Malachite and keep evil spirits at bay. Malachite often results from the weathering of copper ores, and is often found together with azurite (Cu(CO)(OH)), goethite, and calcite. Except for its vibrant green color, the properties of malachite are similar to those of azurite and aggregates of the two minerals occur frequently. Malachite is more common than azurite and is typically associated with copper deposits around limestones, the source of the carbonate. Large quantities of malachite have been mined in the Urals, Russia. Ural malachite is not being mined at present, but G.N Vertushkova reports the possible discovery of new deposits of
The Malachite Box people used to say about the lucky workers that they "knew the words" and had certain helpers. The geography is well known because it is specified in the stories. Bazhov mentions real locations such as Sysert, the Polevskoy Copper Smelting Plant, the Gumyoshevsky mine, the villages Kosoy Brod and Krasnogorka, the Ryabinovka river. Mythical creatures in "The Malachite Box" are either anthropomorphous (primarily female) or zoomorphic. The animals that appear in the stories and have zoomorphic attributes are lizards, snakes ("The Great Snake"), cranes ("Dikes of Gold"), ants ("Zhabrei's Path"), swans ("Yermak's Swans"), cats, the deer. All these creatures, with