.
Author: Pavel Petrovich Bazhov
But the decorations didn’t fall into my soul. It happened that he would put the ring on his finger and it fits well. And where he goes, his chained hand turns blue. The earrings pull on the ears so that the lobes swell. And the beads wrapped like ice around her neck. She was afraid to appear in public wearing jewelry, lest they say that some kind of queen had been found in Polevaya.
Seeing such a thing, Stepan suggested that his wife put the box away. Nastasya put it in the chest where the canvases are kept as a reserve.
When Stepan died, people found stones from a malachite box in his hands. Nastasya was forced to tell strangers about the gift from the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. One of those who knew about the box advised not to sell the stones for less than a thousand.
The widow had previously heard from her deceased husband that this man was correct and educated, she listened to the advice and buried the thing away from human eyes.
After Stepan’s funeral, other men wooed Nastasya. Yes, she refused everyone. The husband left the widow a lot of property after his death. But how can she manage everything alone with small children? She began to become poor little by little. Relatives immediately started whispering and trying to persuade me to sell the box.
They have already found buyers - they offer them for a stolnik, or even two hundred rubles, politely inclining, “We are worried about your children, but we are making a discount for the widow’s fate.” Nastasya feels sorry for selling her husband’s gift, but her youngest daughter asks in tears to “save my dad’s memo.”
The family of Nastasya and miner Stepan grew up with three children. Two boys and a daughter, like an imp, green-eyed and black-haired. People marveled at whom such beauty grew. And Stepan laughed it off - green-eyed because he made a lot of malachite for master Turchaninov. And she’s black because her father is constantly digging in the ground.
So Stepanova’s little girl grew up in the eyes of others - an out-of-this-world beauty. She was not friendly towards strangers, but everyone affectionately called her Tanya. Nastasya often looked closely at her daughter, wondering in heavy thoughts whether the girl had been replaced for her, the appearance seemed so alien to her.
The girl was seriously killed by her father. To distract Tanya, Nastasya decided to give her the box. To celebrate, the girl began to try on her new clothes - everything was the right size for her.
When Tanya grew up, she was often left at home alone. Mother and brothers go mowing, and she manages the house and admires the stones, trying them on herself.
One day a thief broke in on her. He took the ax from the hallway and entered the little room when Tanya put on the earrings. I looked around, and a menacing man stood next to me and raised an ax threateningly. She hid in fear, but he groaned, dropped the ax and quickly began rubbing his face with his hands, shouting as if he was blind. The girl rushed:
– What’s wrong with you, can I help you with anything? – holding a ladle of water in her hand, she approached the stranger.
- Don't come closer! – the man shouted even louder and ran out of the house into the hallway, locking the door. People came running to the scream, let’s ask what happened. He blinked and introduced himself as a wanderer who had come for alms. And then suddenly my eyes felt bad - “like a light illuminated me.”
When Nastasya arrived from the field, the newcomer told her the same thing. And already at home Tanya told her mother the truth about the wanderer. Nastasya realized that they were hunting for the box, and hid it in a golbets.
In the morning, when everyone left for mowing, Tanya missed her usual place, but there was no box. Suddenly she was scorched by warmth, she looked, there was light coming from under the floor. I climbed into the golbets, thinking there was a fire, and there was a box there. And so it went - as soon as the family came through the door, they immediately jumped in to play with their father’s gift.
And Nastasya is calm - she hid the thing securely, no one knows. Relatives were strictly forbidden to talk about the sale. It’s tight for her, but she’s holding on.
Time has passed. The older brothers started working, money runs in the family. The youngest one doesn’t sit idle either - she learned to sew with beads and silk. Yes, she does it so well, famous craftswomen are surprised - where do they get such beads and silk?
And one day a beggar woman came to them, dark-haired, with a sharp look. At the back there is a canvas bag rewound, with a bird cherry bag, a wanderer. She asked to stay at the house for a couple of days. Nastya thought that she had been sent a box, but did not refuse.
- Come in, settle down as much as you need. Only we live like orphans - kvass with onions, and onions with kvass, that’s all the variety. If you're not afraid of hunger, come in for your health.
The wanderer had already entered the hut and took off her shoes. Nastasya didn’t like this, but kept silent. “Wow,” thought the hostess, “I haven’t even had time to say hello yet, but I’ve already made myself at home.”
Meanwhile, the woman unfastens her purse and calls Tanya to her:
- Look at my handicrafts. If you want, I’ll teach you,” he hands her a silk-embroidered fly, the hot pattern of which immediately brightened the room in the hut. The girl stared at the canvas as if enchanted, and the wanderer smiled.
