The Mistress of the Copper Mountain

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain (Russian: Хозяйка медной горы, tr. Hozjajka mednoj gory), also known as The Malachite Maid, is a legendary creature from Slavic mythology and a Russian fairy tale character, the mountain spirit from the legends of the Ural miners and the Mistress of the Ural Mountains of Russia. In the national folktales and legends, she is depicted as an extremely beautiful green-eyed young woman in a malachite gown or as a lizard with a crown. She has been viewed as the patroness of miners, the protector and owner of hidden underground riches, the one who can either permit or prevent the mining of stones and metals in certain places.

"The Copper Mountain" is the Gumyoshevsky mine, the oldest mine of the Ural Mountains, which was called "The Copper Mountain" or simply "The Mountain" by the populace. It is now located in the town of Polevskoy, Sverdlovsk Oblast. In some regions of the Ural Mountains, the image of the Mistress is connected with another female creature from the local folktales, the Azov Girl (Russian: Азовка, tr. Azovka), the enchanted girl or princess who lives inside Mount Azov.

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain became a well known character from her appearance in Pavel Bazhov's collection of the Ural Mountains folktales (also known as skaz) called The Malachite Box. The Mistress appears in the third skaz, "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and in 9 other stories from the collection, including "The Stone Flower", "The Manager's Boot-Soles", "Sochen and His Stones".

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