The Malachite Box facts for kids

The first edition of The Malachite Box from 1939.

The Malachite Box (also known as The Malachite Casket) is a famous collection of fairy tales and folk tales from the Ural Mountains in Russia. These stories were gathered and written by Pavel Bazhov between 1936 and 1945. The book mixes everyday life with amazing, magical characters. It even won the Stalin Prize in 1942, which was a big award at the time. Bazhov's stories are based on the old tales told by miners and gold prospectors in the Ural region.

The first version of The Malachite Box came out on January 28, 1939. It had 14 stories and an introduction about life and culture in the Urals. Later versions grew to include more than 40 stories! Some of the most popular tales were written early on, between 1936 and 1939. These include "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain", "The Malachite Casket", "The Stone Flower", "The Master Craftsman", "Silver Hoof", "Cat's Ears", "Sinyushka's Well", and "The Manager's Boot-Soles". Later popular stories include "A Fragile Twig" (1940), "The Fire-Fairy" (1940), and "Tayutka's Mirror" (1941). Characters from the Ural Mountains folklore, like the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, became very well known because of Pavel Bazhov's book.

Why These Stories Were Written

In the 1930s, people in the Soviet Union became very interested in their country's past and its people. The government encouraged this interest, especially in history and folk art. Famous writer Maxim Gorky suggested publishing books about the history of factories. This led to a big interest in collecting and studying old stories and folklore. Many people, including journalists and students, started gathering these tales. Maxim Gorky even told writers that "the art of words begins with folklore" and encouraged them to learn from it.

About Pavel Bazhov and His Tales

Pavel Bazhov was born in the Ural Mountains. He knew the area well, including its geography, natural resources, and its people. He was very proud of his homeland. Bazhov said he started writing these stories to help him through a difficult time after losing his son. Some people believe this sadness made his early stories very deep and serious, which made them popular with adult readers.

Bazhov faced some challenges in his life. He was let go from his job at a publishing house and had some trouble with the government. Despite these difficulties, he wrote many of his stories between 1937 and 1938. He later said that writing helped him when he felt lost. During World War II (1941–1945), Bazhov wrote more patriotic stories, feeling it was his duty to his country. These later stories often focused more on social issues, like the differences between rich and poor, and had fewer magical elements.

The stories are often told by an imaginary old miner named Grandpa Slyshko. His name means "Old Man Listenhere" in Russian. He remembers the old days when people were like servants (called serfs). In later stories, Bazhov introduced a new type of narrator: a patriotic miner who fought in the Russian Civil War and helped build a new society.

The tales can be grouped in different ways:

Craftsmen stories: These are about skilled workers, like "The Stone Flower" and "The Master Craftsman".
Mysterious forces: These tales feature magical creatures and strange events, such as "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "Sinyushka's Well".
Satirical tales: These stories make fun of greedy gold prospectors or bosses, like "The Manager's Boot-Soles".
Mine explorers: Stories about people discovering new mines.

During and after World War II, Bazhov also wrote about Russian armor makers and steelworkers, showing pride in their work. He even wrote some stories about Russian leaders like Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Bazhov also said his stories could be divided into "child-toned" (like "The Fire-Fairy" and "Silver Hoof") and "adult-toned" tales.

How the Book Was Published

In the mid-1930s, a publishing house in Sverdlovsk decided to create a collection of old Ural folklore. A folklorist named Vladimir Biryukov was asked to gather the stories. He collected many tales, songs, and riddles from the Ural Mountains.

Later, a new editor, Yelizaveta Blinova, took over. She wanted to include stories from the working class. Biryukov thought this would be hard to find. Blinova asked writers, including Pavel Bazhov, to help. This inspired Bazhov to start writing his own stories. Bazhov suggested including tales he had heard from an old miner named Vasily Hmelinin, who children called "Grandpa Slyshko" (meaning "Listen here!").

Bazhov had heard these stories from Vasily Hmelinin many years before, between 1892 and 1895. He wrote them down from memory, trying to use the miners' own way of speaking. His old notes were lost during the Russian Civil War. Bazhov used Vasily Hmelinin as the narrator, Grandpa Slyshko, in his stories.

In 1936, Bazhov became the chief editor of the folklore collection for a short time. The collection was finally published in December 1936. It included three of Bazhov's stories: "Beloved Name", "The Great Snake", and "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain". A publisher from Moscow saw Bazhov's stories and was very impressed. He published four of them in a popular literary magazine.

This success encouraged Bazhov to keep writing. By 1938, he had finished 14 stories. Because of some difficulties with the government, he sometimes used different names, like "P. Bragin" or "P. B.", when his stories were published. Vasily Hmelinin's name was often included too.

The first edition of The Malachite Box was released in several ways. The first copy was given to Bazhov for his 60th birthday on January 28, 1939. A special fancy edition, decorated with malachite, was even sent to the 1939 New York World's Fair! The book became an instant hit and has been reprinted many times. By 1981, it had been republished 253 times in the Soviet Union, with about 37 million copies printed!

Stories in Other Languages

The cover of the 1947 French edition of The Malachite Box.

