Bazhov small stories. Ural Tales - I

Two times we went to look at our factory grass. And they had distant mowing. Behind Severushka somewhere.

It was a festive day, and it was hot - passion. Parun is clean. And both were afraid in grief, that is, on Gumeshki. Malachite ore was mined, as well as blue tit. Well, when the beetle with a coil fell and there is a protch that fits.

There was one young guy, unmarried, and his eyes began to shine with green. The other is older. This one is completely fragmented. Her eyes are green, and her cheeks look like green. And the whole man coughed.

It's good in the forest. The birds are singing, rejoicing, soaring from the earth, a light spirit. Hey, they were worn out. We got to the Krasnogorsk mine. Iron ore was mined there then. So we lay down on the grass under the mountain ash and immediately fell asleep. Only suddenly young, - exactly someone pushed him by the side, - woke up. He looked, and in front of him, on a breast of ore by a large stone, a woman of some sort was sitting. Back to the guy, and you can see the girl on the scythe. The braid is sissy-black and does not dangle like our girls, but evenly stuck to the back. At the end of the tape, it is either red or green. They shine through the light and tinkle in a subtle way, like sheet copper. The guy wonders at the scythe, and he notices further. The girl is small in stature, she is okay, and she is such a steep wheel - she will not sit still. Leaning forward, looking exactly under his feet, then leaning back again, bending on one side, on the other. He will jump to his feet, wave his hands, then bend over again. In a word, an arty wench. To hear - mutters something, but in what way - it is not known, and with whom he speaks - it is not visible. Just all with a laugh. She was obviously having fun.

The guy was about to say a word, suddenly he was hit on the back of the head.

You are my mother, but this is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are something. How did I not immediately notice? She averted her eyes with her scythe.

And the clothes are surely such that you will not find another in the world. From silk, hey, malachite dress. This sort happens. A stone, but to the eye like silk, even to stroke it with your hand. “Here,” the guy thinks, “trouble! As soon as I could take my legs away, until I noticed. " You see, he had heard from the old people that this Mistress - a malachitnitsa - loves to be wise over a person. As soon as I thought so, she looked back. Cheerfully looks at the guy, bares his teeth and says in a joke:

What are you, Stepan Petrovich, staring at the maiden's beauty for nothing? They take money for a glance. Come closer. Let's talk a little. The guy was scared, of course, but doesn't show it. Fastened. Even though she is a secret power, she is still a girl. Well, and he is a guy - it means that he is ashamed to get rid of the girl in front of the girl.

There is no time, - he says, - for me to talk. We slept without that, and went to look at the grass.

She chuckles and then says:

Will lead you to play. Go, I say, there is business.

Well, the guy sees - there is nothing to do. I went to her, and she looms with her hand, go around the ore from the other side. He walked around and sees, there are innumerable lizards. And all, hey, are different. Some, for example, are green, others are blue, which flow into blue, and sometimes like clay or sand with gold specks. Some, like glass or mica, shine, while others are faded like grass, and which are again decorated with patterns. The girl laughs.

Don't make way, - he says, - my army, Stepan Petrovich. You are so big and heavy, but they are small. - And she clapped her palms, the lizards and scattered, gave the way.

Here the guy came closer, stopped, and she again clapped her hands, and she says, and all laughing:

Now you have nowhere to step. If you crush my servant, there will be trouble. He looked at his feet, and there was no earth too. All the lizards huddled together in one place - like a patterned floor underfoot. Stepan looks - priests, but this is copper ore! All varieties and well polished. And mica is right there, and snag, and all sorts of glitters, which resemble malachite.

Well, now you recognized me, Stepanushka? - asks the malachitnitsa, and she herself laughs, bursts into laughter. Then, a little later, he says:

Don't be scared. I will not do you bad.

The guy became distressed that the girl was making fun of him and even saying such words. He became very angry, even shouted:

Who am I to be afraid of if I am timid in grief?

That's okay, - answers the malachitnitsa. - I just need this, which is not afraid of anyone. Tomorrow, as you go downhill, your factory clerk will be here, you tell him yes, look, do not forget the words: “The hostess, they say, ordered you, a stuffy goat, to get out of the Krasnogorsk mine. If you still break this iron cap of mine, I’ll put all the copper in Gumeshki down there, so that there’s no way to get it. ”

She said this and narrowed her eyes:

Did you understand, Stepanushko? In grief, you say, you are timid, you are not afraid of anyone? So tell the bailiff as I ordered, and now go to the one who is with you, don't say anything, look. He is a crumbled man, so that he can be disturbed and involved in this matter. And so she told the blue tit to help him a little.

And she clapped her hands again, and all the lizards scattered. She herself jumped to her feet, grabbed the stone with her hand, jumped up and, too, like a lizard, ran over the stone. Instead of arms and legs, her paws were green steel, her tail protruded, half a black strip along the ridge, and the head was human. She ran to the top, looked back and said:

Don't forget, Stepanushko, as I said. She told you, the stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. Do it my way, I'll marry you!

The guy even spat in the heat:

Ugh you, what a trash! So that I marry a lizard.

And she sees how he spits and laughs.

Okay, - shouts, - we'll talk later. Maybe you will?

And now over the hill, only the green tail flashed.

The guy was left alone. The mine is quiet. One can only hear another snoring behind the breast of ore. Woke him up. We went to our mows, looked at the grass, returned home in the evening, and Stepan had one thing on his mind: how should he be? To say these words to the bailiff is no small matter, and he was - and rightly so - stifling - some kind of rot in his insides, they say, was. Not to say - it's also scary. She's the Mistress. What kind of ore he can throw into a snag. Then follow the lessons. A worse than that, I am ashamed to show myself to a girl as a braggart.

Thought-thought, dared:

I was not, I will do as she ordered.

The next morning, as people gathered at the trigger drum, the factory clerk approached. Everyone, of course, took off their hats, they are silent, and Stepan comes up and says:

I saw in the evening the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, and she ordered to tell you. She tells you, a stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. If you spoil this iron cap for her, she will drain all the copper on Gumeshki there so that no one can get it.

The clerk's mustache even began to shake.

What are you? Drunk, did you make up your mind? What kind of hostess? Who are you saying these words to? Yes, I will rot you in grief!

Your will, - says Stepan, - but that's the only way I've been told.

Flog him, - shouts the clerk, - yes, lower him up the hill and chained him in the face! And in order not to die, give him dog porridge and ask lessons without indulgence. Just a little bit - to tear mercilessly!

Well, of course, they whipped the guy up the hill. The miner's overseer, who is also not the last dog, gave him the slaughter - it couldn't be worse. And it's wet here, and there is no good ore, it would be necessary to give up long ago. Here they chained Stepan to a long chain, so that, therefore, he could work. It is known what time it was - the fortress. Everybody was disgusted with a person. The overseer also says:

Cool down here a little. And the lesson from you will be pure malachite so much, - and appointed it completely incongruous.

Nothing to do. As the warder left, Stepan began to wave his kaelka, but the guy was still nimble. Looks - okay, after all. So malachite is poured, exactly who throws it up with his hands. And the water left the face somewhere. It became dry.

“Here,” he thinks, “that's good. The Mistress, apparently, remembered about me. "

Mistress of the Copper Mountain

Two times we went to look at our factory grass. And they had distant mowing. Behind Severushka somewhere.

The guy was about to say a word, suddenly he was hit on the back of the head.

You are my mother, but this is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are something. How did I not immediately notice? She averted her eyes with her scythe.

There is no time, - he says, - for me to talk. We slept without that, and went to look at the grass.

She chuckles and then says:

Will lead you to play. Go, I say, there is business.

Don't make way, - he says, - my army, Stepan Petrovich. You are so big and heavy, but they are small. - And she clapped her palms, the lizards and scattered, gave the way.

Here the guy came closer, stopped, and she again clapped her hands, and she says, and all laughing:

Well, now you recognized me, Stepanushka? - asks the malachitnitsa, and she herself laughs, bursts into laughter. Then, a little later, he says:

Don't be scared. I will not do you bad.

The guy became distressed that the girl was making fun of him and even saying such words. He became very angry, even shouted:

Who am I to be afraid of if I am timid in grief?

She said this and narrowed her eyes:

Don't forget, Stepanushko, as I said. She told you, the stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. Do it my way, I'll marry you!

The guy even spat in the heat:

Ugh you, what a trash! So that I marry a lizard.

And she sees how he spits and laughs.

Okay, - shouts, - we'll talk later. Maybe you will?

And now over the hill, only the green tail flashed.

The guy was left alone. The mine is quiet. One can only hear another snoring behind the breast of ore. Woke him up. We went to our mows, looked at the grass, returned home in the evening, and Stepan had one thing on his mind: how should he be? To say these words to the bailiff is no small matter, and he was - and rightly so - stifling - some kind of rot in his insides, they say, was. Not to say - it's also scary. She's the Mistress. What kind of ore he can throw into a snag. Then follow the lessons. And even worse, it’s ashamed to show oneself as a braggart in front of a girl.

Thought-thought, dared:

I was not, I will do as she ordered.

The next morning, as people gathered at the trigger drum, the factory clerk approached. Everyone, of course, took off their hats, they are silent, and Stepan comes up and says:

The clerk's mustache even began to shake.

What are you? Drunk, did you make up your mind? What kind of hostess? Who are you saying these words to? Yes, I will rot you in grief!

Your will, - says Stepan, - but that's the only way I've been told.

Cool down here a little. And the lesson from you will be pure malachite so much, - and appointed it completely incongruous.

“Here,” he thinks, “that's good. The Mistress, apparently, remembered about me. "

Just thought, it suddenly shone. He looks, and the Mistress is here, in front of him.

Well done, - he says, - Stepan Petrovich. You can attribute it to honor. The stuffy goat was not frightened. I told him well. Let's go see my dowry. I, too, am not repulsed by my word.

And she frowned herself, it was exactly not good for her. She clapped her hands, the lizards came running, the chain was removed from Stepan, and the Mistress gave them a routine:

Break the lesson here in half. And so that there was a selection of malachite, a silk grade. - Then Stepan says: - Well, groom, let's go see my dowry.

And so they went. She is in front, Stepan is behind her. Where she goes - everything is open to her. How large the rooms became underground, but their walls are different. Now all green, then yellow with gold specks. Which again have copper flowers. There are blue ones too, azure ones. In a word, it is ornamented, which cannot be said. And the dress on her - on the Mistress - is changing. It glitters like glass, then it suddenly sheds, and then it sparkles with diamond talus, or it turns red copper, then it shines green again like silk. They're coming, she stopped.

And Stepan sees a huge room, and in it beds, tables, stools - all made of korolkovy copper. The walls are malachite with diamonds, and the ceiling is dark red under the niello, and on it there are copper flowers.

Let's sit, - he says, - here, we'll talk. They sat down on stools, a malachitnitsa and asked:

Have you seen my dowry?

I've seen, - says Stepan.

Well, how about getting married now?

And Stepan doesn't know how to answer. He, hey, had a bride. Good girl, one orphan. Well, of course, against malachitnitsa, where is her beauty equal! An ordinary person, an ordinary person. Stepan hesitated, hesitated, and he says:

Your dowry is just right for tsars, but I am a working man, a simple one.

You, - he says, - my dear friend, do not wobble. Speak bluntly, will you marry me or not? She frowned herself.

Well, Stepan answered bluntly:

I can't, because I promised another one.

He said so and thinks: he is on fire now. And she seemed to be delighted.

Well done, - he says, - Stepanushka. I praised you for the bailiff, but for that I will praise you twice. You didn’t glare at my riches, you didn’t exchange your Nastenka for a stone girl. - And the guy, right, the bride's name was Nastya. “Here,” he says, “you have a present for your bride,” and gives you a large malachite box. And there, hey, every female device. Earrings, rings and protcha, which not even every rich bride has.

How, - the guy asks, - will I go upstairs with this place?

Don't worry about it. Everything will be arranged, and I will rescue you from the clerk, and you will live comfortably with your young wife, only here is my story for you - mind you, don't remember me later. This will be my third test for you. Now let's eat a little.

She clapped her hands again, lizards came running - the table was full. She fed him good cabbage soup, fish pie, lamb, porridge and cook, which is supposed to be according to the Russian rite. Then he says:

Well, goodbye, Stepan Petrovich, don't remember me. - And at the very tears. She substituted this hand, and the tears drip-drip and on her hand freeze in grains. A small handful. - Here, take it to live. People give a lot of money for these stones. You will be rich - and give it to him.

The stones are cold, and the hand, hey, is hot, as it is alive, and shakes a little. Stepan took the stones, bowed low and asks:

Where should I go? - And he, too, became unhappy.

She pointed with her finger that a passage opened in front of him, like an adit, and it was as bright as day. Stepan walked along this adit, again looked at all the land riches and came just in time to his slaughter. He came, the adit and closed, and everything became as before. The lizard came running, put the chain on his leg, and the box with gifts suddenly became small, and Stepan hid it in his bosom. Soon the miner's overseer approached. He got along with a laugh, but he sees that Stepan has a lot of fancy over the lesson, and malachite selection, sort-sort. “What,” he thinks, “for a piece? Where does it come from?" He climbed into the face, examined everything and said:

In the eco-slaughter, everyone can break it as much as he likes. - And he took Stepan to another face, and put his nephew in this one.

The next day, Stepan began to work, and the malachite still flies off, and even the kinglet with a coil began to fall, and at that nephew's - tell me, there is nothing good, everything is stupid and snagging. Here the overseer and swept the matter. I ran to the clerk. Anyway.

Not otherwise, - says, - Stepan soul evil spirits sold.

The bailiff says to this:

This is his business, to whom he sold his soul, and we need to have our benefit. Promise him that we will release him, let him only find a lump of malachite one hundred poods.

All the same, the clerk ordered to untie Stepan and gave such an order - to stop work on Krasnogorka.

Who, - he says, - knows him? Maybe this crazy fool spoke then. Yes, and the ore there with copper went, only damage to cast iron.

The warden announced to Stepan what was required of him, and he replied:

Who will give up the will? I will try, but if I can find it - that's how my happiness will suit.

Soon Stepan found them such a lump. They dragged her upstairs. They are proud - that's what we are, but Stepan didn't give up. They wrote to the master about the lump, and he came from, hey, Sam-Petersburg himself. He found out how it was, and calls Stepan to him.

That's what, - he says, - I give you my noble word to set you free, if you find me such malachite stones, that, therefore, from them to cut down the pillars of not less than five fathoms in the valley.

Stepan answers:

I have already been entangled. I am a scientist. First, write freely, then I will try, and what happens - we'll see.

The master, of course, shouted, stamped his feet, and Stepan was one of his own:

I almost forgot - give my bride the freedom to write it down too, but what kind of order it is - I'll be free myself, and my wife in the fortress.

The master sees - the guy is not soft. I wrote him an act paper.

On, - he says, - just try, look.

And Stepan is all his own.

This will look for happiness.

Found, of course, Stepan. What to him, if he knew all the insides of the mountain and the Mistress herself helped him. They cut out the pillars they needed from this malachitan, dragged them upstairs, and the master sent them to the butt of the main church in Sam-Petersburg. And the lump is the one that Stepan first found, and is still in our city, they say. How rare it is.

From that time on, Stepan was released, and in Gumeshki after that all the wealth disappeared. Many, many blue tit goes, but more snag. It became impossible to hear about a king with a coil and a rumor, and the malachite left, the water began to top up. So since that time, the Gumeshki began to decline and went, and then they were completely flooded. They said that it was the Hostess who was angry about the pillars, you hear that they were put in the church. And she doesn't need it at all.

Stepan also had no happiness in his life. He got married, started a family, built a house, everything is as it should be. He could live smoothly and rejoice, but he became gloomy and hesitated health. So it melted before our eyes.

The sick man thought of starting a shotgun and got into the habit of hunting. And everyone, hey, goes to the Krasnogorsk mine, but doesn't carry the booty home. In the autumn he left so and so and with the end. Here he is not, here he is not ... Where did he go? Knocked down, of course, the people, let's look. And he, hey, lies dead in the mine near a high stone, smiles evenly, and his rifle is lying on the sidelines, not fired from it. The people who first came running, said that they saw a green lizard near the deceased, and such a big one that had never happened in our places. She sits as if over the dead, lifted her head, and her tears are dripping. As people ran closer, she was on the stone, only she was seen. And when they brought the deceased home and washed them, they looked: he had one hand tightly clamped, and one could barely see green grains from it. A small handful. Then one knowledgeable person happened, looked from the side at the grains and said:

Why, this is a copper emerald! Rare - stone, dear. The whole wealth for you, Nastasya, remains. Where did he get these stones from?

Nastasya - his wife - explains that the deceased never talked about any such stones. He gave her the casket when he was still a groom. A large box, malachite. There is a lot of kindness in her, but there are no such pebbles. I have not seen.

They began to get those pebbles from Stepanov's dead hand, and they crumbled into dust. They did not find out at the time whence they were from Stepan. Then we dug on Krasnogorka. Well, ore and ore, brown, with a copper sheen. Then someone found out that Stepan had the tears of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. He did not sell them, hey, to anyone, he kept them secretly from his own people, and he accepted death with them. A?

