: The young serf meets the mythical Mistress of the Copper Mountain, thanks to her he gets free, but does not find happiness and peace. At the end of the hero they find dead under strange circumstances.

Once two workers went to distant mowing, to look at the grass. Both of them malachite in the mountain mined. The senior worker was "completely shattered", and the younger one, Stepan, "began to pour greenery in his eyes."

As the workers came to the mowing, they were devastated in the hot sun. They lay on the grass and fell asleep. Suddenly Stepan woke up, "exactly who pushed him by the side." He sees that the girl sits with her back to him on a stone, and her black braid does not dangle, like other girls, but seems to have stuck to her back. From herself she is okay, small and lively, like mercury.

Stepan wanted to talk with the girl, but suddenly noticed that the dress on her was made of rare silk malachite. The guy realized that the Mistress of the copper mountain was in front of him, and was scared.

From old people, he, you know, heard that this Mistress, a malachite, loves to think of a man.

Just thought so Stepan, the Mistress looked around, grinned and called to talk. The guy was frightened, but he didn’t show to the mind - “even though she is a secret power, she is still a girl”, the guy is ashamed to be shy in front of the girl.

Stepan came up, and the Mistress asked him not to be scared.The guy got angry: he works in grief, whether the Mistress should be afraid of him. Malakhitnitsa liked his courage, and she gave Stepan an order. He must tell his clerk that he, the "stuffy goat", should be removed from the mine and not break its iron cap. If the clerk disobeys, the Mistress will lower all the copper so that you will not find it.

Having said this, the Mistress jumped, and ran down the stone with a green lizard with a human head. Stepan was numb, and the lizard turned around and shouted that he would marry him if he fulfilled her order. The guy spat hotly - “so that I marry the lizard” - the Mistress heard, burst out laughing and disappeared behind the hill.

Stepan thought. Saying such things to the clerk is not easy, but not scary, because the Mistress can punish him, instead of good ore, toss a trick, and I don’t want to show myself to the girl with a bouncer.

The next morning, Stepan came to the clerk and handed him the words of the Mistress. The clerk was angry, ordered the guy to be chained in the face, fed with empty oatmeal and flogged mercilessly. The mine overseer assigned Stepan the worst face - “it’s wet here and there is no good ore.” A pure malachite ordered to get a completely inconceivable amount.

It is known what time it was, a fortress. Everyone was bored over a man.

Stepan began to wave his pickax. He looks - the work is going well, the selected malachite from under the pickax is pouring in, and it has become dry in the face. The guy thought that this Mistress was helping him. Here Malachitnitsa herself appeared, praised Stepan for her courage. The lizards came running, removed the chains from the guy, and the Mistress led him to look at the dowry.Stepan saw all the wealth of the Ural Mountains.

Then the Mistress brought him to her richest peace with malachite walls and asks if he is ready to marry her. Stepan hesitated and admitted that he has a bride. The guy thought that Malachitnitsa would be angry, and she seemed glad.

Well done, - says, - Stepanushko. I praised you for the clerk, and twice as much praise for it. You did not look at my wealth, did not exchange your Nastya for a stone girl.

The Mistress gave Stepanova’s bride a large malachite box with rich women's clothing, promised to rescue him from the clerk and arrange a comfortable life, and in the end she told me not to remember her again.

Lizards came running, they laid the table, Stepan was fed deliciously. The Mistress says goodbye to the guy, and near the very tears they drip and freeze with grains in her hand. The Malakhitnitsa scooped up these grains a handful and gave Stepan “for live” - they cost a lot of money.

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

The guy returned to the slaughter, and there the Mistress's servants had already obtained the double norm of malachite. The warden was surprised, he transferred to another face of Stepan, and work is going on there too. The warden decided that Stepan had sold his soul to unclean forces, and reported the clerk about everything. He didn’t give a look that he was afraid, but the Hostess’s iron cap stopped breaking.

The clerk ordered Stepan to be unchained and promised a free one if he finds "a hundred-pound malachite block." Stepan found such a block, but did not receive a free one. Reported the find to the master.He came “from himself, hey, Sam-Petersburg” and again promised Stepan freely if he finds such malachite stones that they would make “pillars of at least five fathoms in length”. The guy did not believe the "honest noble word" the master and forced him to preliminarily freely sign both himself and his bride.

Stepan soon found suitable stones.

What did he, if he had discovered the inside of the mountain, and the Mistress herself would allow him.

Pillars cut from this malachite were placed in the main church of St. Petersburg. Since then, malachite has disappeared in the mine - the Mistress is apparently angry that the church was decorated with her malachite.

Stepan got the will, got married, arranged the house and household, but happiness never came to him. Stepan went gloomy, and his health became worse - he was melting before our eyes. He got himself a shotgun and began to go hunting, and everything to the place where the Mistress first met. I didn’t follow it, so her last order was - I couldn’t forget.

Once Stepan did not return from the hunt. We went to look and found him dead, and next noticed a green lizard - sat above the dead man and cried. As Stepan was brought home, they noticed green grains in his fist. A knowledgeable person looked and said that it was a copper emerald, a rare and expensive stone. They started to take it out of Stepanova’s handful, and he took it and crumbled into dust.

Then they realized that these pebbles are the tears of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. Stepan did not sell them, left them as a keepsake. Here it is, Malachitnitsa, “it’s bad to meet her - grief, and good - little joy”.