Bazhov's tales have been translated into 64 languages, with over 250 editions published in other countries. You can find them in English, Hungarian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and many more languages. The first English translation came out in 1944. Bazhov was very interested in these translations and even helped translators understand some of the unique words from the Urals.

Pictures in the Book

The first edition of the book had pictures by Alexander Kudrin. Bazhov especially liked the pictures in the second edition (1942) by Konstantin Kuznetsov. However, Bazhov was very particular about details. He once criticized Kuznetsov for drawing Silver Hoof as a regular goat, when it was supposed to be a special, magical creature. He also didn't like a picture of Danilo the Craftsman wearing bast shoes, because miners didn't wear them.

Who Really Wrote Them?

When the stories first came out, people wondered if they were pure folklore (old stories passed down) or if Bazhov had written them himself. At the time, it was hard to tell the difference.

This question of who wrote the stories is still discussed today. Before the book was published in 1939, the publisher even thought about calling it The Tales from Grandpa Slyshko, as if Vasily Hmelinin was the author. But they decided on The Malachite Box instead.

Bazhov himself wasn't sure. He joked that it was a question for experts. He admitted he wrote the tales from memory and couldn't remember every detail. He said he only remembered the main parts of the story. However, many experts now agree that Bazhov's tales are his own "literary work based on the Urals folklore." This means he used old legends as a starting point but added his own creative ideas and writing style. For example, he worked on some stories for years. For "Silver Hoof," he only heard about the mythical creature and created the whole story around it. As he wrote more, he became less dependent on old folklore and more independent as a writer.

What's Inside the Book

The first edition of The Malachite Box (1939) began with an introduction called "The Watchhouse on Dumna Mountain" and 14 stories. These stories were based on the tales of miners and gold prospectors. Bazhov kept adding new stories to the collection over time. These included "mountain fairy tales" (1942), "Stories of Germans" (1943), and stories about Russian steel-makers (1944–1945). Each edition of the book ended with a dictionary explaining unusual words.

Introduction

"The Watchhouse on Dumna Mountain" was an essay by Bazhov that introduced the first edition. It shared information about the life, industry, and culture of the Urals. Bazhov wanted readers to learn about the unique culture of the Ural region.

Beloved Name

This story tells how the first Cossacks came to the Ural Mountains. They met a tribe called the "Old People" who didn't care about gold. The Cossacks decided to take their land.

The Great Snake

In this tale, two sons of an old miner meet the Great Serpent, also known as Poloz. He is the master of all gold. He appears as a man dressed in gold, and the ground sinks where he stands. He shows them how to find gold nuggets. This story continues in "The Snake Trail".

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain

A young factory worker named Stepan meets the legendary Mistress of the Copper Mountain. He passes her tests and is rewarded with a malachite casket full of jewelry for his girlfriend, Nastyona.

The Malachite Casket

Stamps from Russia (2004) showing scenes from Bazhov's tales: "The Stone Flower", "The Malachite Casket", and "Golden Hair".

Stepan dies and leaves the Malachite Casket to his wife, Nastyona. Their daughter, Tanyushka, loves to play with the jewelry. Tanyushka has black hair and green eyes, looking very different from her mother. When she grows up, a young nobleman wants to marry her. She promises to marry him if he shows her the Tsarina (empress) in the Malachite Room of the palace.

The Stone Flower

Danilo the Craftsman hears about a beautiful Stone Flower that grows in the land of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. He goes to the mine and asks the Mistress to show him the Flower. The Mistress warns Danilo that he won't want to return to his people, but he insists. She shows him the Malachite Flower. Danilo then disappears from his village, leaving his fiancée Katyenka behind.

Danilo's story continues in "The Master Craftsman". Another story, "A Fragile Twig", is about Katyenka and Danilo's son.

Golden Hair

"Golden Hair" is based on Bashkirs folklore. It tells the story of Ailyp, a Bashkir hunter, who meets the daughter of Poloz the Great Snake.

The Magic World of the Urals

Even though Bazhov's tales are based on old traditions, many are different from their original myths. Bazhov often took popular beliefs and created his own unique magical world. He said his early tales, like "Beloved Name", were closer to the original stories. But as he wrote more, he became more creative and independent. Experts now believe he used small parts of old legends and connected them with his own imagination.

Pavel Bazhov thought that most of the mythical creatures were created by people to explain strange things in nature, especially things related to miners' lives. For example, the Earth Cat from "Cat's Ears" is described as "two blue flames that look like cat's ears" above the ground. This was a way to explain sulfur dioxide gas. The antlered "goat" Silver Hoof from the story of the same name explained where chrysolite stones came from. The blue snake in its story represented a gold nugget. Seeing a blue snake was a good sign for miners, meaning they would find gold. The old woman Sinyushka from "Sinyushka's Well" represented marsh gas, which was called "sinyushka" in the Urals.

Bazhov noted that magic played a bigger role in miners' stories than in other workers' tales. Mining was often connected with supernatural forces that supposedly helped the workers. Even in the 1800s, people would say lucky workers "knew the words" and had magical helpers. The stories mention real places like Sysert, the Polevskoy Copper Smelting Plant, and the Gumyoshevsky mine.

