The Mistress of the Copper Mountain (fairy tale) facts for kids

"The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" (Russian: Медной горы хозяйка, tr. Mednoj gory hozjajka), also known as "The Queen of the Copper Mountain" or "The Mistress of the Copper Mine", is a folk tale (the so-called skaz) of the Ural region of Russia collected and reworked by Pavel Bazhov. It was first published in the 11th issue of the Krasnaya Nov literary magazine in 1936 and later the same year as a part of the collection Prerevolutionary Folklore of the Urals.

It was later reprinted as a part of the collection The Malachite Box in 1939. In 1944 the story was translated from Russian into English by Alan Moray Williams and published by Hutchinson. In the 1950s another translation was made by Eve Manning. The story was published in the collection Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov, published by Penguin Books in 2012. It was translated by Anna Gunin. It was included in James Riordan's collection of stories The Mistress of the Copper Mountain: Tales from the Urals, published in 1974 by Frederick Muller Ltd. Riordan heard the tales from a headteacher when he was bedridden in Sverdlovsk. After returning to England he rewrote the tales from memory, checking them against Bazhov's book. He preferred not to call himself "translator", he believed that "communicator" was more appropriate.

Background

Bazhov's stories are based on the oral lore of the miners and gold prospectors. The mythical creatures such as the Great Snake or the Mistress of the Copper Mountain were well known to Bazhov from the tales that were told by his own family members (Pavel Bazhov was born at the village near the Sysert Mining Plant) and by the old men at the plant. Those old people were experienced workers, who worked in the industry for all their lives, but were eventually exhausted by many years of hard work. They were sent to do light-duty work, such as guard the place, etc. They were the story-tellers who knew a lot of legends about the plants and the miners' lives. From a very young age Bazhov used to write down the local folk tales.

Geographically, the folk tales came from the old The Sysert Mining District, which included five mining plants, i. e. Sysert (Sysertsky), the head plant of the district, Polevskoy (also known as Polevaya or Poleva), Seversky (Severna), Verkhny (Verkh-Sysertsky), and Ilyinsky (Nizhve-Sysertsky). The most famous copper mine of the Ural Mountains, the Gumeshevskiy mine or "Gumeshki", was located next to the Polevskoy plant. It was also called "The Copper Mountain" or simply "The Mountain". Most folk tales were connected with this place.

Publication

This skaz was first published together with "The Great Snake" and "Beloved Name" in the 11th issue of Krasnaya Nov in 1936. "Beloved Name" was published on the pages 5–9, "The Great Snake" on pp. 9–12, and "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" on pp. 12–17. These tales are the ones that follow the original Ural miners' folklore most closely. Bazhov was actually credited as the original author of these texts. The stories were included in the collection Prerevolutionary Folklore of the Urals (Russian: Дореволюционный фольклор на Урале, tr. Dorevoljucionnyj folklor na Urale), released later the same year by Sverdlovsk Publishing House. In this book, Bazhov was mentioned as the one who collected the texts.

Bazhov himself tried to avoid the question of authorship, joking that "questions such as these should be left to scholars". Nowadays Bazhov's tales are generally accepted as his "literary work based on the Urals folklore", because, firstly, although he did not change the plots of the folk tales, the book conveys certain ideological concepts common for that time period, and secondly, the manuscripts demonstrate that a huge amount of professional work were done on the composition, images, language etc.

Plot summary

In this skaz, a young factory worker Stepan meets a woman in the unusual clothing. He realizes that the woman is actually the legendary Mistress of the Copper Mountain. She orders Stepan to tell his bailiff, the "stinking goat", to get out of the Krasnogorsk mine. Stepan does as he is told and pays the price: he is flogged and sent to a mine face. He is then saved by the Mistress herself. She brings Stepan to her domain, shows him her riches and proposes marriage. Stepan honestly replies that he already promised to marry another girl, Nastyona. The Mistress is delighted by his reply. She reveals that her proposal was a test of Stepan's honesty and integrity. She presents a malachite casket filled with jewellery for Nastyona and lets the man go, making one final request that Stepan would forget about her. Unfortunately, Stepan cannot do that. He marries Nastyona and lives with her for many years, but he is unhappy. One day he goes away and doesn't come back. His body is later found lying by a rock. The tale concludes with the words: "It's a chancy thing to meet her [The Mistress], it brings woe for a bad man, and for a good one there's little joy comes of it".

Adaptations

In 1941 Alexander Fridlender composed the ballet The Mountain Fairy Tale (Russian: Горная сказка, tr. Gornaja skazka), based on the story.

The animated film The Mistress of the Copper Mountain was released a part of the animated film series made at Sverdlovsk Film Studio from the early 1970s to early 1980s, on time for the 100th anniversary since the birth of Pavel Bazhov. The series included the following films: 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), and The Grass Hideaway (1982). This film is a stop motion animated film directed by Oleg Nikolaevsky, with screenplay by A. Dobrovich and Alexander Timofeevsky.

Stepan's Remembrance, a 1976 Soviet film, is the adaptation of the tales "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Malachite Casket".

The Stone Flower, a 1946 Soviet film, incorporates plot elements from this story.

The Book of Masters, a 2009 Russian language fantasy film, is loosely based on Bazhov's tales, mostly "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Stone Flower".

The 2012 opera The Malachite Casket, based on "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Malachite Casket", was created by Dmitry Batin.