Here she is, then, what a Mistress of the Copper Mountain!

It is grief for a thin person to meet her, and for a good person it is not enough joy.

Malachite Box

Nastasya, Stepan's widow, kept the Malachitov's box. With every feminine device. Rings there, earrings and protchas according to the female rite. The Mistress of the Copper Mountain herself presented Stepan with this box, as he was still going to marry.

Nastasya grew up in orphanhood, was not used to some kind of wealth, and it was not a mistake to be a fashion lover. From the first years, when we lived with Stepan, I put on, of course, from this box. Only not to the soul she had. He will put on a ring ... Exactly just right, does not press, does not roll, but will go to church or visit somewhere. Like a shackled finger, at the end of the drink it will turn blue. Hanging earrings - worse than that. The ears will pull back so that the lobes are swollen. And to take on the hand - not harder than those that Nastasya always wore. Beads in six or seven rows only once and tried on. Like ice around their necks, they don't get warm in the least. I didn't show those busts to people. I was ashamed.

Look, they will say what a queen she found in the Field!

Stepan also did not compel his wife to carry from this box. Once he even once said:

Nastasya put the box in the lowest chest, where they keep the canvases and prints in reserve.

As Stepan died and the pebbles in his dead hand were, Nastasya took part in that box to strangers to show. And the one who knows who obskaeal about Stepanov's pebbles, and says to Nastasya later, as the people faded away:

Look, don’t beat this box for a trifle. It costs big thousands.

He, this man, was a scientist, also from the free. Worse, he went around in dandies, but he was dismissed: he gives the people a weakness. Well, he did not disdain wine. It was also a good tavern, the plug was, not to be remembered, the little head is deceased. And so in everything correct. The request to write, the test to wash it off, the signs to look around - I did everything according to my conscience, not like other prototypes, anyhow to rip off half a shtof. Someone, and everyone will bring a glass to him as a festive affair. So he lived at our factory and lived to death. He ate around the people.

Nastasya had heard from her husband that this dandy was correct and smart in business, even though he was addicted to wine. Well, and listened to him.

Okay, - he says, - I'll save it for a rainy day. - And put the box in its old place.

They buried Stepan, the magpies sent honor-honor. Nastasya is a woman in juice and with plenty, they began to grab onto her. And she, a smart woman, says one thing to everyone:

At least the gold second, but we will keep everything to the robots.

Well, we are behind in time.

Stepan left good support for the family. The house is good, the horse, the cow, the furnishings are complete. Nastasya is a hard-working woman, word-of-word robots, they don't live well. Live for a year, live for two, live for three. Well, they got poorer all the same. Where can a woman and youngsters manage the household! You also need to get a penny somewhere. For salt though. Here are relatives and let Nastasya hum in her ears:

Sell the box! What is it to you? That good lies in vain. Everything is one and Tanya, as he grows up, will not wear. There are some things over there! Only bars and merchants fit to buy. With our remy you can't put on an eco-place. And people would give money. Delivery to you.

In a word, they slander. And the buyer, like a raven on a bone, swooped down. All merchants. Some give one hundred rubles, some two hundred.

We are sorry for yours, we are doing your descent as a widow.

Well, they get along well with fools, but they got on the wrong one. Nastasya remembered well that the old dandy told her that he didn’t sell for such a trifle. It's a pity too. After all, a groom's gift, a husband's memory. And even worse than that, her youngest girl burst into tears, asks:

Mammy, don't sell! Mammy, don't sell! I’d better go to the people, and save the memo.

From Stepan, you see, there are three little robots left. Two Narnishechkas. Robyats are as shy, but this one, as they say, is neither mother nor father. Even when Stepanov was still a little girl, people marveled at this girl. Not that the girls-women, but the peasants said to Stepan:

Not otherwise, this one has fallen out of your hands, Stepan.

In whom it was just conceived! The little black thing itself and the little fable, and the little green eyes. It doesn't seem like our girls at all.

Stepan jokes, it used to be:

It’s not a miracle that she’s black. Father, after all, from an early age skidded in the ground. And that the eyes are green is also not surprising. You never know, I stuffed malachite for Barin Turchaninov. Here is a memo left to me.

So he called this girl a Memo. - Come on, my memo! - And when it happened to her what to buy, so always blue or green will bring.

So that girl grew up in people's minds. Exactly and in all likelihood the garusinka fell out of the festive belt - you can see it far away. And although she was not very fond of strangers, and everyone to her - Tanya and Tanyushka. The most are envious women, and they admired. Well, how - beauty! Everyone is cute. One mother sighed: - Beauty is beauty, but not ours. Exactly who replaced the girl for me.

According to Stepan, this girl was killed very quickly. She was purely crying all over, she lost weight from her face, only her eyes remained. Mother thought of giving Tanyushka that casket to Malakhitov - let him have fun. Even a little, but a girl, from an early age they are flattered to scoff at themselves. Tanya began to disassemble these things. And here's a miracle - which she tries on, the one for her. Mother didn't know why, but this one knows everything. And he also says:

Mammy, how good is a donut of meat! Warmth from him, as if you are sitting on a warm place - and even who is stroking you soft.

Nastasya sewed it herself, she remembers how her fingers were numb, her ears ached, her neck could not warm up. So he thinks: “It's not for nothing. Oh, not without reason! " - but hurry up to put the box back in the chest. Only Tanya since then, no, no, and will ask:

Mammy, let me play with a taty gift!

When Nastasya is nailed down, well, a mother's heart, she will regret it, take out the box, only punish:

Don't break anything!

Then, when Tanya grew up, she began to take out the box herself. The mother and the older boys will leave for the mowing or somewhere else, Tanyushka will remain to play housewives. First, of course, he will rule what the mother punished. Well, wash the cups and spoons, shake off the tablecloth, wave a broom in the hut with a broom, give the chicken feed, take a look in the stove. Will settle everything as soon as possible, and for the box. By that time, one of the upper chests remained, and even that one became light. Tanya will move him onto a stool, take out the casket and sort out the pebbles, admire, try on himself.

Once the chitnik also climbed up to her. Either he buried himself in the fence early in the morning, or then imperceptibly he crawled where, only from his neighbors, no one saw him walking down the street. An unknown person, but on the case, someone brought him in, told the whole order.

As Nastasya left, Tanyushka ran a lot around the house and climbed into the hut to play with her father's pebbles. She put on a headband and hung her earrings. At this time, and puff into the hut, this henchman. Tanya looked around - an unfamiliar man with an ax was on the doorstep. And their ax. In the senki, in a corner stood. Just now Tanya was rearranging it, as in the chalk chalk. Tanyushka was frightened, she sits as if she froze, and the peasant soykul, dropped the ax and captured his eyes with both hands, as he burned them. Moans-shouts:

Oh, priests, I have gone blind! Oh, went blind! - and he rubs his eyes.

Tanya sees - something is wrong with the person, she began to ask:

How are you, uncle, came to us, why did you take the ax? And he, know, groans and rubs his eyes. Tanya took pity on him - she scooped up a ladle of water, wanted to serve, and the man just shied away from the door.

Oh, don't come near! - So I sat in the senki and filled up the doors so that Tanya inadvertently would not jump out. Yes, she found a way - she ran out the window and to her neighbors. Well, they came. They began to ask what kind of person, by what occasion? He blinked a little, explains - the passing, de, wanted to ask for mercy, but something with his eyes cried out.

As the sun hit. I thought I would go completely blind. From the heat, or something.

Tanya did not tell her neighbors about the ax and the stones. They think: “It's a trivial matter. Maybe she herself forgot to lock the gate, so the passing one entered, and then something happened to him. You never know. " Until Nastasya was still passing by, they didn’t let him go. When she and her sons arrived, this man told her what he had told his neighbors. Nastasya sees that everything is safe, she did not knit.

The man left, and so did the neighbors.

Then Tanya's mother laid out how it was. It was then that Nastasya realized that she had come for the box, but it was evidently not easy to take it. And she herself thinks: "It is still necessary to protect her stronger."

She took it on the sly from Tanya and others, and buried that box in the golbets.

All family members left again. Tanya missed the box, but it happened to be. It seemed bitter to Tanyushka, and then suddenly it smelled of warmth. What is this thing? Where? I looked around, and there was light from under the floor. Tanya was frightened - was it a fire? I looked into the golbets, there is a light in one corner. I grabbed a bucket and wanted to splash - only there is no fire and it does not smell of smoke. I dug in that place and saw - a box. I opened it, and the stones became even more beautiful. So they burn with different lights, and it is light from them, like in the sun. Tanya did not drag the box into the hut either. Here in the golbtse and played enough.

So it has been since then. The mother thinks: “She hid it well, no one knows,” and the daughter, how to play housewives, will snatch an hour to play with her father’s expensive gift. Nastasya would not let her relatives talk about the sale. - The world will come just right - then I will sell. Although she had a hard time, she strengthened herself. So they overcame for a few more years, then went on to the right. The older robots began to earn little money, and Tanya did not sit idly by. She, hey, learned how to sew with silk and beads. And so I learned that the best master craftswomen clapped their hands - where does she get the patterns, where does she get the silk?

And it also happened by chance. A woman comes to them. Small in stature, dark-haired, in Nastasya's years, and with staring eyes and, apparently, sniffed such that just hold on. On the back there is a linen knapsack, in his hand a bird cherry bag, kind of like a wanderer. Asks Nastasya:

Could you, hostess, have you rest for a day or two? The legs are not carried, and the walk is not close.

At first Nastasya wondered if she had been sent again for the box, but then she let it go.

The place is not a pity. If you don't lie, go and take it with you. Only now we have an orphan piece. In the morning - an onion with kvass, in the evening kvass with an onion, all and change. You are not afraid to grow thin, so you are welcome, live as you need to.

And the wanderer has already put her little bag, put the knapsack on the hot stove and takes off her shoes. Nastasya did not like this, but kept silent. “Look, you don't think so! They didn't have time to greet her, but she just took off her shoes and untied her knapsack. "

The woman, and it is true, unbuttoned her little knapsack and beckons Tanya to her with her finger:

Come on, child, look at my needlework. If he takes a look, and I'll teach you ... Looks like a tenacious peephole will be at this!

Tanya came up, and the woman hands her a small fly, the ends are sewn with silk. And such and such, hey, a hot pattern on that fly that exactly in the hut became lighter and warmer.

Tanya glared at her, and the woman chuckles.

Looked to know, daughter, my needlewoman? Do you want to learn?

I want, - he says.

Nastasya was so eager:

And forget to think! There is nothing to buy salt, but you invented to sew with silks! The supplies are worth the money.

Don't worry about that, mistress, ”says the wanderer. - If my daughter has a concept, there will be supplies. I'll leave her for your bread and salt - that's enough for a long time. And then you will see for yourself. We pay money for our skill. We do not give our work for nothing. We have a piece.

Here Nastasya had to give in.

If you spend supplies, then there is nothing to learn. Let him learn how much the concept is enough. I will thank you.

This woman started teaching Tanya. Pretty soon Tanya took over everything, as if she knew it before. And here's another thing. Tanya was not so affectionate to strangers, she was not affectionate to her own people, but she clings to this woman and clings to this woman. Nastasya skosa looked:

“I found myself a new relative. She won't fit her mother, but she stuck to the tramp! "

And she still teases evenly, she calls all Tanya a child and her daughter, but she never remembered her baptized name. Tanyushka sees that her mother is offended, but cannot restrain herself. Before that, hey, I trusted this woman, what I told her about the box!

There is, - he says, - we have an expensive memorandum - Malachite's casket. That's where the stones are! A century would have looked at them.

Will you show me, daughter? the woman asks.

Tanya didn't even think it was wrong. - I will show, - he says, - when none of the family is at home.

As soon as such an hour turned out, Tanya called that woman into the golbets. Tanya took out the box, showed it, and the woman looked a little and said:

Put it on yourself - it will be more visible. Well, Tanyushka, - the wrong word, - began to put on, and she, you know, praises.

Okay, daughter, okay! The droplet only needs to be corrected.

Came closer, and let's poke a finger into the pebbles. The one that touches - that one will light up differently. Tanya can see something different, not otherwise. After that, the woman says:

Stand up, daughter, straight.

Tanya got up, and the woman and let her slowly stroke her hair and back. She stroked everything, and she teaches:

I will make you turn, so you, look, do not look back at me. Look ahead, notice what will happen, but don't say anything. Well, turn around!

Tanya turned around - in front of her was a room that she had never seen before. Not that the church, not that. The ceilings are high on pillars of pure malachite. The walls are also lined with malachite the size of a man, and a malachite pattern has passed along the upper cornice. Right in front of Tanyushka, as in the mirror, there is a beauty, about which only in fairy tales they say. Hair like night, and green eyes. And she's all adorned with precious stones, and her dress is made of green velvet with an overflow. And so this dress is sewn, like the queens in the pictures. What only keeps. Out of shame, our factory would have burned out in public to wear this, but this green-eyed woman stands calmly for herself, as if it should be so. The room is full of people. Dressed like a master, and all in gold and merit. Some have it hung in front, some have it sewn on the back, and some have it on all sides. Looks like the highest bosses. And their women are right there. Also bare-handed, gologruds, hung with stones. But where are they to green-eyed! None can hold a candle.

Along with the green-eyed, some kind of fair-haired. Eyes vskos, ears stumped, like a hare. And the clothes on him are a darkening of the mind. This little gold seemed a little, so he, hey, planted stones on both sides. Yes, they are so strong that maybe in ten years they will find one like that. You can see right away - this is a breeder. That green-eyed hare is gurgling, but at least she raised an eyebrow, as if he weren't there at all. Tanyushka looks at this lady, marvels at her, and only noticed:

After all, the stones are tarry on it! - joked Tanyushka, and nothing happened.

And that woman chuckles:

I didn't see it, daughter! Do not grieve, you will see in time.

Tanya, of course, is questioning - where is this room?

And this, he says, is the royal palace. The very same chamber adorned with local malachite - your late father mined it.

And who is this in tatny headdresses and what kind of hare is this with her?

Well, I won't say that, you yourself will soon find out.

On the same day, as Nastasya came home, this woman began to get ready for the journey. She bowed low to the hostess, gave Tanya a bundle of silks and beads, then took out a tiny button. Either it is made of glass, or it is made of a dummy to a simple edge. He gives it to Tanya, and says:

Take, daughter, a memo from me. How do you forget about work or a difficult case will come up, look at this button. Here you will have the answer.

She said so and left. They only saw her.

Since that time, Tanyushka has become a craftswoman, and even in the years she began to enter, she looks like a bride at all. The factory guys about Nastasya's eyes smoothed their eyes, and they are afraid to approach Tanyushka. You see, she is not affectionate, not cheerful, and where the free will go for a serf. Who wants to wear a noose?

In the master's house, they also visited about Tanyushka because of her skill. They began to send to her. A younger but more noble lackey will be dressed in a master's way, a watch with a tenacious will be given and sent to Tanyushka, as if for some business. They think, whether the girl will look at this fellow. Then you can reverse it. Sense all the same did not come out. Tanyushka will say what is on the case, and other conversations of that lackey are ignored. If you get tired of it, you will also set up a ridicule:

Go, my dear, go! They are waiting. They are afraid, so that your watch will not wear out later and the chain will not hesitate. You see, without habit, how you call them.

Well, to a footman or other lordly servant, these words are like boiling water to a dog. He runs like scalded, snorts to himself:

Is this a girl? Stone statue, green-eyed! Will we find such a thing!

He snorts like that, but he was already overwhelmed. Whom they will send, Tanya's beauty cannot be forgotten. As if bewitched to that place, pulls, at least pass by, look out the window. On holidays, almost all the factory bachelor's business is on that street. They made the path at the very windows, but Tanyushka didn't even look. The neighbors began to reproach Nastasya:

What is it that you have Tatyana very high behaved? She has no girlfriends, she doesn't want to look at the guys. The tsarevich-prince is waiting for the brides of Christ, is it okay?

Nastasya only sighs for these concessions:

Oh, old ladies, I don't know myself. And so my girl was tricky, and this witch who was passing by completely exhausted her. You start talking to her, and she stares at her witch button and is silent. She would have thrown away this damned button, but on business it is good for her. How to change silk or something, so it looks like a button. She told me too, but apparently my eyes became dull, I can't see. I would have pounded the girl, yes, you see, she is an artisan with us. Honor, we only live by her work. I think, I think so, yes, and a glow. Well, then she will say: “Mammy, because I know that my destiny is not here. I don’t welcome anyone and I don’t go to the games. Why should we drive people into anguish in vain? And as I sit under the window, my work requires it. Why are you coming to me? What have I done wrong? " So answer her!

Well, they started to live all right. Tanyushka's needlework went into fashion. Not like in the al factory in our city, they learned about it in other places, orders are sent and they pay a lot of money. A good man just right to earn so much.

