Mistress of the Copper Mountain

Rooted in Ural miners' lore and later popularized in Pavel Bazhov's skazy, the Mistress is understood as the autonomous proprietor of particular mineral-rich mountains — most famously the Gumyoshevsky mine known as the Copper Mountain (Polevskoy). Folk narratives present the mountain and its hidden wealth as under her stewardship; miners interpret finds or the lack of them as evidence of her granting or withdrawing favor. Regional variants sometimes equate or connect her with the Azov Girl (Azovka) or other localized mountain guardians.

Typically described as an extremely beautiful young woman with green eyes, dark braided hair (uncut/uncarved hair signaling unmarried status in some accounts), wearing a gown of malachite and a diadem decorated with malachite and precious stones; ribbons or tinkling threads of copper may adorn her hair. She also appears in a reptilian form — as a lizard or snake — sometimes wearing a crown, and is constantly surrounded by small lizard servants of varying green, blue, or golden-speckled hues.

She is the protector-owner of hidden underground riches and can permit or prevent mining and the discovery of jewels and metals. She favors and assists good, honest, hardworking, skilled craftsmen and miners (or those described as brave and freedom-loving), granting them finds or special skill; conversely, those who fail to meet her conditions may lose skill and luck, fall ill, or even die. Encounters are enchanted: a person who sees her comes under her spell. She commands mountain lizards which act as her servants and agents in the underground realm. Folk accounts also ascribe a moral evaluative role to her choices, including hostility toward aristocracy.