The Malachite Box nuggets. The story of the brothers is continued in "The Snake Trail" (alternative translation: "The Serpent's Trail"), published in 1939. In this "skaz", a young the factory worker Stepan meets the legendary Mistress of the Copper Mountain. He passes her tests and is rewarded by a malachite casket filled with jewellery for his betrothed, Nastyona. Stepan dies, leaving the Malachite Casket to his widow Nastyona. Their daughter Tanyushka likes to play with it. With black hair and green eyes, Tanyushka does not look like her mother at all, as if she was born to different parents. When she grows up,
The Malachite Box underdeveloped, at that time there were no specific criteria of distinguishing literature from folklore. The question of authorship arose every time a new story was released, and is still discussed nowadays. Before the stories were released as a single volume on 28 January 1939, the issue became urgent. The publisher was concerned with the title of the book and the author's name. It was suggested to release the book as "The Tales from Grandpa Slyshko" (), as if Vasily Hmelinin was the author. It was eventually published as "The Malachite Box". Bazhov was not certain of the authorship himself. He