Only then misfortune caught them - the fire happened. And at night it was. The drive, the delivery, the horse, the cow, all the tackle - everything burned out. With that, they only stayed in what they jumped out in. However, Nastasya snatched out the box, she managed to do it in time. The next day he speaks.

Apparently, the edge has come - you will have to sell the box.

Sell it, mommy. Don't be too cheap just ...

Tanya furtively glanced at the button, and there the green-eyed one looms - let them sell it. Tanya felt bitter, but what can you do? All the same, this green-eyed father's memo will go away. She sighed and speaks.

Selling - so selling, - And she didn't even look at those stones goodbye.

And then to say - the neighbors took shelter, where to lay out here.

They came up with this - to sell something, and the merchants are already right there. Who, perhaps, arranged the arson himself in order to take possession of the box. Also, after all, the people are - a marigold, it will get scratched! They see - the robots have grown up - they give more. Five hundred there, seven hundred, one reached a thousand. A lot of money for the plant, you can get it. Well, Nastasya asked for two thousand all the same. So they go to her, dress up. They put it on little by little, but they themselves hide from each other, they cannot come to an agreement among themselves. You see, a piece like that - no one is reluctant to give up. While they were walking like that, a new salesman arrived at Polevoy.

When, after all, they - clerks - sit for a long time, and in those years some kind of transfer happened to them. The old master on Krylatovsko left the stuffy goat that Stepan had with him for the stench. Then there was Fried Ass. The workers put him on a blank. Then Severyan the Slayer interceded. This again the Mistress of the Copper Mountain threw into the empty rock. There were two more, there were three of them, and then this one arrived.

They say he came from foreign lands, he seemed to speak all kinds of languages, but worse Russian. Purely pronounced one thing - to flog. So high, with a stretch - steam. What a shortage they will talk to him, one shout: a lot! They called him Parotey.

In fact, this Parotya was not very thin. At least he shouted, but at all the people did not drive to the fire. The local booters did not care at all. The people sighed a little at this Parote.

Here, you see, the thing is something. The old master by that time had become completely fragile, barely fiddling with his feet. He came up with the idea of marrying his son to some sort of countess or something. Well, this young master had a sweetheart, and he had a great adherence to her. How can business be? It's awkward all the same. What will the new matchmakers say? So the old master began to conspire that woman into his son's lover - for the musician. This musician served with the master. Robyatishek taught on music and so foreign conversation, as is conducted by their position.

Than, - he says, - you live like that - in bad fame, get married. I will dress you as a dowry, and I will send my husband as a clerk to the Field. The matter is directed there, let the people keep it stricter. Enough, come on, it’s good that even though he’s a musician. And you will live better with him in Polevoy. The first person, one might say, will be. Honors to you, respect from everyone. What's bad?

The conspiracy butterfly turned out to be. Either she was at odds with the young master, or she had a trick.

For a long time, - he says, - she had a dream about it, but to say - she did not dare.

Well, the musician, of course, first rested:

I don't want to, - helluva lot of glory about her, a whore like ...

Only the master is a cunning old man. No wonder I amassed the factories. Lively broke off this musician. He frightened them with what Ali placated, or made them drunk - their business, only soon the wedding was celebrated, and the young went to Polevoy. So Parotia appeared in our factory. Not long only lived, and so - what to say in vain - a person is not harmful. Then, as one and a half Hari interceded instead of him - from his factory, they felt so sorry even for this Parotya.

Parotya and his wife arrived just at the time the merchants were courting Nastasya. Parotina's woman was also prominent. White and ruddy - in a word, a lover. Probably, the master would not have taken the worst. Also, go and choose! This parotina's wife heard that the box was being sold. "Come on," he thinks, "I'll see if it’s really worth it."

She quickly pulled herself together and rolled over to Nastasya. Factory horses are always ready for them!

Well, - he says, - dear, show me, what kind of pebbles are you selling?

Nastasya took out the box and showed it. The parotina woman's eyes flickered. She, hey, was brought up in Sam-Petersburg, she visited different countries with the young master, she had a lot of things in these outfits. “What is it,” he thinks, “is it? The queen herself does not have such adornments, but here she is - in Polevoy, at the fire victims! As soon as the purchase fails ”.

How much, - asks, - do you ask?

Nastasya says:

If I would like to take two thousand, the lady made herself up for a gimmick, and she says:

Well, honey, get ready! Let's go to me with the box. You will get the money in full there.

Nastasya, however, did not go for it.

We, - he says, - do not have such a custom for bread to go round the belly. Bring the money - the box is yours.

The lady sees - there is such a woman - she quickly twisted herself for money, and she herself punishes:

Don't sell the box, honey.

Nastasya replies:

Be in hope. I will not disassociate myself from my word. I will wait until the evening, and then my will.

Parot's wife left, and the merchants all came running in at once. You see, they followed. They ask:

I sold it, - Nastasya answers.

How much?

For two, as appointed.

What are you, - they shout, - did the mind decide, or what? You give it into the wrong hands, but you refuse to yours! - And let's add the price.

Well, Nastasya didn't bite this bait.

This, - he says, - it’s a matter of fancy for you to turn around in words, but I didn’t happen to. Has reassured the woman, and the conversation is over!

Parotina woman turned around sharply. I brought the money, handed it from pen to pen, grabbed the box and let's go home. Only on the threshold, and towards Tanya. She, you see, went somewhere, and this whole sale was without her. He sees - some kind of lady, and with a box. Tanyushka stared at her - they say, not the one she saw then. And Parotina's wife looked even more.

What an obsession? Whose is this? - asks.

People call their daughter, - answers Nastasya. - The very heiress of the box, which you bought. I would not sell, if not the edge came. From an early age she loved to play with these clothes. He plays and praises - how warm and good they make. What can I say about it! What has fallen from the cart is lost!

In vain, dear, you think so, - says parotina baba. - I will find a place for these stones. - And to himself he thinks: “It's good that this green-eyed strength does not feel her. If she had appeared in Sam-Petersburg, she would have been spitting tsars. It should be - my fool Turchaninov did not see her. "

With that we parted.

Parotin's wife, when she arrived home, boasted:

Now, my dear friend, I am not like you, and I am not compelled by the Turchaninovs. Just a little - goodbye! I’ll go to Sam-Petersburg or, even better, abroad, I’ll sell a casket, and I’ll buy two dozen men like you, if the need arises.

She boasted, but to show herself a new purchase is still a hunt. Well, how - a woman! I ran to the mirror and first of all attached the headgear. - Oh, oh, what is it! - I have no patience - twists and tears my hair. I barely escaped. And itching to do it. I put on the earrings - I almost burst my earlobes. She put her finger in the ring - she fettered it, barely pulled it off with soap. The husband chuckles: not so, apparently, wear! And she thinks, “What is this? We must go to the city, show the master. He will adjust it as needed, if only he would not change the stones. "

No sooner said than done. The next day, in the morning, I drove away. It's not far from the factory troika. I found out what the most reliable master is - and to him. The master is old, old, but a dock in his business. He looked around the box and asked who bought it. The lady said that she knew. The master looked again at the box, but did not even look at the stones:

I will not undertake, - he says, - what you like, let's. - These are not local masters' work. It is inconvenient for us to compete with them.

The lady, of course, did not understand what the squiggle was in, snorted and ran to the other masters. Just as everyone agreed: they will look around the box, admire it, but they do not look at the stones and flatly refuse to work. The lady then went for a trick, she says that she had brought this box from Sam-Petersburg. They did everything there. Well, the master to whom she weaved this just laughed.

I know, - he says, - in what place the box was made, and I have heard a lot about the master. To compete with him all of ours are not on the shoulder. On one whom the master drives, the other will not suit, what you want to do.

The lady didn’t understand all that, she only understood - it’s not right, they are afraid of someone master. She recalled that the old mistress had said that her daughter liked to wear these hats on herself.

“Was it not this green-eyed girl who was being driven? What a misfortune! "

Then he again translates in his mind:

“What is it to me! Selling any rich fool. Let him toil, but I will have the money! " With this I left for Polevoy.

She arrived, and there was news: they received the news, the old master ordered to live long. He arranged it cunningly with Parotey, but death outwitted him - took it and knocked it. He never had time to marry his son, and now he has become a complete master. After a short time, Parotina's wife received a letter. So and so, my dear, I will come to the factories through the spring water to show myself and I will take you away, and we will caulk your musician somewhere. Parotya somehow found out about it, he raised a noise-scream. It's a shame, you see, in front of the people for him. After all, the clerk, and then there is that - the wife is being taken away. He began to drink heavily. With employees, of course. They are happy to try for a gift. Here we were having a feast. Some of these booze and boast:

She grew up in our factory, a beauty, you won't find another one like that soon.

Parotya and asks:

Whose is this? Where does he live?

Well, they told him, and they remembered the box in this family, your wife bought the box. Parotya also says:

I ought to have a look - but there was a drink and some trouble.

At least now let's go - to examine whether they've built a new hut. The family is free, but they live on the factory land. In which case, you can press it.

Send two, three with this Parotey. They dragged the chain, let's make a measurement, did Nastasya stab herself into someone else's estate, do the tops come out between the pillars.

Are looking for, in a word. Then they go into the hut, and Tanya was just one. Parotya looked at her and lost his words. Well, I've never seen such beauty in any land. She stands like a fool, and she sits - keeping quiet, as if her case does not concern her. Then Parotia walked away a little, began to ask:

What are you doing?

Tanyushka says:

I sew by order - and I showed my work.

I, - says Parotya, - can I make an order?

Why not, if we agree on the price.

Can you, - asks Parotya again, - I can embroider a patret with silks from myself?

Tanya slowly glanced at the button, and there the green-eyed one gives her a sign - take the order! - and points at himself with a finger. Tanya also answers:

I will not be my patron, but I have in mind a woman alone in expensive stones, in the tsarina's dress, I can embroider this one. Only such work will not be cheap.

About this, - he says, - do not hesitate, at least a hundred, at least two hundred rubles, if only there was a similarity with you.

In the face, - he answers, - there will be similarity, but the clothes will be different.

We got together for a hundred rubles. Tanya also appointed a deadline - in a month. Only Parotya no, no, and will run in, as if to find out about the order, but he himself is not at all on his mind. She also frowned at him, but Tanyushka did not even notice at all. Say two or three words, and the whole conversation. The drunkards of the mumps began to laugh at him:

It won't break off here. You shouldn't flap your boots! Well, here, Tanya embroidered that patret. Parotya looks - you, my God! But this is she herself, adorned with clothes and stones! He gives, of course, three hundredths tickets, but Tanya didn't take two.

They are not overpriced, - he says, - we accept gifts. We feed ourselves on labor.

Parotya ran home, admired the patret, and kept it from his wife. He began to feast less, and began to delve into the factory business a little, a little.

In the spring a young master came to the factories. I drove to the Field. The people were rounded up, a prayer service was served, and then the bell-bells went to the master's house. Two barrels of wine were also rolled out to the people - to commemorate the old one, to congratulate the new master. The seed, then, has been done. The Turchaninov masters were all for this. As you fill the master's glass with a dozen of your own, so no matter what kind of holiday it seems, but in reality it will come out - you washed your last penny and is completely useless. The next day the people went to work, and in the master's house they feasted again. And so it went. Sleep as long as yes again for a party. Well, there, they ride on boats, ride horses into the forest, strum on music, but you never know. And Parotya was drunk all the time. On purpose, the master of the most dashing roosters put to him - pump it up, de-refusal! Well, they are trying to help the new master.

Parotya even drunk, but he senses where this is heading. He is embarrassed in front of the guests. He speaks at the table, in front of everyone:

I don't mind that the master Turchaninov wants to take my wife away from me. Be lucky! I don’t need this. This is who I have! - Yes, and takes that silk patret out of his pocket. Everyone gasped, but the woman's mumps couldn't close her mouth. The gentleman, too, has eaten up his eyes. He became curious.

Who is she? - asks.

Parotya, know, laughs:

The table is full of gold, a mound - and I won't say that!

Well, how can you not say, if the factory immediately recognized Tanya. They try to one in front of the other - they explain to the master. Parotina woman with hands and feet:

What do you! What do you! Make a fence that way! Where did the factory girl get such a dress, and even dear stones? And this husband brought the patret from abroad. He showed it to me even before the wedding. Now from drunken eyes, you never know what will weave. Soon he will not remember himself. Look, I'm all swollen!

Parotya sees that his wife is not very nice, he and let's cheektail:

You stramina, you stramina! Why are you braiding your braids, throw sand in your master's eyes! What patret did I show you? Here they sewed it for me. The same girl they're talking about over there. I won't lie about the dress - I don't know. What kind of dress you can wear. And they had stones. Now you have it locked in your closet. She herself bought them for two thousand but could not wear them. Apparently, the Cherkassko saddle does not fit the cow. The whole plant knows about the purchase!

As soon as the master heard about the stones, now:

Well, show me!

He, hey, was not very smart, too dull. In a word, heir. He had a strong predilection for stones. He had nothing to flaunt, - as they say, neither height, nor voice, - so even with stones. Wherever he hears about a good stone, now it is okay to buy. And he knew a lot about stones, even though he was not very smart.

Parotina woman sees - there is nothing to do, - brought the box. The master looked and immediately:

How many?

She thumped completely unheard of. Master to dress up. In half they agreed, and the master signed the loan: there was no money, you see, with you. The master put the box on the table in front of him, and he says:

Call this girl, about whom we are talking. We ran after Tanyushka. She went right away - she thought how big the order was. She comes into the room, and there is a crowd of people and in the middle the very hare she saw then. Before this hare, the box is a father's gift. Tanya immediately recognized the master and asks:

Why did you call?

The master can't even say a word. He stared at her, and that's all. Then all the same I found a conversation.

Your stones?

There were ours, now there are theirs, - and pointed to the parotin wife.

Mine now, - the master boasted.

This is your business.

Would you like to give it back?

There is nothing to give away.

Well, can you try them on? I want to see how these stones will fall on a person.

This, - replies Tanyushka, - is possible. She took the box, dismantled the clothes, - as usual, - and quickly attached them to the place. The master looks and only gasps.

Oh yes ah, there are no more speeches. Tanya stood in her dress and asks:

Have you looked? Will? I’m not just standing here because there’s work to be done.

The master is here in front of everyone and says:

Marry me. Agree?

Tanya only grinned:

It wouldn't be a match for a master to say that. - She took off her hats and left. Only the master does not lag behind. The next day I came to the match. Nastasya begs and prays: give me your daughter.

Nastasya says:

I don’t remove her will, as she wants, but in my opinion - as if it doesn’t fit. Tanya listened, listened, and even said:

That’s what, not that… I heard that there is a chamber in the royal palace, lined with malachite of duck prey. Now, if you show me the queen in this ward, then I will marry you.

The master, of course, agrees to everything. Now he began to gather in Sam-Petersburg and calls Tanyushka with him - he says, I’ll leave the horses for you. And Tanyushka answers:

According to our rite, the bride does not ride the groom's horses to the crown, and we are still nobody. Then we'll talk about it, how you fulfill your promise.

When, - asks, - will you be in Sam-Petersburg?

To the Pokrov, - he says, - I will certainly be. Don't worry about it, but for now, get out of here.

The master went away, of course, he did not take the parotina's wife, he does not even look at her. As soon as I came home to Sam-Petersburg, let’s glorify all over the city about stones and about my bride. I showed the box to many. Well, they were very curious to see the bride. By the autumn, the master prepared an apartment for Tanyushka, brought in all sorts of dresses, I put on clothes, and she sent the news - here she lives with such and such a widow on the very outskirts.

Master, of course, go there now:

What do you! Is it a thought to live here? Quarter cooked, first grade!

And Tanyushka answers:

I'm fine here.

The rumor about stones and Turchanin's bride reached the queen. She says:

Let Turchaninov show me his bride. Something lies a lot about her.

Master to Tanyushka, - they say, you need to get ready. Sew an outfit so that you can put on stones from a malachite box in the palace. Tanya answers:

It's not your sadness about the outfit, but I'll take the stones for holding. Yes, look, don't try to send horses for me. I'll be on my own. Just wait for me at the porch, in the palace.

The master thinks - where did she get the horses from? where is the palace dress? - and still did not dare to ask.

So they began to gather at the palace. Everybody rides on horses, in silks and velvets. Turchaninov the master spins around the porch early in the morning - he is waiting for his bride. Others are also curious to look at her, - they immediately stopped. And Tanya put on the stones, tied herself up with a handkerchief in the factory, threw on her fur coat and went on quietly.

Well, people - where did this come from? - the shaft fells behind her. Tanyushka came up to the palace, and the tsar's lackeys did not let him in - it was not allowed, they say, from the factory. Turchaninov the master from a distance saw Tanyushka, only he was ashamed in front of his own that his bride on foot, and even in this fur coat, he took, and hid. Tanya opened her fur coat here, the footmen were looking - a dress! The queen does not have such a thing! - they let me in right away. And when Tanyushka took off her handkerchief and her fur coat, everyone around them sank:

Whose is this? What lands is the queen?

And master Turchaninov is right there.

My fiancee, he says.