– Did you like my handicraft, I see? Teach?
- Teach.
- Forget it! – Nastasya couldn’t bear it – there is no food in the house, and she decided to embroider with silks! Supplies are expensive these days!
“Mistress, don’t worry,” the wanderer reassured her. “For your kindness, I will provide her with supplies, it will last for a long time.” Good money will be paid for such skill.
“Well, if you have supplies, teach for your health, I’ll just say thank you,” the widow agreed.
The newcomer started teaching Tanya. She does it so well, as if she always could. And the wanderer calls her daughter and child. Nastasya sees that the youngest is clinging to her, and she began to look askance:
“Forgotten my own mother, reaches out to strangers”
And Tanya was so confident in the wanderer that she told her about the box.
“We still have a reminder from our uncle - a box with wonderful stones.
“Put on your jewelry to see better,” the wanderer suggested.
Tanya put on her jewelry, the woman walks around and adjusts it. Any pebble you touch will immediately be illuminated with light. The girl is surprised, and the wanderer strokes her hair and says:
- Turn around. I'll show you the room now. When you go there, don't look back. Look forward to what happens, but remain silent.
Tanya turned around, and around her there were pillars with green ceilings and walls made of green malachite. In front of her stands a beautiful lady, very much like her, in a green velvet dress and hung with blinding stones.
And there are a lot of people in that room - everyone is dressed in gold and stones, walking around with merit, dressed as gentlemen. And next to the lady is a puny blond man standing. He says something in her ear, but she doesn’t raise an eyebrow. And suddenly Tanya noticed the decorations on this beauty’s face.
“I didn’t notice, daughter,” the woman smiles. “It’s okay, you’ll find out everything soon.”
-What kind of room is this? - asks the girl - And who is that woman who is standing in her father’s headdress?
- This is a malachite palace. From the stone mined by your late father. I won’t say anything about the rest, you’ll tell me soon yourself.
That day the widow came home, and the wanderer was already getting ready. She gave Tanya a bundle with the promised supplies, and put a glass button with a simple edge.
“Accept, daughter, a gift from me,” he says. “If the pattern is difficult or if it doesn’t work out, look at the button, you’ll find the answer there.”
From then on, Stepan’s daughter became a renowned craftswoman. Local suitors are hanging around under her window, she’s afraid to approach her.
In the master's chambers they also learned about the beauty's unprecedented skill. They sent a footman on reconnaissance, perhaps the girl would fall for the costumed dandy. Tanya will listen if it’s relevant, and also laugh:
- Go, we've already been waiting for you. Apparently, out of habit, the master's caftan had become calloused.
And the footman is still angry:
- Yes, this is not a girl, but a cold statue!
She runs to the master's threshold, and is overwhelmed - he cannot forget her beauty. During the holidays, local bachelors wander down the street like bewitched. The paths near the window have been trampled, but Tanya doesn’t care about them. Nastasya’s neighbors began to feel conscience:
- Reconcile your Tatiana. She has become incredibly tall. Is he aiming for Christ as a bride or waiting for a prince?
“I don’t understand it myself,” the mother justifies herself, “how this witch was, so I won’t save my daughter.” And you can’t beat her, we live from her work, she works really hard. But what to answer her if she says fate is not here, why welcome people in vain? I’m sitting near the window, mama, because work demands it.
It’s true that when my daughter took up needlework, life became good. Tanya makes fashion, rumors about her spread further, they give a lot of money for orders. And then suddenly misfortune happened - their hut burned down. Nastasya managed to take out the malachite box with stones.
“The time has come to sell the stones,” my sons and I decided. And Tanya looked at the button - the green-eyed one agrees, give it back, she says. The girl felt sad, her father’s memo was a stranger’s. The neighboring family took shelter and went to bed.
In the morning there was a rush of buyers—some seven hundred, some giving a thousand for a box of stones. Apparently, it was not for nothing that the house was set on fire. Nastasya asked for a high price, two thousand for the box. They walk around, consult, but cannot come to an agreement. A tasty morsel, no one gives up. While we were walking, a new clerk appeared in the Field District.
They said that this man was a foreigner, trained in overseas etiquette, and knew one word in Russian - flog. As soon as he hears about the shortage, he will immediately “flog!” The locals called him Parotei. This clerk turned out to be not very thin. The peasants sighed a little in front of him.