The magical creatures in The Malachite Box are either human-like (mostly female) or animal-like. Animal characters include lizards, snakes ("The Great Snake"), cranes, ants, swans, cats, and deer. Many of these animals were shown on ancient bronze carvings found in the Ural region. The human-like creatures are mostly female: Azovka, Golden Hair, the blue snake, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Poskakushka from "The Fire-Fairy", Sinyushka, and Veselukha. They are of different ages, from little girls to old women. They usually interact with men. Bazhov believed that miners, who had little contact with women in their work, created many stories with female magical beings.

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain and Poloz the Great Snake are two important recurring characters. Both are guardians of hidden treasures underground. The Mistress is a beautiful green-eyed woman in a malachite dress or a lizard with a crown. She guards gemstones. Poloz is the master of all gold. Miners believed that if a gold mine disappeared, it meant the Great Snake moved it. Bazhov also created many daughters for Poloz, like Golden Hair.

These magical creatures, like Poloz, the blue snake, Sinyushka, and the Mistress, can be both helpful and dangerous. They might help lucky miners but can also harm those who fail their tests. Even those who are rewarded often don't live happily ever after.

Important Ideas in the Stories

Many experts say that The Malachite Box has strong messages, especially the stories written during and after World War II. The government supported Bazhov's work because they wanted stories that showed the "class consciousness" of the working people. The book highlights the hard life of the working class before the Russian Revolution. Workers are shown as victims, while the mountain spirits often help those who are struggling. For example, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain "didn't like it when folks were treated ill underground."

Bazhov's stories teach important values like love, family, respect for elders and workers, skill, hard work, and honesty. An ideal man is brave, patient, and hardworking. An ideal woman is beautiful, hardworking, loyal, and takes care of her home and children. The stories often show conflicts between different social classes. The narrator often reminds readers that life was much harder for working people before the Revolution. In stories written during and after World War II, Bazhov wrote about the positive changes in the lives of Ural workers after the October Revolution. He also wrote stories about Russian communist leaders.

Even though some critics thought the stories were too complex for children, they were used to teach children in the Urals. The "child-toned" stories were made simpler so young readers could easily understand them. In these stories, children are the main characters, and magical creatures help them instead of threatening them. This helped create a positive feeling for young readers. The narrator often points out that magical help is no longer needed because society has fixed the problems of the past.

The stories often show a clear difference between working people (usually good characters) and their bosses (shown in a critical or funny way). However, in the earlier stories, this class difference was more in the background. The main conflicts were between poetic and practical ideas, or between magic and everyday life.

Stories Come to Life

The stories from The Malachite Box have inspired many movies, radio shows, and plays.

A Soviet poet named Demyan Bedny was so impressed that he turned 14 of the stories into poems in 1939. He called his manuscript Mountain Rock. He changed some parts of the stories, like character names and endings.

In 1939, Bazhov was asked to write a play based on The Malachite Box. It was performed in Sverdlovsk that same year. Other plays for children, like Yermak's Swans (1942) and Silver Hoof (1947), were also created based on his stories. The Moscow Puppet Theater staged a play called Tales from the Urals in 1947, combining "Sinyushka's Well" and "Golden Hair". The sad ending of "Sinyushka's Well" was even changed to a happy one for the stage, and Bazhov didn't mind.

Many ballets and operas have also been created from the tales. For example, the ballet The Mountain Fairy Tale (1941) was based on "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain". The famous ballet The Tale of the Stone Flower was created by Sergei Prokofiev in 1954.

Music Inspired by the Tales

Many composers have found inspiration in The Malachite Box. Grigory Frid created a music suite called Skazy in 1948. Alexey Muravlev based his symphonic poem Mount Azov (1949) on the story "Beloved Name".

Live Action Films

The Winged Horses (1945) – based on "Ivanko Krylatko".
The Stone Flower (1946) – includes parts of "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Master Craftsman".
Stepan's Remembrance (1976) – adapts "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Malachite Casket".
Sinyushka's Well (1978) – made for Bazhov's 100th birthday.
The Golden Snake (2007) – loosely based on "The Great Snake".
The Book of Masters (2009) – a fantasy film loosely based on Bazhov's tales, especially "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Stone Flower".

A film called Tales of the Ural Mountains (1968) mixed information about Bazhov's work with acted scenes from several stories.

Animated Films

An animated film series based on The Malachite Box was made from the early 1970s to early 1980s. This series included:

Sinyushka's Well (1973)
The Mistress of the Copper Mountain (1975)
The Malachite Casket (1976)
The Stone Flower (1977)
Podaryonka (based on "Silver Hoof", 1978)
Golden Hair (1979)
The Grass Hideaway (1982)

Three hand-drawn animated films were also released in the 1970s:

Silver Hoof (1977)
The Master Craftsman (1978) – based on "The Stone Flower" and "The Master Craftsman".
The Fire-Fairy (1979)

Images for kids

The cover of the 1947 French edition of The Malachite Box.