Tanya looked at him sternly:

Let's see it ahead! Why did you deceive me - didn't wait at the porch?

Barin back and forth, - the gimmick came out. Excuse me please.

They went to the royal chambers, where they were led. Tanyushka is looking - not the right place. Turchaninova-barina asked even more severely:

What is this deception? It has been told you that in that ward, which is lined with malachite by the titty work!

And she walked through the palace as if she were at home. And the senators, generals and protchi follow her.

What, they say, is it? Apparently, it was ordered there.

There were a lot of people, and everyone did not take their eyes off Tanyushka, but she stood to the very malachite wall and was waiting. Turchaninov, of course, is right there. She grumbles to her that it’s not right, the queen ordered to wait in this room. And Tanyushka stands calmly, even if she raised an eyebrow, as if the master was not at all.

The queen went into the room where it was appointed. Looks - no one is there. The Tsaritsa’s earpieces are bringing them - the Turchaninovska’s bride took everyone to the Malachite chamber. The queen grumbled, of course - what a self-righteousness! Sinking with her feet. She was angry, so a little. The queen comes to the Malachite's ward. Everyone bows to her, but Tanya stands - does not move.

The queen and shouts:

Well, show me this unauthorized bride - Turchanin's bride!

Tanyushka heard this, completely brought her eyebrows together, says to the master:

This is what I came up with! I told the queen to show me, and you set me up to show her. Deception again! I don’t want to see you again! Get your stones!

With this word, she leaned against the malachite wall and melted. The only thing left is that the stones sparkle on the wall, as they stuck to the places where the head was, neck, hands.

Everyone, of course, was frightened, and the queen, unconscious, blurted out on the floor.

They fussed, began to lift. Then, when the commotion subsided, the friends say to Turchaninov:

Pick up at least stones! They will plunder quickly. Not some place - a palace! Here they know the price!

Turchaninov and let's grab those stones. Whichever one grabs, that one will curl up into a drop from him. Ina drop is clean, like a tear, ina yellow, and then again, like blood, thick. So I didn’t collect anything. A button is lying on the floor. From bottle glass, to a simple edge, completely trifling. Out of grief, he grabbed her. He just took it in his hand, and in this button, as in a large mirror, a green-eyed beauty in a malachite dress, all adorned with expensive stones, laughs and laughs:

Oh, you crazy scythe hare! Will you take me! Are you a match for me?

After that, the master lost his last mind, but did not abandon the button. No, no, and will look into her, and there everything is the same: the green-eyed woman is standing, laughing and saying hurtful words. Out of grief, the master let us have a feast, he made debts, it was almost during his time that our factories did not go under the hammer.

And Parotya, as he was dismissed, went to the taverns. I got drunk until the remki, and the patret was that silk coast. Where this patret then disappeared - nobody knows.

Parotina's wife did not profit either; come on, get on the borrowed paper, if all the iron and copper are pledged!

Since then, there has been no word about Tanyushka in our plant. As it was not. Of course, Nastasya was grieving, but the same was not from strength. Tanya, you see, even though she was a guardian for the family, and all Nastasya is like a stranger.

And that is to say, Nastasya's guys had grown up by that time. Both got married. The grandchildren are gone. The people in the hut became thick. Know, turn around - look for that, give it to another ... Is it bored here!

The bachelor did not forget longer. He stomped under Nastasya's windows. They waited for Tanyushka to appear at the window, but they did not wait.

Then, of course, they got married, but no, no, they will remember:

That's what a girl we had in the factory! You will not see another such in life.

Moreover, after this incident, a note came out. They said that the Mistress of the Copper Mountain began to split in two: people saw two girls in malachite dresses at once.

Stone Flower

They were not only marbled in fame in the stone business. They also say that they had this skill in our factories. The only difference is that ours burned more with malachite, as it was enough, and the grade - no higher. It was from this that malachite was made appropriately. Such, hey, little things that you wondered how it helped him.

There was master Prokopich at that time. For these cases, the first. No one could do better than him. In his old years he was.

So the master ordered the clerk to put the boys to study with this Prokopich.

Let them take everything to the point of subtlety.

Only Prokopich, whether he was sorry to part with his skill, or something else, taught very badly. He has everything from a jerk and a jerk. He will plant bumps all over the kid's head, he will almost cut off his ears, and he says to the clerk:

This is not good ... His eye is incapable, his hand does not bear. There won't be any sense.

Apparently, the bailiff was ordered to appease Prokopyevich.

Not good, so not good ... We'll give another ... - And dress up another kid.

The children have heard about this science ... They roar early in the morning, as if not to get to Prokopich. It is also not sweet for fathers-mothers to give up their own child for wasted flour - they began to shield their own people as best they could. And then, to say, this skill is unhealthy, with malachite. The poison is clean. So people are protected.

The bailiff still remembers the order of the master - assigns students to Prokopich. He, in his own order, will wash the boy, and he will hand it back to the clerk.

This is not good ...

The bailiff began to eat up:

How long will it be? Not good but not good, when will it be? Teach this ...

Prokopich know yours:

What do I need ... I’ll teach for ten years, but there will be no sense from this guy ...

What else do you want?

Though you don’t bet me at all, I don’t miss it ...

So the clerk and Prokopich went over a lot of children, but there is only one sense: there are bumps on the head, and in the head - as if to run away. They deliberately spoiled for Prokopich to drive them away.

This is how it came to Danilka Nedokormysh. This little orphan was round. Years, go, then twelve, or even more. On his feet he is tall, and thin - thin, in which the soul keeps. Well, the face is clean. Curly hair, little blue eyes.

They took him first to the Cossacks at the master's house: a snuff-box, a handkerchief, to run, where and to run. Only this orphan did not have the talent for such a business. Other lads in such and such places curl like loaches. Just a little at attention: what do you want? And this Danilko will be huddled somewhere in the corner, staring with his eyes at some picture, or at some decoration, and it’s worth it. They shout him, but he does not lead with his ear. They beat, of course, at first, then waved their hand:

Some blessed one! Slug! Such a good servant will never come out.

On factory work or they didn’t give it up the hill - it’s a very liquid place, it’s not enough for a week. The clerk put him in the caretaker. And here Danilko was not at all good. The kid is exactly diligent, but everything is with him, he turns out to be a gimmick. Everything seems to be thinking about something. The eyes stare at the blade of grass, and the cows are where! An affectionate old shepherd was caught, felt sorry for the orphan, and that time he swore:

What will come of you, Danilko? You will ruin yourself, and you will bring my old back under the battle. Where does it go? What do you even have a thought about?

I myself, Dadko, I don't know ... So ... not about that ... I looked a little. The insect was crawling along the leaf. The little sizenka itself, and from under the wings it looks yellowish, and the leaf is wide ... On the edges there are denticles, like curved frills. Here it shows in a darker way, and the middle is green and green, it has been painted exactly now ... And the insect is crawling.

Well, aren't you a fool, Danilko? Is it your business to disassemble the insects? She crawls - and crawl, and your business is to look after the cows. Look at me, get this nonsense out of your head, or I'll tell the clerk!

Danilushka did one thing. He learned to play on the horn - where to the old man! Purely on some music. In the evening, as the cows are brought in, the girls-women ask:

Play, Danilushko, a song.

He will start playing. And the songs are all unfamiliar. Either the forest is noisy, or the stream is murmuring, the birds echo to all sorts of voices, but it comes out well.

For those songs, women began to greet Danidushka very much. Whoever fixes the little thing, who cuts off the canvas on it, sews a new shirt. About a piece and no talk - each strives to give more and sweeter. The old shepherd also liked Danilushkov's songs. Only here a little was wrong. Danilushko will begin to play and forget everything, exactly and there are no cows. It was on this game that trouble struck him.

Danilushko, apparently, played too much, and the old man dozed off a little. Some cows from them and fought off. As they began to collect on the pasture, they look - one is not, the other is not. They rushed to search, but where are you. They grazed near Yelnichnaya ... The most wolfish place here, deaf ... Only one cow was found. They drove the herd home ... So and so told. Well, they also ran out of the plant, went in search, but did not find it.

The massacre then, we know what it was. For any guilt on the back, kazhi. For sin, there was one more cow from the clerk's yard. Don't wait for a descent here. First, they stretched the old man, then it dawned on Danilushka, and he was thin and skinny. The master's executioner even made a reservation:

Ekoy, - he says, - at once it will lose heart, or even let go of the soul altogether.

He hit all the same - he did not regret it, but Danilushko is silent. The executioner is suddenly a row - is silent, the third - is silent. The executioner got mad at this point, let's throw it all over his shoulder, and he himself shouts:

Danilushko is trembling all over, tears are falling, but he is silent. He bit his lip and strengthened himself. So he lost his temper, but they did not hear the word from him. The bailiff - he was there and then, of course, - was surprised:

What a patient man he was looking for! Now I know where to put it if it remains alive. Danilushko was lying down. Vikhorikha's grandmother put him on his feet. There was, they say, such an old woman. She was a doctor in place of our factories at great fame. She knew the strength in the herbs: which is from the teeth, which is from the grave, which is from aches ... Well, everything is as it is. She herself collected those herbs at the very time when any herb had full strength. She prepared tinctures from such herbs and roots, cooked decoctions and interfered with ointments.

Danilushka got along well with this grandmother Vikhorikha. The old woman, hey, is affectionate and talkative, and her herbs and roots, and all kinds of flowers, are dried and hung all over the hut. Danilushko is curious about herbs - what is this name? where does it grow? what flower? The old woman tells him.

Once Danilushko asks:

You, grandmother, do you know every flower in our area?

I will not boast, - he says, - but as if I know which open ones are.

And isn’t, - asks, - there are still not open?

There is, - he answers, - and such. Have you heard of Papora? It seems to be blooming on Midsummer Day. That flower is witchcraft. The treasures are opened for them. Harmful to humans. On the tearing grass, a flower is a running light. Catch him - and all the gates are open for you. Thieves' is a flower. And then there is a stone flower. It seems to grow in the malachite mountain. It has full force on the serpentine holiday. Unhappy is the person who sees the stone flower.

What, grandmother, unhappy?

And this, child, I myself do not know. So they told me.

Danilushko might have stayed a little longer at Vikhorikha's, but the clerks' messengers noticed that the boy had begun to walk a little, and now to the clerk. The bailiff called Danilushka, and he says:

Go now to Prokopich - to study the malachite business. The most work for you there.

Well, what can you do? Danilushko went, and he was still shaking with the wind. Prokopich looked at him and said:

This was also lacking. The local study is beyond the strength of the healthy guys, but from what you look for it is barely worth living.

Prokopich went to the bailiff:

Don't need that. If you kill inadvertently, you will have to answer.

Only the clerk - where are you going, did not listen:

Given to you, teach, do not reason! He - this kid - tough. Do not look that it is thin.

Well, it’s your business, ”says Prokopich,“ it would be said. I will teach, if only they would not be pulled to the answer.

There is no one to pull. This lonely guy, what you want to do with him, - answers the clerk.

Prokopich came home, and Danilushko was standing by the machine, looking at the malachite board. A cut is made on this board - beat off the edge. Here Danilushko stares at this place and shakes his head. Prokopich was curious what this new kid was looking at. He asked strictly how, according to his rule, it was conducted:

What are you? Who asked you to take the craft in hand? What are you looking at here?

Danilushko and answers:

In my eyes, grandfather, it is not necessary to beat off the edge from this side. See, the pattern is here, and they will cut it off.

Prokopich shouted, of course:

What? Who are you? Master? The hands have never been, do you judge? What can you understand?

Sometimes I understand that this thing was spoiled, - Danilushko replies.

Who messed up? a? It's you, brat, to me - to the first master! .. Yes, I'll show you such spoilage ... you won't be alive!

He made a noise like that, shouted, but did not touch Danilushka with his finger. Prokopich himself, you see, was thinking over this board himself - from which sides the edge should be cut off. Danilushko hit the spot with his conversation. Prokopich shouted and said in a very good way:

Well, you, revealed master, show me how, in your opinion, to do it?

Danilushko and began to show and tell:

That would be what pattern came out. And it would be better to start up the board narrower, beat off the edge along the clear field, if only to leave a small lash on top.

Prokopich, know, shouts:

Well, well ... Of course! You understand a lot. Save up - don't spill! - And to himself he thinks: “That's right the boy says. From this, perhaps, there will be a sense. Just teach him how? Hit it once - he will stretch his legs. "

I thought so, and asks:

Whose are you, what a scientist?

Danilushko told about himself.

Say, an orphan. I don’t remember my mother, but I don’t know who was at all about my father. They are calling. Danilka Nedokormysh, but I don’t know how my father’s patronymic and nickname is. He told how he was in the yard and why he was driven out, how then summer went with a cow herd, how he got under the battle. Prokopich regretted:

It’s not sweet, I see, you, boy, have set your sights on life, and then you came to me. We have strict craftsmanship.

Then he seemed angry, grunted:

Well, enough, enough! See, what a talkative man! With a tongue - not with his hands - everyone would work. The whole evening balusters and balusters! The student too! I'll see tomorrow what your good is. Sit down to supper, and it's time to sleep.

Prokopich lived alone. His wife died a long time ago. Old woman Mitrofanovna from the neighbors ran the farm during his time. In the morning she went to cook, cook something, clean up the hut, and in the evenings Prokopich himself managed what he needed. We ate, Prokopich and says:

Lie down on the bench over there!

Danilushko took off his shoes, his knapsack was under his head, he closed himself tightly, shivered a little - you see, it was cold in the hut because of the autumn time - all the same, he soon fell asleep. Prokopich also went to bed, but he could not sleep: all his conversation about the malachite pattern would not get out of his head. Toss and turn, toss and turn, got up, lit a candle, and to the bench - let's try on this malachite board this way and that. It will close one edge, the other ... add the field, decrease it. He puts it that way, turns the other side, and everything turns out that the boy understood the pattern better.

So much for Nedokormyshek! - Prokopich wonders. - Still nothing, nothing, but indicated to the old master. Well, and a peephole! Well, and a peephole!

I went quietly into the closet, brought out a pillow and a large sheepskin coat. He slipped a pillow under Danilushka's head, covered with a sheepskin coat:

Sleep, big-eyed!

But he did not wake up, turned only on the other barrel, stretched out under the sheepskin coat - it felt warm to him - and let's whistle with his nose slightly. Prokopich did not have his own guys, this Danilushko fell to his heart.

The master is standing, admiring, and Danilushko, you know, is whistling, sleeping peacefully to himself. Prokopich has a concern - how to put this kid on his feet so that he is not so skinny and unhealthy.

Whether with his health, our skill to learn. Dust, poison - will vividly wither away. He would have to rest first, get better, then I’ll begin to teach. Sense, you see, will be.

The next day he says to Danilushka:

First of all, you will help with the housework. This is my routine. Understood? For the first time, go for a viburnum. Her inyami grabbed - she's just right for the pies now. Yes, look, don't go far. How much you pick up - that's fine. Take a polish of bread, - there is something in the forest, - and even go to Mitrofanovna. I told her to bake a couple of eggs for you and splash some milk. Understood?

The next day he says again:

When Danilushko caught him and brought him, Prokopich says:

Okay, but not at all. Catch others.

And so it went. For every day Prokopich gives Danilushka work, but everything is fun. As the snow fell, I told him to go with a neighbor for firewood - you’ll help me. Well, what help! He sits forward on a sleigh, drives a horse, and walks backward behind a wagon on foot. He will get lost like that, eat at home and sleep better. Prokopnch finished his fur coat, a warm hat, mittens, rolled pimas to order.

Prokopich, you see, had wealth. Although he was a serf, he went on rent and earned little. To Danilushka, he stuck tightly. Frankly speaking, he was holding him for his son. Well, he didn’t spare it for him, but he didn’t let him get to his business in time.

In a good life, Danilushko began to recover vividly and also clung to Prokopyich. Well, how! - I understood Prokopyeva's concern, for the first time I had to live like that. The winter has passed. Danilushka felt quite at ease. Now he goes to the pond, then to the forest. Danilushko only looked closely at the skill. Will run home, and now they have a conversation. Prokpyich will tell that, the other, but he asks - what is it and how is it? Prokopich will explain, in fact show.

Danilushko notes. When he himself will be accepted. "Well, I ..." - Prokopich looks, corrects, when necessary, indicates how best.

Once the clerk spotted Danilushka on the pond. Asks his messengers:

Whose boy is this? What day I see him on the pond. On weekdays he plays with a fishing rod, and not a little one ... Someone hides him from work ...

The messengers found out, they say to the clerk, but he does not believe.

Well, - he says, - drag the boy to me, I'll find out myself.

Danilushka was brought in. The bailiff asks:

Whose are you? Danilushko and answers:

In studies, they say, at the master of malachite business.

The bailiff then grabbed his ear:

That's how you learn, you bitch! - Yes by the ear and led to Prokopich.

He sees that the matter is wrong, let's shield Danilushka:

I myself sent him to fish perch. I miss the fresh perch very much. Due to my ill health, I can’t take any other food. So he told the kid to fish.