And what was the whole point? The old master became quite frail, he moved the spruce with his feet. He decided to marry his son to a noble lady while his legs were still moving. And the young master had a mistress. Well, in order to persuade the woman, the cunning old man proposed marriage to her, with the teacher-musician of his children.
He promised to provide a dowry and appoint his future husband as executor of Polevaya. The mistress was a cunning lady, she quickly saw the advantage and agreed. The musician was reluctant at first, the master had to try - either with flattery, or frightened him off, but they had a wedding and quickly left for Polevaya to manage things, and so the clerk Parotya appeared.
Parotya arrived with his woman at the moment when Nastasya was selling a box. The clerk's wife heard about it and decided to see what kind of miracle people were talking about and came to visit.
- Let me see, what kind of stones are you selling?
They showed her the goodies from the box, her eyes began to dart, she traveled everywhere with the young master abroad, but she had never seen such jewelry. The queen herself has no such thing, but here the fire victims give orders
“Get ready, you will go to my room, there you will receive money for the box,” says Nastasya.
“We don’t have the custom of chasing bread after its belly,” the widow answers, hiding the box. “I’ll give it back after payment.”
The lady really wanted to get the jewelry, she asked Nastasya to wait until the evening to sell it. They say, I’ll bring the money, don’t give it to anyone. As soon as she drove away from the gate, local merchants immediately swooped in and began to shame the widow.
- How is it possible, you feel sorry for your own, but you give it to strangers! - and they increase the price even more.
“It’s your job to get out of it, but it’s mine to wait.” She reassured her, so we made a deal! - says the widow.
Parotina Baba quickly returned. Stepanova's widow gave her the box and received the money she requested. Only the clerk’s wife arrived at the door, and then Tanya returned home. I saw the box in the wrong hands and stopped.
- Who is she? – asks the clerk’s wife.
“My daughter,” Nastasya answers, “she used to play with these clothes when she was young, she kept saying how warm they were and how she felt good.” She is the owner of that box. Need appointed to sell jewelry.
“Don’t think in vain, I’ll find a good use for them,” answered the clerk’s wife, and she herself thought: “It’s okay that she doesn’t know her beauty. Already in Sam-Petersburg I would turn over the kings. It’s good that young Turchaninov didn’t see her.”
Arriving home, Baba Parotina hurried to put on her new clothes to show off to her husband. He runs up to the mirror, tries on the headband, and he squeezes so much that he pulls out a hair! She freed herself by force. But he’s itching! I put on the earrings - my ears almost broke, suddenly the stones became heavy.
She put the ring on and barely pulled it off until her finger turned blue! What an opportunity! We need to show the master in the city - it’s just someone who replaced the stones!
The next morning Baba Parotina got into the factory troika and drove off to the city foreman. He looked at the decorations and said:
- I won’t do it. I recognize the box and have heard about Stepan. This work is not ours, and it is not for us to redo it.
The clerk’s wife didn’t realize what was going on and rushed to other craftsmen. I decided I won’t say where this beauty comes from. They look at the decorations and laugh in response:
- It’s not easy to compete with the work of the one who made them. These jewelry are made for one person, other people will not be able to wear the stones, no matter how hard you try.
Baba Parotina realized that something was wrong - the local craftsmen respect the box. I remembered Nastasya’s words, but realized that the decorations for the green-eyed one were made. “Well, it’s okay, I’ll sell them to some fool! Let her suffer, and I’ll be with the money!”
I arrived, and here was the news - the old master died, the young master was left alone, he sent a letter, they say, I’ll come and pick you up, my dear. And we’ll assign your husband somewhere.
When Parotya found out about the letter, he made such a fuss. He started drinking with the men, pouring out grief - it’s known that the master wants to take his wife. It was once at a party that I found out about the factory beauty, the most beautiful of whom could not be found.
- Who is she?
The drunks told the clerk about Tanya, and they mentioned the story of his woman buying the box. “I want to take a look,” Parotya lit up.
We found an excuse to measure the land and went together with Paroteya to Nastasya’s bride. When the clerk looked at Stepanov’s daughter, he immediately became speechless from her beauty.
-What are you sewing? - asks.
“I’m placing an order,” Tanya shows her sewing.
– Can you do it for me?
“It’s possible, if the price suits you,” he says.
“I want an embroidered portrait of you,” says Parotya.
“I won’t give you mine,” the needlewoman answers, “I have one lady in mind, dressed in Tsarina’s dress and hung with expensive stones.” I will embroider it, but it will be an expensive job.