The bailiff did not believe it. I also realized that Danilushko had become completely different: he had recovered, his shirt was kind, and his pants were also on the boots of the shoe. So let's check Danilushka:

Well, show me what the master taught you?

Danilushko put on the cuff, walked over to the machine and started telling and showing. What the clerk asks - he has an answer ready for everything. How to churn a stone, how to saw it, remove a chamfer, than when to glue it, how to put a polisher, how to attach it to copper, like to a tree.

In a word, everything is as it is.

Tortured-tortured by the bailiff, and he says to Prokopyich:

Apparently this one was good for you?

I'm not complaining, - replies Prokopich.

That's it, you are not complaining, but you are breeding self-indulgence! You gave him the skill to learn, and he is by the pond with a fishing rod! Look! I’ll release such fresh perch for you - you will not forget to death, and the boy will become sad.

Threatened himself, he left, and Prokopich marveled:

When did you, Danilushko, understand all this? Exactly I haven't taught you at all.

He himself, - says Danilushko, - showed and told, and I noticed.

Even Prokopich's tears began to drip - he was so pleased with it.

Son, - he says, - dear, Danilushko ... What else do I know, I will reveal everything to you ... I won't sweat ...

Only from that time on, Danilushka did not have a free life. The clerk sent for him the next day and began to give work for the lesson. At first, of course, it’s simpler: plaques, what women wear, boxes. Then the point went: candlesticks and different decorations.

There we reached the carving. Leaves and petals, patterns and flowers. After all, they have - with malachite people - a baggy business. Exactly trifling thing, and how much he sits over it! So Danilushko grew up with this work.

And as he carved the arm - a snake from a solid stone, the clerk recognized him as a master. Barin wrote about this:

“So and so, we have a new master in malachite business - Danilko Nedokormysh. It works well, but it's still quiet when it's young. Will you order him to be left in class, or, like Prokopich, to let him go for a quitrent? "

Danilushko did not work quietly, but marvelously dexterously and quickly. Prokopich had a knack here. The clerk will ask Danilushka what lesson for five days, and Prokopich will go and say:

Not by virtue of this. It takes half a month for such work. The guy is studying. Hurry up - only a stone will be useless.

Well, the clerk will argue how many, but you see, he will add more days. Danilushko and worked without strain. I even learned a little bit from a clerk to read and write. So, just a little, but all the same he understood literacy. Prokopich was good at this too. When the clerk's lessons were arranged for Danilushka himself, only Danilushko would not allow this:

What you! What are you, uncle! Is it your business to sit at the machine for me! Look, your beard has turned green from malachite, your health has begun to deteriorate, but what am I doing?

Danilushko really straightened up by that time. Although in the old fashioned way they called him Undernourished, but he is over there! Tall and ruddy, curly and cheerful In a word, girlish dryness. Prokopich has already begun to talk to him about brides, and Danilushko, you know, shakes his head:

Will not leave us! Here I will become a real master, then the conversation will be.

The master wrote to the clerk's news:

“Let that prokopychev disciple Danilko make a chiseled bowl on a leg for my house. Then I'll take a look - let me go to the quitrent, or keep it in class. Just be sure that Prokopich doesn't help Danilka. If you don’t look, you will be exact. ”

The bailiff received this letter, summoned Danilushka, and says:

Here, with me, you will work. The machine will be adjusted for you, the stone will be brought to you, what you need.

Prokopich found out, was saddened: how so? what a thing? I went to the bailiff, but will he say ... He only shouted: "It's none of your business!"

Well, here Danilushko went to work in a new place, and Prokopich punishes him:

Don't be in a hurry, daddy, Danilushko! Don't show yourself.

Danilushko was wary at first. He tried it on and thought more, but it seemed to him sad. Do it - do not do it, but serve your time - sit with the clerk from morning till night. Well, Danilushko out of boredom and snapped at full strength. It was with his living hand that the cup went out of business. The bailiff looked as if it was necessary, and he said:

Do the same!

Danilushko made another, then a third. When he finished his third, the clerk said:

Now you can't dodge! I caught you with Prokopich. The master gave you, according to my letter, a time limit for one cup, and you made three. I know your strength. No more deceiving, but I'll show that old dog how to indulge! He will order others!

So he wrote about this to the master and provided all three cups. Only the master - either he found a clever verse at him, or he was angry with the bailiff for what he was - turned everything as it is.

He appointed Danilushka a trivial quitrent, he didn’t tell him to take the guy from Prokopich - maybe the two of them would soon come up with something new.

When writing, I sent a drawing. There, too, a bowl is drawn with all sorts of things. Along the rim there is a carved border, on the belt there is a stone ribbon with a through pattern, on the footboard there are leaves. In a word, it was invented. And on the drawing, the master signed: "Let him sit for at least five years, but that this was exactly done."

Here the bailiff had to back down from his word. He announced that the master had written, let Danilushka go to Prokopich and gave the drawing.

Danilushko and Prokopich cheered up, and their work went faster. Danilushko soon took up that new bowl. There are many tricks in it. I hit a little wrong, - the work is gone, start again. Well, Danilushka has a faithful eye, a brave hand, enough strength - things are going well. One does not like him - there are many difficulties, but there is absolutely no beauty at all. I spoke to Prokopich, but he was only surprised:

What is it to you? Invented - that means they need it. You never know what I have carved and cut out, but where they are - I really don’t know.

I tried to talk to the bailiff, so where are you going. He stomped with his feet, waved his hands:

Are you crazy? A lot of money has been paid for the drawing. An artist, maybe he was the first to do it in the capital, but you thought it up!

Then, apparently, he remembered what the master ordered him, - if the two of them would invent something new, - and said:

This is what you ... make this bowl according to the master's drawing, and if you invent another one of your own, it's your business. I will not interfere. We've got enough stone. What you need - and I will give it.

It was here that Danilushka's dummy fell into love. We didn’t say that it’s a little necessary to groan someone’s wisdom, but to come up with our own - you’ll turn from side to side for more than one night. Here Danilushko sits over this bowl according to a drawing, and he thinks about something else. He translates in his head which flower, which leaf is best suited to the malachite stone. He became pensive, sad. Prokopich noticed and asked:

Are you, Danilushko, healthy? It would be easier with this bowl. Where is the hurry? I would go for a walk wherever, otherwise you sit and sit.

And then, - says Danilushko, - at least go to the forest. Will I see what I need.

From that time on, he began to run into the forest almost every day. The time is just mowing, berry. The herbs are all in bloom. Dannlushko stops somewhere on the mow, or in a clearing in the forest and stands, looks. And then he again walks along the mows and examines the grass, as he seeks what. There were many people at that time in the forest and on the mows. They ask Danilushka - has he lost anything? He smiles so sadly, and he says:

I didn’t lose it, but I can’t find it.

Well, who said:

It's not okay with the guy.

And he will come home and immediately to the machine and sit until morning, and with the sun again into the forest and mowing. He began to bring all sorts of leaves and flowers home, and more and more from the food: cheremitsa and omega, dope and wild rosemary, and all sorts of cuttings. I was asleep from my face, my eyes became restless, I lost courage in my hands. Prokopich was completely worried, and Danilushko said:

The cup does not give me peace. The desire is to do it so that the stone has full power.

Let's dissuade Prokopich:

What was it given to you? Sated, after all, what else? Let the bars amuse themselves as they please. They just wouldn't hurt us. They will come up with a pattern - we will make it, but why should they climb towards it? To put on an extra collar - that's all.

Well, Danilushko stands his ground.

Not for the master, - he says, - I try. I can't get that cup out of my head. I see, come on, what kind of stone we have, and what are we doing with it? We sharpen and cut, but we direct the polisher and do not need anything at all. So I had a desire to do so in order to see the full power of the stone myself and show people.

In time, Danilushko walked away, sat down again at that bowl, according to the master's drawing. He works, but he chuckles:

Stone ribbon with holes, carved border ...

Then he suddenly gave up this job. Another started. Stands at the machine without a break. Prokopich said:

I will make my bowl according to the dope-flower.

Prokopnch began to dissuade. At first Danilushko didn’t want to listen, then, after three or four days, he had some kind of slip of the tongue, and said to Prokopyich:

OK. First I’ll finish the master’s bowl, then I’ll start my own. Only then don't you dissuade me ... I can't get her out of my head.

Prokopich replies:

Okay, I won't interfere, but he thinks himself: “The guy leaves, he will forget. You need to marry him. That's what! The extra nonsense will fly out of my head as she starts a family. "

Danilushko took up the bowl. There is a lot of work with her - you can't do it in one year. Works diligently, does not mention the flower-dope. Prokopich and began to speak about marriage:

If only Katya Letemina is not a bride? A good girl ... There is nothing to blame.

It was Prokopich who spoke out of his mind. He, you see, noticed long ago that Danilushko was looking at this girl strongly. Well, she didn't turn away either. Here Prokopich, as if inadvertently, started a conversation. And Danilushko keeps repeating:

Wait a minute! I'll handle the cup. I'm tired of it. That and look - I will knock with a hammer, and he is about marriage! We agreed with Katya. She will wait for me.

Well, Danilushko made a bowl according to the master's drawing. The bailiff, of course, was not told, but they decided to make a little party at home. Katya, the bride, came with her parents, and there are more ... of the malachite masters. Katya marvels at the bowl.

How, - he says, - only you managed to cut out such a pattern and did not break off the stone anywhere! How smooth and clean!

Masters also approve:

Exactly according to the drawing. There is nothing to find fault with. Well done. Better not to do it, and soon. That's how you start to work - perhaps it's hard for us to reach for you.

Danilushko listened, listened, and said:

It’s grief that there’s nothing to complain about. Smooth yes even, the pattern is clean, the carving is according to the drawing, but where is the beauty? There is a flower ... the most inferior one, and you look at it - your heart rejoices. Well, and who will this cup please? What is it for? Anyone who looks, everyone, like Katenka, will marvel at what the master has eyes and a hand, how he had the patience to break a stone anywhere.

And where he blundered, - the masters laugh, - there he glued it up and covered it with a polisher, and you won't find the ends.

Just about ... And where, I ask, is the beauty of the stone? Here the vein has passed, and you drill holes on it and cut flowers. What are they here for? Damage is a stone. And what a stone! The first stone! You see, the first one!

Began to get excited. I drank a little, apparently.

Masters tell Danilushka that Prokopich told him more than once:

Stone - stone is. What are you going to do with him? Our business is to sharpen and cut.

Only the old man was here alone. He also taught Prokopich and those other masters. Everyone called him grandfather. He's a shabby old man, but he also understood this conversation, and he says to Danilushka:

You, dear son, do not walk on this floorboard! Throw it out of your head! Otherwise, you will get to the Mistress as a mining master ...

What are the masters, grandfather?

And such ... live in grief, no one sees them ... What the Mistress needs, they will do. It happened to me to see once. Here's the job! From ours, from the local ones, for distinction.

Everyone became curious. They ask - what kind of work they saw.

Yes, the snake, - he says, - the same that you sharpen on the arm.

So what? What is she like?

From the local, I say, for distinction. Any master will see, immediately recognize - not a local job. Our snake, no matter how cleanly carved, is stone, but here it is alive. A black ridge, little eyes ... That and look - it will bite. After all, what is it to them! They saw a stone flower, understood the beauty.

Danilushko, when I heard about the stone flower, let's ask the old man. He honestly said:

I don’t know, dear son. I heard that there is such a flower. Our brother cannot see him. Whoever looks, the white light will not be nice.

Danilushko says to this:

I would have looked.

Here Katya, his bride, fluttered:

What are you, what are you, Danilushko! Are you bored with the white light? - yes to tears. Prokopich and other masters swept the matter, let's raise the old master with mockery:

I began to survive from my mind, grandfather. You tell fairy tales. In vain you knock the guy out of the way.

The old man got excited, banged on the table:

There is such a flower! The guy says the truth: we do not understand the stone. In that flower, beauty is shown.

The masters laugh:

Got a bite, grandfather, too much! And he is his:

There is a stone flower!

The guests have dispersed, but Danilushka does not get that conversation out of his head. Again he began to run into the forest and around his dope - to walk a flower, but he does not remember about the wedding. Prokopich began to urge:

Why are you disgracing the girl? Which year will she wear brides? That and wait - they will laugh at her. Few of the boxers?

Danilushko is one of his own:

Wait a little! That's just - I'll think of it - but I will select a suitable stone.

And he got into the habit of a copper mine - at Gumeshki. When he goes down into the mine, he will go around the faces, when he goes over the stones at the top. Once he turned a stone, looked at it, and said:

No, not that one ...

As soon as he said this, someone says:

Look elsewhere ... at the Snake Hill.

Danilushko looks - no one is there.

Who would it be? They're joking, or something ... As if there is nowhere to hide. He looked around again, went home, and after him again:

Do you hear, Danilo-master? At the Serpentine Hill, I say.

Danilushko looked around, - some woman is barely visible, like a blue fog. Then there was nothing.

“What,” he thinks, “for a piece? Really herself? But what if you go to the Snake-something? "

Danilushko knew the snake hill well. She was right there, not far from Gumeshek. Now she is gone, the whole thing was dug down a long time ago, and earlier they took a stone on top. The next day Danilushko went there. The slide, though small, is steep. On the one hand, it is completely cut off. The beholder is first-class here. All layers are visible, there is nowhere better.

Danilushko came up to this beholder, and then the malachitin was turned upside down. A large stone - you can't carry it on your hands - and it looks like it was dressed like a bush. Danilushko began to examine this find. Everything is as he needs it: the color is thicker from below, veins in the very places where it is required ... Well, everything is as it is ... Danilushko was delighted, ran after the horse, brought the stone home, says to Prokopyich:

Look, what a stone! Exactly on purpose for my job. Now I will do it quickly. Then get married. Right, Katya was tired of waiting for me. It’s not easy for me either. That's just this work and keeps me. Hurry to finish it!

Well, Danilushko began to work on that stone. He knows neither day nor night. And Prokopich is silent. Maybe the guy will calm down, like a hunter. The work is progressing well. He trimmed the bottom of the stone. As it is, hey, a dope bush. The leaves are wide in a bunch, denticles, veins - everything could not have been better. Prokopich even says - just touch a living flower with your hand. Well, when I got to the top, I got stuck. The stalk was carved, the lateral leaves are thin - as soon as they hold! A cup, like a dope-flower, or else ... I became not alive and lost my beauty.

Danilushko lost sleep here. He sits over this cup of his, thinks out how to fix it, it’s better to do it. Prokopich and other masters, who came to have a look, are amazed - what else does a guy want? The bowl came out - no one did this, but he was wrong. The guy will manage, he needs to be treated. Katya hears what people say - she began to cry. This brought Danilushka to his senses.

Okay, - he says, - I won't. Apparently, I can't climb higher, I can't catch the power of the stone. - And let's hurry up the wedding himself. Well, why rush, if the bride had everything ready a long time ago. The day was appointed. Danilushko cheered up. He told the bailiff about the cup. He came running, looking - what a thing! Now I wanted to send this bowl to the master, but Danilushko says:

Wait a little, there is some work to be done.

It was autumn time. Just around the Serpentine Festival, the wedding took place. By the way, someone remembered about it - so soon the snakes will all gather in one place.

Danilushko took note of these words. I remembered again talking about the malachite flower. So he was drawn: “Shouldn't I go to the Snake Hill for the last time? Don't I recognize what there? " - and remembered about the stone: “After all, how was it supposed to be! And the voice at the mine ... spoke about the Snake Hill ”.

So Danilushko went. The ground then began to freeze slightly, and the snow was sprinkling. Danilushko walked up to the steep, where he took a stone, he looked, and in that place there was a big pothole, as if a stone had been broken. Danilushko did not think about who broke this stone, went into the pothole. “I’ll sit,” he thinks, “I’ll rest behind the wind. It's warmer here. " Looks - at one wall there is a gray stone, like a chair. Danilushko sat down here, thought, looked at the ground, and all that stone flower would not get out of his head. "I wish I could have a look!"

Only suddenly it became warm, exactly the summer returned. Danilushko raised his head, and opposite, at another wall, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain sits. Danilushko immediately recognized her for her beauty and dress for Malachitov. He only thinks:

"Maybe it seems to me, but in reality there is no one." Sits - is silent, looks at the place where the Mistress, and as if sees nothing. She is also silent, she seems to be thoughtful. Then he asks:

Well, Danilo the master, did your dope-bowl come out?

Didn't come out, - answers.

Don't hang your head! Try another. You will have a stone, according to your thoughts.

No, - he answers, - I can't take it anymore. I was worn out all over, it does not come out. Show the stone flower.

To show something, - he says, - is simple, but then you will regret it.

Won't you let me out of the mountain?

Why won't I let you go! The road is open, but only tossing and turning towards me.

Show me, do mercy! She also tried to persuade him:

Maybe you can still try to achieve it yourself! - About Prokopich also remembered: - He de pity you, now it's your turn to pity him. - About the bride she reminded: - The girl does not like the soul in you, and you are looking at the side.

I know, - Danilushko shouts, - but without a flower I have no life. Show me!

When so, - he says, - let's go, Danilo-master, to my garden.

She said and got up. Here something rustled, like an earthen talus. Danilushko is looking, but there are no walls. The trees are tall, just not the same as in our forests, but stone. Which are marble, which are made of serpentine-stone ... Well, all sorts of ... Only alive, with twigs, with leaves. They sway from the wind and give a golk, like someone throwing pebbles. Grass below, also stone. Azure, red ... different ... The sun is not visible, but as bright as before sunset. Between the trees, golden snakes flutter as they dance. And the light comes from them.

And then that girl brought Danilushka to a large meadow. The ground here is like simple clay, and on it the bushes are black as velvet. On these bushes there are large green malachite bells and in each antimony star. Fire bees above those flowers sparkle, and the stars are ringing faintly, singing evenly.

Well, Danilo-master, have a look? - asks the Mistress.

You will not find, - Danilushko replies, - a stone to do this.

If you thought it up yourself, I would give you such a stone, but now I can't. - She said and waved her hand.

Again there was a noise, and Danilushko was on the same stone, in this pit, it was. The wind whistles. Well, you know, it's autumn.

Danilushko came home, and that day the bride was having a party. At first, Danilushko showed himself cheerful - he sang songs, danced, and then he became clouded. The bride even got scared:

What's the matter? Exactly at the funeral! And he says:

He broke his head. In the eyes, black with green and red. I don't see the light.

The party ended there. According to the ritual, the bride and her bridesmaids went to see off the groom. And how many roads, if we lived through the house or two? Here Katenka says:

Let's go, girls, around. We will reach the end along our street, and we will return along Elanskaya.

He thinks to himself: "If he will give Danilushka a wind, won't he be better off." And what about the girlfriends ... We are glad, happy.

And then, - they shout, - it is necessary to carry out. He lives very close - they did not sing a kindly farewell song to him at all.

The night was quiet, and the snow was falling. The most time for a walk. So they went. The groom and the bride in front, and the bride's bridesmaids with the bachelor, who was at the party, lagged behind a little. The girls brought this song to an accompanying one. And she sings long and plaintively, purely for the deceased. Katya sees that it’s useless at all: “And without that Danilushko is not happy with me, but they still invented such a lament to sing”.

He tries to take Danilushka to other thoughts. He started to talk, but soon he became sad again. Katenka's friends, meanwhile, had finished the mourning, and began to work for the merry ones. They laugh and run, but Danilushko walks, hung his head. No matter how hard Katenka tries, she cannot amuse. So they reached the house. The girlfriends and the bachelor began to disperse - to whom, where, and Danilushko, without the ceremony, saw off his bride and went home.

Prokopich had been asleep for a long time. Danilushko quietly lit a fire, dragged his bowls out to the middle of the hut and stood looking at them. At this time, Prokopich began to cough. So it overwhelms. You see, by those years he became completely unhealthy. With that cough, Danilushka stabbed him like a knife through the heart. I remembered all my former life. He felt deeply sorry for the old man. And Prokopich cleared his throat and asked:

What are you with the bowls?

Yes, I see, isn't it time to take it?

For a long time, - he says, - it's time. In vain they only take up space. You can't do better anyway.

Well, we talked a little more, then Prokopich fell asleep again. And Danilushko went to bed, only he had no sleep and no. He turned and turned, got up again, lit the fire, looked at the bowls, went up to Prokopich. He stood here over the old man, sighed ...

Then he took a balodka and how he gasped for a dope-flower - it just cracked. And he didn't move that bowl, according to the master's drawing! He only spat in the middle and ran out. So from that time they could not find Danilushka.

Someone said that he made up his mind in the forest, and whoever said it again - the Mistress took him to the mountain foreman.

Mining master

Katya - Danilov's bride - remained a single woman. Two or three years have passed since Danilo got lost - she even left the bride's time. For twenty years, in our factory way, it is considered overdone. Guys like that rarely woo, there are more widowers. Well, this Katya, apparently, was pretty, all the suitors climb to her, and she only has words:

Danil was promised.

They persuade her:

What can you do! She promised, but did not come out. Now there is nothing to remember about this. It has long been a man bending.

Katya stands her ground:

Danil was promised. Maybe he will come again.

They interpret it:

He is not alive. The right thing to do.

And she rested on her own:

No one saw him dead, and for me he is even more alive.

They see - not a girl for herself - they have fallen behind. Others began to laugh at her: they called her the ghoul bride. It clung to her. Katya Mertvyakova and Katya Mertvyakova, there was no other nickname.

Then some kind of pestilence happened on people, and Katya's old people both died. She has a great relationship. Three married brothers and somewhat married sisters. The split between them came out - who should stay in his father's place. Katya sees - the confusion has gone, and says:

I'm going to live in Danilushkov's hut. At all Prokopich became old. At least I look like him.

Brothers-sisters persuade, of course:

It doesn't fit, sister. Prokopich is an old man, but you never know what they can say about you.

Me, - he answers, - what? I'm not going to be a gossip. Prokopich, come on, I'm not a stranger to me. My adoptive father Danilo. I will call him Tetya.

And so she left. It would be even better to say: the family did not knit tightly. They thought to themselves: the extra from the family - less noise. And what about Prokopich? He liked it.

Thank you, - he says, - Katya for remembering about me.

So they began to live. Prokopich sits at the machine, and Katya runs around the house - in the garden there, cooking, cooking and cooking. The farm is not large, of course, for two ... Katya is an agile girl, how long will she take! At first they rolled smoothly, only Prokopich was getting worse and worse. One day sits, two lies. Has broken through, became old. Katya wondered how they would continue to live.

“You cannot feed yourself with women's needlework, and I don’t know any other craft”.

So he says to Prokopyich:

Tyatya! You should at least teach me something easier.

Prokopich even found it funny.

What are you doing! Is it a girl's business to sit behind malachite! Never heard of such a thing.

Well, she still began to look closely at Prokopyevo's craft. I helped him wherever possible. Saw up there, grind. Prokopich and began to show her something or another. Not really. Grind the plaque, make the handles for the forks-knives and protch what was in use. It’s trivial, of course, the case, a penny, and all the delivery on occasion.

Prokopich did not heal for long. Then the brothers-sisters began to compel Katya:

Now you have to get married involuntarily. How will you live alone? Katya cut them off:

Not your sadness. I don’t need your fiancé. Danilushko will come. He will study in the city and come.

Brothers-sisters wave their hands at her:

Are you in your mind, Katerina? It’s a sin to say something! A man died long ago, and she is waiting for him! Look, he'll still seduce.

I'm not afraid, - he answers, - of this. Then the relatives ask:

What are you going to live for?

Don't worry about that either. I can hold out alone.

Brothers-sisters understood so much that some little money remained from Prokopincha, and again for their own:

So the fool came out! If you have money, you need a man in the house without fail. The hour is uneven - someone will hunt for money. Roll your head off like a chicken. I only saw the light.

How much, - replies, - my lot is supposed to, so much I will see.

Brothers-sisters continued to make noise for a long time. Some are shouting, some are persuading, some are crying, and Katya has done her own thing:

I can hold out alone. You don't need any of your fiancés. I have it for a long time.

Of course, the relatives got angry:

In case, don't show your eyes to us!

Thank you, - answers, - dear brothers, kind sisters! I will remember. Do not forget yourself - walk by!

Laughs, then. Well, relatives and doors slammed. Katya was left alone. She cried, of course, at first, then she says:

You're lying! I will not give in!

She wiped away her tears and busied herself with the housework. Wash and scrape - bring cleanliness. I managed - and immediately sat down to the machine. Here, too, I began to establish my own order. What she does not need is further away, and what is constantly required is close at hand. I put things in order and wanted to sit down to work.

"I'll try to grind at least one plaque myself."

Grabbed, but there is no suitable stone. The fragments of the Danilushkova dope-bowl remained, but Katya took care of them. V special node they were tied. Prokopich, of course, had a lot of stones. Only Prokopich sat to death at big jobs. Well, and the stone is all large. Little bits and pieces all got together - were spent on a small handicraft. So Katya thinks:

“We must, apparently, go to the mine dumps to look. Will not a suitable pebble hit. "

She heard from Danila and from Prokopich that they took it from the Snake Hill. That's where I went.

Of course, there are always people on Gumeshki: who is sorting the ore, who is carrying it. They looked at Katya - where she went with the basket. Katya is uncomfortable that they shouldn't be staring at her. She did not even begin to look on the dumps on this side, she walked around the hill. And there was still a forest. Here Katya climbed through this forest and climbed the most Serpentine Hill and then sat down. She felt bitter - she remembered Danilushka. Sits on a stone, and tears just run. There are no people, the forest is all around - she is not guarded. So tears fall to the ground.

She cried, she looked - at the very foot of the malachite-stone appeared, only it sits all in the ground. How will you take it, if there is no pick, no scrap? Katya still moved his hand. It seemed that the stone was not firmly seated. Here it is, and let's use a twig to rake the earth from the stone. I shook off as much as possible and began to stitch. The stone moved. How brittle from below - exactly the twig broke off. The pebble is small, like a tile. A finger three in thickness, palm-wide, and no more than two-quarters long. Katya even wondered:

Just according to my thoughts. I will cut it, so how many plaques will come out. And the loss is the smallest thing.

I brought the stone home and immediately started sawing. The work is not fast, and Katya still needs to be managed at home. You see, all day at work, and there is no time to get bored. Only how to sit down at the machine, he will remember everything about Danilushka:

He would have seen what kind of new master showed up here. Sitting in his place!

There were, of course, oogalniks. As without it ... At night, on some holiday, Katya sat at work, and three guys climbed into the fence to her.

Ali wanted to scare and something else - their business, only after drinking everything. Katya shuffles with a saw and does not hear that there are people in her hay. I heard when they began to burst into the hut:

Open up, ghoul bride! Receive live guests!

Katya first persuaded them:

Go away guys!

Well, that's nothing to them. They break at the door, and look - they will rip it off. Then Katya threw off the hook, loosened the doors and shouts:

Come in, no. Who is the first to lobby?

The guys are looking, and she is with an ax.

You, - they say, - no kidding!

What, - answers, - jokes! Whoever is beyond the threshold, that and on the forehead.

The pariahs, though drunk, see - it's no joke. The girl is old, her mantle is steep, her eye is resolute, and she seems to have had an ax in her hands. You didn’t dare to come in. They made a noise, made a noise, got out and even told about it themselves. The guys began to tease that the three of them ran away from the same girl. They did not like it, of course, they wove it, as if Katya was not alone, but behind her was a ghoul.

Yes, so terrible that you will run away from your will.

They believed the guys - they didn’t believe them, but from that time it went on among the people:

“It's filthy in this house. No wonder she lives alone. "

Katya heard this, but she did not become sad. I also thought: “Let them weave. It’s better for me to be afraid. Another time, you see, they won't climb. "

The neighbors are amazed that Katya is sitting at the machine. They raised her mock:

I began to work as a man's craft! What will she get!

It was Katya who had to become saltier. She herself thought:

"Will it work for me alone?" Well, all the same I managed to cope with myself: “Bazaar goods! Do you need a lot? If only it would be smooth ... Can't I master that too? " Katya sawed a pebble. He sees - the pattern is extremely rare, and as planned, in which place to saw off across. Katya marveled at how cleverly everything had to be. She divided it ready-made, began to grind it. It's not particularly tricky, and you can't do it without habit either. I was worried at first, then I learned. At least where the plaques went, but there is no loss at all. Only then and in a cast that I had to stitch.

Katya put on plaques, once again marveled at what an exit stone it turned out to be, and began to wonder where to sell the craft. It happened that Prokopich took such a trifle to the city, and there he handed it over to one shop. Katya has heard about this shop many times. So she came up with the idea of going to the city.

“I’ll ask there if they will accept my work beforehand.”

She closed the hut and walked on foot. In Polevoy, they did not notice that she had gone to the city. Katya found out where the owner who took the craft from Prokopich and showed up straight to the shop. It looks - there is a lot of all kinds of stone, and there is a whole cupboard behind the glass of malachite plaques. There are many people in the shop. Who buys, who hands over the craft. The owner is strict and so important.

At first Katya was afraid to approach, then she dared and asks:

Do you need malachite plaques?

The owner pointed to the cabinet with his finger:

Can't you see how good I have of this?

The masters who handed over the work hum along to him:

A lot of non-craftsmen got divorced for this craft. Only the stone is translated. They do not understand that a good pattern is required for a plaque.

One of the Polevski masters. He says to the owner on the sly:

This girl is half-witted. The neighbors saw her at the machine. Here, come on, I've cooked it up.

The owner then says:

Well, show me what you came with?

Katya and gave him a plaque. The owner looked, then stared at Katya and said:

From whom did you steal?

Katya, of course, thought it offensive. She spoke differently:

What is your right, I don’t know a person, to talk about him like that? Look here, if not blind! Who can steal so many plaques on one pattern? Well, tell me! - and poured out all her craft on the counter.

The owner and the craftsmen see - right, one pattern. And the pattern is rare. As if a tree protrudes from the middle, and a bird sits on a branch and a bird is also below. Clearly visible and done cleanly. The buyers heard this conversation and reached out to look too, only the owner immediately covered all the plaques. Found a job.

Can't see a bunch of something. Now I will lay them out under glass. Then choose what you like. - And Katya himself says: - Go that door over there. You’ll get the money now.

Katya went, and the owner followed her. He closed the door and asked:

How much do you rent?

Katya heard prices from Prokopich. She said so, and let the owner laugh:

What you! What you! This is the price I paid to one of the Polevs master Prokopyich, and even to his adoptive Danil. Why, they were masters!

I, - replies, - from them and heard. I will be from the same family.

Look what! - the owner was surprised. - So it seems that you still have Danilov's job?

No, - replies, - mine.

Perhaps the stone is left of him?

And she mined the stone herself.

The owner, you see, does not believe, but only did not dress up. Calculated honestly and even says:

It will happen in advance to do this, carry it. I will accept it without fail and put the real price.

Katya left, she is happy - how much money she received! And the owner put those plaques under the glass. Buyers came running:

How many?

He, of course, was not mistaken - he appointed ten times against what he had bought, and he slanders:

This pattern has never happened before. Polevsky master Danila's work. Better not to do it.

Katya came home, and she herself was amazed.

What a thing! My plaques turned out to be the best! I got a good pebble. Apparently, a happy case came up. - Then she missed: - Didn't Danilushko give me the message?

I thought so, twisted myself and ran to the Serpentine Hill.

And the little malachite who wanted to embarrass Katya in front of the city merchant, also returned home. He envies that Katya has such a rare pattern. He came up with:

We must see where she takes the stone. Was it not a new place for her that Prokopich or Danilo indicated?

He saw that Katya was running somewhere, and he followed her. He sees, - she bypassed Gumeshki and went somewhere behind the Snake Hill. The master goes there, but he himself thinks:

“There is a forest. I'll sneak through the forest to the very hole. "

We went into the forest. Katya is not at all close and does not in the least guard, does not look around, does not listen. The master is glad that he will get a new place so easily. Suddenly, something rustled on the sidelines, so much so that the master was even frightened. Has stopped. What? While he was sorting it out, Katya was gone. He ran, ran through the woods. I barely made it to the Seversky pond - about two miles from Gumeshek.

Katya didn’t know that she was being spied on. I climbed the hill, to the very place where I took the first pebble. The hole seems to have become larger, and from the side again the same pebble is visible. Katya shook him, and he fell behind. Again, like a twig, it was fragile. Katya took the pebble and began to cry and lament. Well, as girls-women roar at the dead, they collect all sorts of words:

Who are you to me! dear dear friend, left, - and protcha tacos ...

She began to cry, as if it became easier, stood - thought, looked in the direction of the mine. The place here is like a clearing. All around the forest was thick and high, but went to the mine side smaller. Sunset time. It was getting dark down from the forest in the clearing, and in that place - the sun had to go to the mine. This is how this place burns, and all the pebbles on it shine.

Katya thought this was curious. I wanted to come closer. I took a step, and under my feet it was crumbling. She pulled her leg back, she looked - there was no earth under her feet. She stands on some tall tree, at the very top. The same peaks came up from all sides. In the gaps between the trees below you can see grasses and flowers, and they do not at all resemble the local ones.

Another would have been frightened in Katya's place, raised a scream-squeal, but she thought of something else entirely:

“Here it is, the mountain, opened up! If only to look at Danilushka! "

She just thought and saw through the gaps - someone is walking downstairs, looks like Danilushka and pulls his hands up, as if he wants to say something. Katya did not lift the light, and rushed to him ... from the tree! Well, and fell right there on the ground, stood for food. She has come to her senses, and she says to herself:

It is true that I began to seduce. We must go home as soon as possible.

It is necessary to go, but she sits and sits, everything is waiting, whether the mountain will open up again, whether Danilushko will show up again. So she sat until dark. Then I just went home, and she thinks: “I have seen Danilushka all the same”. The master who spied on Katya ran home by this time. He looked - Katya's hut was locked. He hid himself - I'll see what she brought. He sees - Katya is walking, and he stood across the road:

Where did you go?