Parotya was delighted and said:
“I won’t stand behind the payment, that lady would look like you.”
“There will be a similarity in appearance,” he answers.
We agreed on a price of one hundred rubles and a period of one month. Parote gets antsy and runs in sometimes. It’s like asking about an order, but he just keeps spinning away. But Tanya doesn’t even notice, she’ll say a few words and that’s it. The drunks laugh at Paroteya, saying it’s in vain, they say, you’re trampling on your boots.
The time comes, the embroidery is ready. The clerk looks - Tanya is there, dressed in silk and stones. He gives three hundredths, but the craftswoman refused:
– We are not accustomed to gifts.
At home, Parotya began to admire the portrait on the sly from his wife. He quit drinking and gets involved in peasant affairs.
In the spring, master Turchaninov arrived. He decided to organize parties in the manor's house. Yes, Parotya assigned him to get the men drunk. Even though the clerk is drunk, he senses where this is going. To smooth out the awkwardness, he declares this to the guests:
“I know that the master wants to take his wife.” I have another one, let him take it! - and shows a portrait embroidered by Tatyana. Everyone froze, and Turchaninov stared at him with his eyes:
- Who is she, where is she from? - asks.
- The husband is talking nonsense, master! - the mistress cried out - Even before the wedding, a foreigner brought this portrait and showed it to me! What can you do with a drunk!
The local drinkers quickly recognized Tanya, so they vying with each other to whisper to the master who she is and where she lives. And Parotya sees that he is beating his wife, and he is even worse at her:
“I bought the portrait here and didn’t show it to you!” Yes, you yourself bought the stones from her! Everyone knows about the box locked in your closet. The Cherkassy saddle did not fit the cow!
The young master, although he was crazy, knew about stones and had a considerable passion for them. He ordered to bring those stones. Baba showed him Parotin's box. As soon as I saw the jewelry, I immediately decided to buy it. He put the thing on the table and ordered to call Tanya.
Stepan's daughter comes to the manor's house. Lo and behold, in the middle of the room that same frail, blond guy is standing, and next to him is his father’s gift - a box.
- Your jewelry? - asks.
“They were ours, now they’re whoses,” she nods towards Parotya’s wife.
“No, they’re mine now,” the master objects to her. “Try them on.” I want to see how stones look on a person.
“Why not try it on,” Tanya answers. She came up, chose her jewelry as usual, put it on and let’s show off in her attire. The master looks and just gasps.
- We looked, and that’s enough - she took off the stones and hid them back in the box - I don’t have time to dress up, the work is worth it.
In the morning, the master came to Nastasya to woo her, they say, give your daughter in marriage and that’s it.
“I won’t interfere with her will.” If he wants, he will come out,” the widow replies.
He persuaded Tanya for a long time until she said:
“I heard just now that in the royal palace there are chambers lined with green stone. My deceased father's work. Show me the queen in that room and I will marry you.
Turchaninov was delighted, he quickly got ready to go to Sam-Petersburg, and invited Stepanov’s daughter with him. She replies, let him leave himself, and she will arrive at Pokrovy. The master obeyed, drove off, and didn’t even look at Parotya’s wife at the end.
As soon as he appeared in the capital, he immediately started talking about the bride and her unprecedented stones, and began to show the box to everyone. He praised her so much that the gentlemen began to be curious - what a beauty she was and they should have a look.
And Tanya sends him news in the fall - I live on the outskirts with a widow. The master rushed there with the box:
- Where has this been seen, the master’s bride lives, we don’t know where. He supposedly prepared an apartment for you. The queen invites you to visit, you need to equip yourself with a dress and put on stones!
“Don’t worry about the outfits,” he answers calmly, “I’ll take the box for maintenance, and I’ll come to the queen myself.” You will be waiting on the porch of the palace.
Now it's time to go to the palace. The master hangs out on the porch in the morning, waiting for the beauty. And she is in a brocade dress and jewelry, tied a factory scarf, and threw on an old fur coat and walks quietly. Turchaninov saw his bride and hid. She began to feel ashamed that she had come to the palace on foot.
The girl was stopped by lackeys.
- Factory workers are not allowed! - Tanya opened her mouth and everyone gasped, the dress she was wearing would be better than royal clothes.
“Yes, this is my bride,” Turchaninov showed up.
“You deceived, you weren’t at the porch as you promised,” she looked at him sternly.
The master hesitated, there was a mistake, please. They entered the chambers where the queen had ordered them to go. Tanyushka looked at Turchaninov even more sternly:
“This is not the room I was supposed to take you to,” and she went for a walk around the palace. All the courtiers are behind her - where have they seen the queen disobeyed. They don’t take their eyes off her, and Turchaninov immediately spins around, babbling, they say, in the wrong rooms where they were told. And Tanya went into the malachite chambers and stood near the wall.
So the queen goes to the appointed place, but there is no one there. She is angry, what arbitrariness! She came to the malachite chamber, everyone immediately bowed at her feet, but Tanya did not move. The autocrat became more angry:
- Show me the unauthorized person!
When Stepan’s daughter heard this, she became even more angry with Turchaninov:
“I told you to show the queen to me, and you made it seem like you were showing me to her!” I don't want to see anyone! Take your stones! – leaned against the wall and melted into the air.
Everyone was scared, and the queen fainted. While they stirred her up, they noticed that Tanyushkin’s stones remained on the wall. They say to Turchaninov:
-You take it before others take it. Here a place will be assigned to them immediately.
The master collects stones from the wall. Whichever one you take, it will quickly turn into water and run down your fingers. I looked closer and there was a glass button lying on the floor. He took that button, and from it the green-eyed beauty laughed, saying, why should you, crazy one, be my mate?
Here the master lost his last mind. He holds the button and watches as the beauty says something offensive to him. Out of grief, he drank so hard that he almost lost his property.
Parotya also began to drink, but the silk portrait was more precious than the apple of his eye. Parotina’s woman didn’t make much money; according to Turchaninova’s debt papers, she didn’t get much money for the box.
And no one heard anything more about Tanya. Nastasya grieved and calmed down. Even though she had a daughter, she was a stranger to her. The Stepanov sons grew up, got married, and just look at their grandchildren.
Some time after this incident, a note went out at the plant. It’s as if Copper Mountain now has two Mistresses - people have seen more than once two maidens in green malachite dresses.
A short retelling of "The Stone Flower"
P. Bazhov “Stone Flower” summary:
Master Prokopich, the first in malachite in those places, lived in one of the Ural factories. The master was already elderly, so the master ordered a student to be assigned to him. But Prokopich’s science wasn’t going well, “everything he does is just a push and a poke.” He'll give the boy bumps all over his head, cut off his ears, and send him back - he's not capable of science, they say.
Local boys began to be afraid of Prokopich, and the parents did not want to send their child to torture. This is how it came to Danilka the Underfed. This twelve-year-old boy was an orphan - he didn’t remember his mother, and he didn’t know his father at all. Danilka’s face was clean and handsome, so they took him as a “Cossack” to the master’s house. Here it would be necessary to curl up like a vine, and the boy would stare at some decoration and freeze in the corner.
They considered Danilka a “blessed slow-moving” and sent him to the shepherd. But even here his work did not work out. The old shepherd will fall asleep, Danilka will daydream, and the cows will scatter. Once we lost several cows, one of them was the clerk's.
First they flogged the old shepherd, and then they began to take care of the frail Danilka. The executioner hit him lightly at first. Danilka clenched his teeth and remained silent. Then the executioner got angry and began to beat with all his might. The boy fell asleep without uttering a sound.
The local healer grandmother came to see Danilka. From her the boy learned about the stone flower. This flower grows at the Mistress’s place in the malachite mountain, “it has full power for the snake festival.” If a person sees that flower, he will be unhappy all his life, and the grandmother did not know why.
Soon Danilka was on his feet. The clerk noticed this and assigned him as a student to Prokopich: the boy is an orphan, teach as you want, no one will intercede. Danilka’s eye turned out to be correct. On the very first day, he pointed out the mistake to the foreman.
Prokopich lived alone, his wife died, he had no children, so the master became attached to the orphan. Working with malachite is harmful, stone dust quickly clogs the lungs, so the master decided to fatten up the thin and frail Danilka first, and then get down to science. He assigned the boy to the farm and began to give him tasks - whether it was work or fun.
Prokopich was a serf, but he was allowed to work for himself, “on quitrent,” so the master had his own income. He took Danilka for his son and bought him good clothes and boots. The master had not yet allowed him near his craft, but Danilka himself asked Prokopyich and remembered everything.
Soon the clerk became interested: whose little boy was he lazing around all day? I decided to check what the master had managed to teach him. It turned out that in the meantime Danilka had managed to learn a lot of wisdom. From that day on, Danilushka’s comfortable life ended, and the clerk began giving him work.