On the Serpentine, - replies.

At night? What is there to do?

Danilo to see ...

The master just shied away, and the next day whispers crept through the plant:

The ghoul's bride has gone completely crazy. At night he walks to the Serpentine, waiting for the deceased. As if the plant is not set on fire from a small mind.

Brothers-sisters heard it, came running again, let’s keep strict and persuade Katya. Only she didn't listen. She showed them the money and said:

Where do you think I got it from? Have good masters They don’t take it, but they paid me so much for the translation! Why is that?

The brothers heard about her luck and say:

A lucky chance came out. What is there to talk about.

Such, - answers, - have not happened. It was Danilo who laid such a stone for me and brought out the pattern. Brothers laugh, sisters wave their hands:

And she really went crazy! I must tell the bailiff. No matter how you set fire to the plant!

They didn’t say, of course. We were ashamed to betray our sister. They just left, and they agreed:

We need to look after Katerina. Where will he go - now to run after her.

And Katya saw her relatives off, locked the doors and began to saw a new pebble. Saws and thinks:

If the same will be published, it means that it did not tempt me - I saw Danilushka.

So she is in a hurry to cut. She wants to see how the pattern really comes out. The night is long ago, and Katya is still sitting at the machine. One sister woke up at this time, saw a fire in the hut, ran to the window, looked through a crack in the shutter and wondered:

And sleep does not take her! Punishment with the girl!

Katya sawed off the board - the pattern and became visible. Even better than that. A bird flew from the tree downward, spread its wings, and another flies from below to meet.

Five times this pattern is on the board. From point to point it is outlined how to cut across. Katya didn't even think about it. Grabbed, and ran somewhere. The sister follows her. On the way, I knocked on the brothers - run, they say, quickly. Brothers ran out, more people were shot down. And already it became light. They looked - Katya was running past Gumeshek. Everyone rushed there, and she, apparently, did not feel that the people were after her. I ran through the mine, walked more quietly around the Snake Hill. The people also delayed - let's see, they say, what she will do.

Katya walks, as usual, up the hill. She looked, and the forest around was some kind of unprecedented. She felt the wood with her hand, but it was cold and smooth, like a polished stone. And the grass below was also stone, and it's still dark here. Katya thinks:

"Apparently I got up the mountain."

Relatives and people were alarmed at that time:

Where did she go? Now I was close, but not!

They run and fuss. Some up the hill, some around the hills. They echo each other: - Can't you see it there?

And Katya walks in the stone forest and thinks how to find Danila. She walked, walked, and screamed:

Danilo, answer me!

The golk walked through the forest. The boughs tapped: “There is no him! He is not here! He is not here!" Only Katya did not calm down:

Danilo, answer me!

Through the woods again: “There is no him! He is not here! He is not here!"

Katya again:

Danilo, answer me!

Here the Mistress of the Mountain appeared in front of Katya.

Why did you, - asks, - climbed into my forest? What do you want? Are you looking for a good stone? Anyone take it and leave as soon as possible!

Katya says here:

I don’t need your dead stone! Give me a live Danilushka. Where is it hidden with you? What is your right to entice other people's suitors!

Well, brave girl. She began to step directly on the throat. This is the Mistress! And she's nothing, she stands calmly:

What else do you say?

And then I'll say - give it to Danila! You have it ...

The hostess burst out laughing, and she says:

You fool girl, do you know who you are talking to?

Not blind, - shouts, - I see. Only I'm not afraid of you, homeless woman! Not in the least bit afraid! No matter how cunning you have, Danilo reaches out to me. I've seen it myself. What, got it?

The hostess then says:

But let's hear what he has to say.

Before that, it was a little dark in the forest, but here he immediately came to life. It became light. The grass below was lit up with different lights, the trees are one more beautiful than the other. In the clearing you can see a clearing, and on it are stone flowers, and bees are golden, like sparks, over those flowers. Well, such, hey, beauty that I wouldn’t have seen enough. And Katya sees: Danilo is running through this forest. Straight to her. Katya rushed to meet:

Danilushko!

Wait, - says the Mistress, - and asks: - Well, Danilo-master, choose - what to do? You will go with her - you will forget all mine, you will stay here - you need to forget her and people.

I can't, - he replies, - to forget people, but I remember her every minute.

Then the Hostess smiled brightly and said:

Yours took, Katerina! Take your master. For your courage and firmness, here is a gift for you. Let Danila keep everything mine in his memory. Only let him forget this! - And the clearing with outlandish flowers immediately went out.

Now go in that direction, - pointed the Mistress and even anticipated. - You, Danilo, do not tell people about the mountain. Say that you went to a distant master for training. And you, Katerina, and forget to think that I enticed your fiancé. He himself came for what he now forgot.

Katya bowed here:

Forgive me at the worst!

Okay, - he answers, - that it will be made of stone! For you I say so that you do not have a chill.

Katya and Danila went through the forest, and it was getting darker and darker, and uneven underfoot - bumps and pits. Look around, and they are at the mine - at Gumeshki. The time is still early, and there are no people at the mine. They slowly made their way home.

And those who ran after Katya are still wandering through the forest and calling back: - Can't you see it there?

Searched, searched, did not find. We ran home, and Danilo was sitting at the window. They were scared, of course. They shy away, they say different spells. Then they see - Danilo began to fill his pipe. Well, we went away.

“It won’t be the same,” they think, “a ghoul to smoke a pipe.”

They began to approach one by one. They looked - and Katya was in the hut. It’s pounding by the stove, but it’s fun. They haven't seen her like that for a long time. Then they completely grew bolder, entered the hut, began to ask:

Where is it you, Danilo, have not been seen for a long time?

In Kolyvan, - answers, - I went. I heard about the stone master there, as if there was no better one for work. So I wanted to learn a little. Tyatya, the deceased, tried to dissuade him. Well, I took self-pleasure - I secretly left, Katya just told her.

Why, they ask, did you break your cup?

Danilo became a little cloudy, as if they remembered about the bowl, then he says:

Well, you never know ... I came from the evening ... Maybe I drank too much ... I didn't think so, so I gasped. It happened with every master. What to talk about.

Then the brothers-sisters began to approach Katya, why did not she say about Kolyvan? Only from Katya they also achieved a little. Immediately cut off:

Whose cow mooed, mine would be silent. Little did I tell you that Danilo is alive. And you? Grooms were slipping me and knocked out of the way! Better sit down at the table. My chirla was baked.

That was the end of it. Relatives sat down, talked about one or the other, dispersed. In the evening Danilo went to the clerk to show up. He made some noise, of course. Well, they settled the matter after all.

So Danilo and Katya began to live in their hut. Well, they say, we lived according to it. At work, everyone called Danila a mining foreman. No one could do against him. And they got prosperity. Only no, no - and Danilo will think. Katya understood, of course, what, but she kept quiet.

Fragile twig

Danila and Katya, who rescued her fiancé from the Mistress of the Mountain, had many children. Eight, hey, man, and all the boys. Mother more than once roared at least one girl at a glance. And the father, know, laughs:

This, apparently, is our position with you. The kids were growing up healthy. Only one was not lucky. Either from the porch, or from somewhere else he fell and hurt himself: his hump began to grow. The Baushki ruled, of course, but it didn’t work. So the humpbacked one had to toil in this world. Other children, - I noticed so, - come out evil on such and such an occasion, but this one is nothing - he grew up cheerful and a master of inventions. He was the third in the family, and all the brothers obeyed him and asked:

What do you think, Mitya? What do you think, Mitya, what is this for?

Father and mother, and they often shouted:

Mityushka! Look at it! Okay, in your eye?

Mityaiko, - did not notice where I put the sparrows?

And then Mityunka was given that his father deftly played the horn from a young age. This one will also make a piculka, so she exactly pronounces the song from him.

Danilo, in his skill, still earned well. Well, Katya didn’t sit idle either. So, they raised a family, they didn't go to people for a piece. And Katya took care of the child's clothes. So that everyone is on the right: pimeshki there, fur coats and protcha. In the summer, it is understandable, and barefoot, okay: your own skin, not bought. And Mityunka, how sorry he is of everyone, and there were boots. The older brothers did not envy this, and the little mothers themselves said:

End of free trial snippet.

The name of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov is known to every adult. At the mention of the name of this Russian writer, wonderful original tales about a malachite box, a stone flower, hardworking and kind Ural prospectors and skilled craftsmen arise in our minds. The works of Bazhov are taken to the world of the Ural underground and mountain kingdom and are introduced to its magical inhabitants: the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, the Fireman-Poskakushka, the Silver Hoof, the Great Snake and the Blue Snake.

P.P. Bazhov - the master of the Ural tales

Paul in the Urals in 1879. His family traveled a lot, and much of what the boy heard and saw in his childhood in Sysert, Polevskoy, Seversky, Verkh-Sysert, formed the basis of his tales about the Urals and his life. Pavel Bazhov has always been attracted by folklore.

He treated with great respect the history of his people, his original character and oral creativity. The writer constantly collected and updated folklore records and based on them he created his own unique tales. The heroes of his works are ordinary workers.

Display of historical events in the tales of P. Bazhov

Serfdom existed in the Urals until the end of the 19th century. The works of P.P. Bazhova describe the time when the people lived under the yoke of the masters. Factory owners in pursuit of income did not think about the price human life and the health of their charges, forced to work in dark and damp mines from morning to night.

Despite the hard times and hard labor, the people did not lose heart. Among the workers there were very creative, intelligent people who know how to work and deeply understand the world of beauty. Descriptions of their characters, everyday life and spiritual aspirations contain the works of Bazhov. The list of them is quite large. The literary merits of Pavel Bazhov were appreciated during his lifetime. In 1943 he was awarded the Stalin Prize for the book of Ural tales "The Malachite Box".

The message of the Ural tales

Tales are not early works Pavel Bazhov. Despite the fact that the journalist, publicist and revolutionary Bazhov was always interested in folklore, the thought of writing tales did not immediately appear in his mind.

The first tales "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "Dear Name" were published before the war, in 1936. Since then, Bazhov's works began to appear in print regularly. The purpose and meaning of the tales was to raise the fighting spirit and self-awareness of the Russian people, the awareness of itself as a strong and invincible nation, capable of feats and resistance to the enemy.

It is no coincidence that Bazhov's works appeared before the start of the Great Patriotic War and continued to go out during it. In this regard, P.P. Bazhov was a visionary. He managed to foresee the onset of trouble and make his contribution to the opposition to world evil.

Mystical images in the literary works of P.P. Bazhova

Many people know what works Bazhov wrote, but not everyone understands where the writer borrowed the magical images of his tales. Of course, the folklorist only passed on folk knowledge about otherworldly forces that helped good heroes and punished evil people. There is an opinion that the surname Bazhova came from the word "bazhit", which is the Uralic dialect and literally means "to enchant", "to portend".

Most likely, the writer was a person well versed in mysticism, once he decided to recreate the mythological images of the Great Snake, Jumping Fire, Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Silver Hoof and many others. All of these magical heroes represent forces of nature. They possess incalculable riches and reveal them only to people with pure and open hearts, opposing the forces of evil and in need of help and support.

Bazhov's works for children

The meaning of some tales is very deep and does not lie on the surface. It must be said that not all of Bazhov's works will be understandable to children. The tales, addressed directly to the younger generation, traditionally include "Silver Hoof", "Firefighter-Poskakushka" and "Blue Snake". Bazhov's works for children are written in a very short and accessible language.

It does not pay much attention to the experiences of the heroes, but the emphasis is on describing miracles and magical characters. Here Ognevushka-Poskakushka is mischievous in a fiery sarafan, in another fairy tale the Silver Hoof unexpectedly appears and knocks out precious stones for the orphan girl and the kind hunter Kokovani. And, of course, who doesn't want to meet the Blue Snake, which spins with a wheel and shows where the gold lies?

Bazhov's tales and their use in fairy tale therapy

Bazhov's works are very convenient to use in fairy tale therapy, the main task of which is to form positive values and motivations in children, strong moral foundations, to develop their creative perception of the world and good intellectual abilities. Vivid images of fairy tales, simple, sincere, hardworking people from the people, fantastic characters will make the child's world beautiful, kind, unusual and bewitching.

The most important thing in Bazhov's tales is morality. Her child must learn and remember, and the help of an adult in this is very necessary. After the tale has been told, you need to have a conversation with the children in the same friendly manner about the main characters, about their behavior and fate. Kids will be happy to talk about those characters and their actions that they liked, express their opinion about negative heroes and their behavior. Thus, the conversation will help to consolidate the positive effect of fairy tale therapy, contributing to the firm rooting of the acquired knowledge and images in the mind of the child.

List of works by Bazhov:

"Diamond Match";
"Amethyst Business";
"Bogatyrev's mitten";
"Vasina Gora";
Veselukhin Spoons;
"Blue Snake";
"Mining Master";
"Distant Viewer";
"Two lizards";
"Demidov Caftans";
"Dear name";
"Dear Earth Turn";
"Ermakov's Swans";
"Zhabreev Walker";
"Iron tires";
Zhivinka is in business;
"Living Light";
"Snake Trail";
Golden Hair;
"Golden Blossom of the Mountain";
"Golden Dykes";
Ivanko-Krylatko;
"Stone Flower";
"Key of the Earth";
"Root secrecy";
"Cat's ears";
"Circular Lantern";
"Malachite Box";
"Markov Stone";
"Copper share";
"Hostess of the Copper Mountain";
"At the same place";
"The inscription on the stone";
"Wrong Heron";
"Fireman-jump";
Eagle Feather;
"Prikazchik's soles";
"About the Great Snake";
"About Divers";
"About the main thief";
Ore Pass;
Silver Hoof;
"Sinyushkin well";
"Sun Stone";
"Juicy pebbles";
"Gift of the Old Mountains";
"Cockroach soap";
"Tayutkino Mirror";
"Herbal Zapadeka";
"Heavy Vitushka";
"Near the old mine";
"Fragile twig";
"Crystal lacquer";
"Pig-iron grandmother";
"Silk Hill";
"Wide shoulder".

Bazhov's works, the list of which it is advisable for parents to study in advance, will help to form in children a feeling of sympathy for kind characters, such as old Kokovanya, Daryonka, and a negative attitude, censure towards others (clerk from the fairy tale "Mistress of Copper Mountain"). They will instill in your child a sense of kindness, justice, and beauty and teach him to empathize, help others, and act decisively. Bazhov's works will develop creative potential children and will contribute to the emergence in them of the values and qualities necessary for a successful and happy life.

Two times we went to look at our factory grass. And they had distant mowing. Behind Severushka somewhere.

The guy was about to say a word, suddenly he was hit on the back of the head.

- You are my mother, but this is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are something. How did I not immediately notice? She averted her eyes with her scythe.

- What are you, Stepan Petrovich, staring at the maiden's beauty for nothing? They take money for a glance. Come closer. Let's talk a little. The guy was scared, of course, but doesn't show it. Fastened. Even though she is a secret power, she is still a girl. Well, and he is a guy - it means that he is ashamed to get rid of the girl in front of the girl.

- There is no time, - he says, - for me to talk. We slept without that, and went to look at the grass.

She chuckles and then says:

- You will be playing a trick. Go, I say, there is business.

Some, like glass or mica, shine, while others are faded like grass, and which are again decorated with patterns. The girl laughs.

- Do not make way, - he says, - my army, Stepan Petrovich. You are so big and heavy, but they are small. - And she clapped her palms, the lizards and scattered, gave the way.

Here the guy came closer, stopped, and she again clapped her hands, and she says, and all laughing:

- Now you have nowhere to step. If you crush my servant, there will be trouble. He looked at his feet, and there was no earth too. All the lizards huddled together in one place - like a patterned floor underfoot. Stepan looks - priests, but this is copper ore! All varieties and well polished. And mica is right there, and snag, and all sorts of glitters, which resemble malachite.

- Well, now you recognized me, Stepanushka? - asks the malachitnitsa, and she herself laughs, bursts into laughter. Then, a little later, he says:

- Don't be afraid. I will not do you bad.

The guy became distressed that the girl was making fun of him and even saying such words. He became very angry, even shouted:

- Who should I be afraid of, if I am timid in grief!

- That's all right, - the malachitnitsa answers. - I just need this, which is not afraid of anyone. Tomorrow, as you go downhill, your factory clerk will be here, you tell him yes, look, do not forget the words: “The hostess, they say, ordered you, a stuffy goat, to get out of the Krasnogorsk mine. If you still break this iron cap of mine, I’ll put all the copper in Gumeshki down there, so that there’s no way to get it. ”

She said this and narrowed her eyes:

- Did you understand, Stepanushko? In grief, you say, you are timid, you are not afraid of anyone? So tell the bailiff as I ordered, and now go to the one who is with you, don't say anything, look. He is a crumbled man, so that he can be disturbed and involved in this matter. And so she told the blue tit to help him a little.

- Do not forget, Stepanushko, as I said. She told you, the stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. Do it my way, I'll marry you!

The guy even spat in the heat:

- Ugh you, what a trash! So that I marry a lizard.

And she sees how he spits and laughs.

- Okay, - shouts, - we'll talk later. Maybe you will?

And now over the hill, only the green tail flashed.

The guy was left alone. The mine is quiet. One can only hear another snoring behind the breast of ore. Woke him up. We went to our mows, looked at the grass, returned home in the evening, and Stepan had one thing on his mind: how should he be? To say these words to the bailiff is no small matter, and he was - and rightly so - stifling - some kind of rot in his insides, they say, was. Not to say - it's also scary. She's the Mistress. What kind of ore he can throw into a snag. Then follow the lessons. And even worse, it’s ashamed to show oneself as a braggart in front of a girl.

Thought-thought, dared:

- I was not, I will do as she ordered.

The next morning, as people gathered at the trigger drum, the factory clerk approached. Everyone, of course, took off their hats, they are silent, and Stepan comes up and says:

- I saw in the evening the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, and she ordered to tell you. She tells you, a stuffy goat, to get out of Krasnogorka. If you spoil this iron cap for her, she will drain all the copper on Gumeshki there so that no one can get it.

The clerk's mustache even began to shake.

- What are you? Drunk, did you make up your mind? What kind of hostess? Who are you saying these words to? Yes, I will rot you in grief!

- Your will, - says Stepan, - but that's the only way I've been told.

- Whip him, - shouts the bailiff, - yes, lower him uphill and chained him in the face! And in order not to die, give him dog porridge and ask lessons without indulgence. Just a little bit - to tear mercilessly!

- Cool down here a little. And the lesson from you will be pure malachite so much, - and appointed it completely incongruous.

“Here,” he thinks, “that's good. The Mistress, apparently, remembered about me. "

Just thought, it suddenly shone. He looks, and the Mistress is here, in front of him.

- Well done, - he says, - Stepan Petrovich. You can attribute it to honor. The stuffy goat was not frightened. I told him well. Let's go see my dowry. I, too, am not repulsed by my word.

And she frowned herself, it was exactly not good for her. She clapped her hands, the lizards came running, the chain was removed from Stepan, and the Mistress gave them a routine:

- Break the lesson here in half. And so that there was a selection of malachite, a silk grade. - Then Stepan says: - Well, groom, let's go see my dowry.

- Let's sit, - he says, - here, we'll talk. They sat down on stools, a malachitnitsa and asked:

- Have you seen my dowry?

- I've seen, - says Stepan.

"Well, how about getting married now?"

“Your dowry is just right for tsars, but I’m a working man, a simple one.

- You, - he says, - my dear friend, do not wobble. Speak bluntly, will you marry me or not? She frowned herself.

Well, Stepan answered bluntly:

- I can’t, because another promised.

He said so and thinks: he is on fire now. And she seemed to be delighted.

- Well done, - he says, - Stepanushka. I praised you for the bailiff, but for that I will praise you twice. You didn’t glare at my riches, you didn’t exchange your Nastenka for a stone girl. - And the guy, right, the bride's name was Nastya. “Here,” he says, “you have a present for your bride,” and gives you a large malachite box. And there, hey, every female device. Earrings, rings and protcha, which not even every rich bride has.

- How, - the guy asks, - I'll go upstairs with this place?

- Don't worry about it. Everything will be arranged, and I will rescue you from the clerk, and you will live comfortably with your young wife, only here is my story for you - mind you, don't remember me later. This will be my third test for you. Now let's eat a little.

- Well, goodbye, Stepan Petrovich, don't remember me. - And at the very tears. She substituted this hand, and the tears drip-drip and on her hand freeze in grains. A small handful. - Here, take it to live. People give a lot of money for these stones. You will be rich - and give it to him.

The stones are cold, and the hand, hey, is hot, as it is alive, and shakes a little. Stepan took the stones, bowed low and asks:

- Where should I go? - And he, too, became unhappy.

- In the bottom hole, everyone can break it. - And he took Stepan to another face, and put his nephew in this one.

The next day Stepan began to work, and the malachite still flies off, and even the kinglet with a coil began to fall, and at that nephew's - tell me, there is nothing good, everything is stunning and snagging. Here the overseer and swept the matter. I ran to the clerk. Anyway.

- Not otherwise, - he says, - Stepan sold his soul to evil spirits.

The bailiff says to this:

- It's his business, to whom he sold his soul, and we need to have our benefit. Promise him that we will release him, let him only find a lump of malachite one hundred poods.

All the same, the clerk ordered to untie Stepan and gave such an order - to stop work on Krasnogorka.

- Who, - he says, - knows him? Maybe this crazy fool spoke then. Yes, and the ore there with copper went, only damage to cast iron.

The warden announced to Stepan what was required of him, and he replied:

- Who will refuse? I will try, but if I can find it - that's how my happiness will suit.

“That's what,” he says, “I give you my noble word to set you free, if you find such malachite stones for me, so that you can cut out pillars of at least five fathoms from them in the valley.

Stepan answers:

- I have already been entangled. I am a scientist. First, write freely, then I will try, and what happens - we'll see.

The master, of course, shouted, stamped his feet, and Stepan was one of his own:

- I almost forgot - give my bride the freedom to write it down too, but what kind of order it is - I'll be free myself, and my wife in the fortress.

The master sees - the guy is not soft. I wrote him an act paper.

- On, - he says, - just try, look.

And Stepan is all his own.

- This is how happiness will seek.

The sick man thought of starting a shotgun and got into the habit of hunting. And everyone, hey, goes to the Krasnogorsk mine, but doesn't carry the booty home. In the autumn he left so and so and with the end. Here he is not, here he is not ... Where did he go? Knocked down, of course, the people, let's look. And he, hey, lies dead in the mine near a high stone, smiles evenly, and his rifle is lying on the sidelines, not fired from it. The people who first came running, said that they saw a green lizard near the deceased, and such a big one that had never happened in our places. She sits as if over the dead, lifted her head, and her tears are dripping. As people ran closer, she was on the stone, only she was seen. And when the deceased was brought home and washed, they looked: he had one hand tightly clamped, and one could barely see green grains from it. A small handful. Then one knowledgeable person happened, looked from the side at the grains and said:

- Why, this is a copper emerald! Rare - stone, dear. The whole wealth for you, Nastasya, remains. Where did he get these stones from?

Here she is, then, what a Mistress of the Copper Mountain!

It is grief for a thin person to meet her, and for a good person it is not enough joy. 1
The tale was first published together with two others: "About the Great Snake" and "Dear name" - in the collection "Pre-revolutionary folklore in the Urals", Sverdlovsk regional publishing house, 1936. These tales are closest to the Ural miner folklore. Geographically, they are connected with the old Sysert Mining District, “which, - pointed out P. Bazhov, - included five factories: Sysertsky or Sysert - the main factory of the district, Polevskoy (aka Polevaya or Poleva) - the oldest factory in the district, Seversky (Severna ), Upper (Verkh-Sysertsky), Ilyinsky (Nizhve-Sysertsky). Near the Polevskoy plant there was also the most famous copper deposit of the fortress pore of the Urals - the Gumeshki mine, otherwise Copper Mountain, or simply Mountain. Most of the tales of the Polevskoy region are connected with these Gumeshks, which for a century were a terrible underground hard labor for more than one generation of workers "(P. Bazhov, Preface to the tales published in the magazine" October ", No. 5-6, 1939, p. 158 ).
P. Bazhov heard stories about the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, about the Great Snake, about the mysterious mine of Gumeshki, both in his own family and at the factory's old people. They were experienced workers who devoted their entire lives to the mining industry. Towards old age, when they had already been "crushed", they were transferred from mines and from copper-smelting furnaces to more easy work(watchmen, forestry workers, etc.). It was they who were the narrators of legends about old factories, about the life of miners. The image of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain or Malakhitnitsa in mining folklore has different options: Mountain uterus, Stone girl, Golden woman, Azovka girl, Mountain spirit, Mountain elder, Mountain owner - (see P. L. Ermakov, Memoirs of a miner, Sverdlgiz, 1947; L. Potapov. Cult of mountains in Altai, magazine "Soviet ethnography ", no. 2, 1946:" Songs and Tales of Miners ", folklore of miners of the Shakhty region, Rostov regional publishing house, 1940; N. Dyrenkova, Shorsky folkler, ML 1940 A. Misurev, Legends and were, folklore of old miners of the South and Western Siberia; - Novosibirsk, 1940) - All these folklore characters are - the keepers of the wealth of the mineral resources. P. Bazhov's image of Malakhitnitsa is much more complicated. The writer embodied the beauty of nature in her, inspiring people to creative searches.
The image of Malakhitnitsa from P. Bazhov's tales has become widely accepted in Soviet art. It has been recreated on stage, in painting and sculpture. "Images of Bazhov's tales - in the wall paintings of the Palace of Pioneers in the city of Sverdlovsk, the House of Pioneers in the city of Serov, in the works of the artisanal art industry, in toys for children" (V. Biryukov, Singer of the Urals, newspaper "Krasny Kurgan", February 1, 1951 T.). Bazhov's tales have been recreated by Palešan artists.
“There are whole labyrinths of rooms in the large white-stone Palace of Pioneers in Sverdlovsk, and there are a lot of interesting things in thirst. But the guys enter one of the rooms with a joyful feeling of expectation of something special, a little mysterious and beautiful. This is the room of Bazhov's tales. On a high spacious wall, a girl, Golden Hair, scattered her long braids. Nearby is a green-eyed beauty in a heavy malachite dress of the Copper Mountain Mistress. A mischievous red-haired girl is dancing on the wall - Ognevushka-Poskakushka. This is how the Palekh masters' room was painted. " This group, in addition to the said tale, includes nine more works, including; "Prikazchik's Soles" (1936), "Sochnevy Pebbles" (1937), "Malachite Box" (1938), "Stone Flower" (1938), "Mining Master" (1939), "Two Lizards" (1939), "Fragile twig "(1940)," Grass trap "(1940)," Tayutkino's mirror "(1941).

Malachite Box

- Look, they will say what a queen she found in the Field!

Stepan also did not compel his wife to carry from this box. Once he even once said:

Nastasya put the box in the lowest chest, where they keep the canvases and prints in reserve.

- You, look, do not turn this box for a trifle. It costs big thousands.

Nastasya had heard from her husband that this dandy was correct and smart in business, even though he was addicted to wine. Well, and listened to him.

- Okay, - he says, - I'll save it for a rainy day. - And put the box in its old place.

They buried Stepan, the magpies sent honor-honor. Nastasya is a woman in juice and with plenty, they began to grab onto her. And she, a smart woman, says one thing to everyone:

- At least the gold second, but we will keep everything to the robots.

Well, we are behind in time.

- Sell the box! What is it to you? That good lies in vain. Everything is one and Tanya, as he grows up, will not wear. There are some things over there! Only bars and merchants fit to buy. With our remy you can't put on an eco-place. And people would give money. Delivery to you.

In a word, they slander. And the buyer, like a raven on a bone, swooped down. All merchants. Some give one hundred rubles, some two hundred.

- We are sorry for yours, because of your widowhood, we are doing your descent.

- Mammy, don't sell! Mammy, don't sell! I’d better go to the people, and save the memo.

- Not otherwise, this one from you, Stepan, fell out of the brushes.

In whom it was just conceived! The little black thing itself and the little fable, and the little green eyes. It doesn't seem like our girls at all.

Stepan jokes, it used to be:

- It's not a miracle that she's a little black. Father, after all, from an early age skidded in the ground. And that the eyes are green is also not surprising. You never know, I stuffed malachite for Barin Turchaninov. Here is a memo left to me.

So he called this girl a Memo. - Come on, my memo! - And when it happened to her what to buy, so always blue or green will bring.

The case began with trifles - with a powder match. She's not so hot as invented for a long time. With a small hundred years will it be typed? At first, as the gunpowder was used, a lot of thought was over it. Which are in vain. Who, say, came up with the idea of making chiseled straws, who again began to lubricate the matches with such a composition so that they burn with different lights: crimson, green, whatever. With the capping, too, a lot of oddities. To put it bluntly, the powder match was in great fashion.

Not about people, I'm going to talk about myself. In those years, as the people went to collective farms, I was already in my middle years. Instead of light brown curls, he grew a bald patch all over his head. And my old woman did not look young. I used to call her a songwriter, but now it looks like a grinding machine. So it sharpens me, it sharpens me: that is not, this is lack.

For people, the men will take care of everything, but with us, as it drags along and evaporates in the bath, so on the side. And he has no thoughts about anything!

In these places before, an ordinary person could not have resisted: the beast would have eaten or overpowered the vile. At first, these places were inhabited by the heroes. They, of course, looked like people, only very large and stone. This, of course, is easier: the beast will not bite him, it is completely calm from the gadfly, you cannot get through with heat and cold, and there is no need for houses.

For the elder of these stone heroes, one went by the name Denezhkin. You see, he had a glass with small money from all the local stones and ore on his answer. For this ore and stone money, that hero had a nickname.

The glass, of course, is heroic - taller than human height, much larger than a forty-cavernous barrel. That glass is made of the finest golden topaz and is so finely and cleanly cut that there is nowhere else to go. Ore and stone money is visible through and through, and the strength of these money is such that they show the place.

We are not very rich here in an even place. We all have mountains and spoons, spoons and mountains. You will not go around them, you will not go around them. The mountain, of course, is the grief of strife. Some no one even takes into account, and the other, not only in his neighborhood, but also distant people know: she is heard, she is famous.

There was one such mountain near our plant itself. At first, from a mile, or even more, such a pulling force, that a strong horse walks lightly, and that one is in soap, and then you still need to overcome the bumps, like a scallop of the most difficult climb. What can I say, a noticeable slide. Once you pass, or you pass, you will remember it for a long time and you will begin to tell others.

We have one logotinka behind the pond for a long time. Such a funny place. Wide spoon. In the spring, it keeps a little wet here, but the grass grows curlier and the flowers are great. All around, of course, there is a forest of all kinds. Love to look. And it is handy to stick to that logo from the pond: the shore is not steep and not gentle, but at the very, say, time, as if it has been settled with a good deal, and the bottom is sand with hazel grouse. The bottom is completely solid, and it does not prick my leg. In a word, everything is as invented. We can say that this place itself attracts: it’s good to sit here on the bank, smoke a pipe or two, light a fire, and let us have a look at our factory - wouldn’t our little animal seem better?

The local people have been accustomed to this spoon from time immemorial. Even under the Mosolovs, fashion started.

They are the Mosolov brothers, under whom our plant was conceived with a structure, they left the rank of carpentry. In other words, it seems that there were contractors. Yes, they got very rich and let's set up their own plant. On a large, it means that the water swam. We got heavy with wealth, of course. All three brothers forgot to walk on the rafters with a spirit level and a plumb line. They say in one word:

Two boys grew up in our factory, in a close neighborhood: Lanko Puzhanko da Leiko Hat.

Who and why they came up with such nicknames, I do not know how to say. Among themselves, these guys lived together. We got close to match. Umishly level, strong level, growth and years too. And there was no big difference in life. Lanka's father was an ore-digger, Lake's grieved on the golden sands, and mothers, as we know, plundered about the household. The guys had nothing to be proud of each other.

Katya - Danilov's bride - remained unmarried. Two or three years have passed since Danilo got lost - she even left the bride's time. For twenty years, in our opinion, in the factory, overdone is considered. Guys like that rarely woo, there are more widowers. Well, this Katya, apparently, was pretty, all the suitors climb to her, and she only has words:

Danil was promised.

There were quite a few famous mountaineers in our area. It also happened that truly learned people, academicians called their professors and marveled in earnest how they subtly recognized the mountains, even though they were illiterate.

The matter, of course, is not simple - not to pick a berry from a bush. No wonder one such was nicknamed the Heavy Kotomkoy. He dragged a lot of every stone on his back. And how much it was alike, how many rocks were overpowered and overturned - this cannot be counted.

They say that the treasury (with state funds - Ed.) Installed our Polevaya. There were no other factories in these places at that time. We went with a fight. Well, the treasury is known. The soldier was sent. The Gorny Shield village was built on purpose so that the road was safe. On Gumeshki, you see, at that time the visible wealth lay on top, and they were approaching it. We got there, of course. They caught up with the people, the plant was installed, some Germans were brought in, but things did not go well. It didn’t go and didn’t go. Either the Germans did not want to show, or they themselves did not know - I cannot explain, only the Gumeshki were ignored by them. They took from another mine, but it was not worth the work at all. All wasted mine, skinny. You can't put on such a good factory. It was then that our Polevaya got into Turchaninov.

Works are paginated

Ural tales Bazhova

Bazhov's Tales absorbed plot motives, unusual images, colors, the language of national legends and folk wisdom... Pavel Petrovich Bazhov managed to give the unusual characters (the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, the Great Snake, Ognevushka-Poskakushka) a bewitching poetry. A magical world into which the old ones lead us Ural tales of Bazhov immersed ordinary Russian people, and they, with their real, earthly power, conquered the conventions of fairy magic. On our website you can see online list of Bazhov's fairy tales and enjoy reading them absolutely is free.