Danila grew up doing this work. He worked quickly, but Prokopich taught him not to rush and impressed upon the clerk that Danilka was a slow mover. In his free time, the boy even learned to read and write. Over time, Danila became a prominent guy - tall, ruddy, curly and cheerful, “in a word, girlish dryness.”
When Danila carved a “snake sleeve from a solid stone,” the clerk recognized him as a master and wrote about him to the master. He decided to test the new master, ordered to carve a bowl from malachite, sent the drawing and ordered him to make sure that Prokopyich did not help Danila.
The clerk placed Danilo in his place. At first the guy tried to work slowly, but then he got bored, so he carved the bowl in one fell swoop. The clerk ordered him to carve two more bowls of the same type. It turned out that Danila made three bowls in the time that the master gave for one.
The clerk realized that Prokopich was leading him by the nose, got angry and described everything to the master. The same one “turned everything the other way around” - he assigned Danila a small rent and did not order him to take it from Prokopich, hoping that the two of them would come up with something new. The master attached a drawing of an intricate bowl to the letter, ordered him to make the same one, and set an unlimited time limit.
Danila set to work, but he didn’t like the bowl - there was no beauty in it, just curls. With the clerk’s permission, Danila decided to carve another bowl according to his own idea.
Danila the master became pensive, sad, his face fell asleep, he kept walking through the meadows, looking for a flower so that he could make his own cup in its likeness and show all the beauty of the stone. He chose the Datura flower for the bowl, but first decided to complete the master’s order.
Prokopich dissuaded him, then decided to marry him, hoping that after the wedding all the nonsense would come out of his head. Danila admitted that his neighbor Katya had been waiting for him for a long time. Finally, Danila carved the master's bowl and organized a celebration for the occasion, inviting the bride and old masters. One old man, Prokopia’s teacher, told the guy that those who manage to see a stone flower comprehend all the beauty of the stone and forever end up with the Mistress as mountain masters.
Danila lost peace, forgot about the wedding - he so wanted to understand the beauty of the stone. One day he went to look for malachite for his dope cup, and a voice told him: go to Snake Mountain. Then a woman flashed in front of Danila and disappeared. The guy went to Snake Mountain, found what he was looking for, set to work, but his cup didn’t come out, there was no life in it.
Danila realized that he himself was unable to capture the beauty of the stone, and decided to get married. The wedding took place “just around the Snake Festival.” Danila came to Snake Hill for the last time, sat down to rest, and then the Mistress appeared to him. The guy recognized her by her beauty and malachite dress. He asked the Mistress to show him the stone flower.
She tried to dissuade him: those who see the flower lose the joy of life and return to it themselves. But Danila did not back down. The Mistress took him to her garden with trees and grass made of different stones and led him to black, velvet-like bushes. Danila the master looked at the stone flower, and the Mistress sent him home.
That day Katya the bride had a party. At first Danila was having fun with everyone, and then he became sad. Returning home after the party, Danil broke his dope cup, spat into the master’s cup and ran out of the hut.
They searched for Danila for a long time. Some believed that he had gone crazy and died in the forest, while others said that the Mistress took Danila as a mountain foreman.
The fairy tale “The Malachite Box” by Bazhov was written in 1938. This is one of the best works of the writer, included in the collection called “Ural Tales”. To prepare for a literature lesson, we recommend reading “The Malachite Box” in the summary on our website. The book is a continuation of Bazhov’s fairy tale “The Mistress of the Copper Mountain”.
Briefly about the history of the creation of the work.
On the instructions of the artistic and discussion center for the study of folk art of the reconstruction period, the Sverdlovsk book publishing house should publish a collection of Ural pre-revolutionary folklore by 1935. The historian V.P. Biryukov began processing the material, and after a while he stated that he “could not find suitable folk art.”
P.P. Bazhov, interested in the stories of the miner's watchman V. Khmelinin (the prototype of Slyshko's grandfather), told to him in the 1890s, proposed including his tales about “Dear Name” and “Mistress of the Copper Mountain”. The works were declared folklore and stylized as “worker-Ural legends.”
Due to the exclusion of the author from the party, his tales were published in separate publishing houses with the notes “from Khmelinin’s stories” under the pseudonyms “P.B.”
After the first publications of “The Malachite Box,” P.P. Bazhov was charged with “falsifying folk art.” The writer was saved by the notes of the revolutionary social activist and Soviet publicist D. Bedny. He believed in Bazhov’s tales and even indicated their indirect authenticity, referring to the book of the Russian geographer P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky.
