Many years ago, in a village in the Ural Mountains there lived an orphan called Danila. His nickname was "Skin and Bones" as he was very thin. He worked as a servant in a house, but he was not suited to the job. When called, he often failed to hear because he was busy gazing upon a picture or some ornament. So he was sent to be a shepherd assistant. However, he was no good in that role either. He would stare at blade of glass or a bug crawling along a leaf and forget about cows. The only thing he learned to do was play the horn. The old shepherds were pleased with Danila's tunes and enjoyed listening to him play. But one day the orphan's music brought them misfortune. They did not notice some cows straying away and lost them for good. Both were severely whipped for their negligence and Danila fell ill from the punishment.
In the same village there also lived a skilled stone-cutter named Prokorych, who was the best in the area. The bailiff had sent many youths to him to learn the old master's secrets, but the old man refused to teach them. "He is no good he'll never learn anything," he would say. The lads themselves did not want to go to him as the old master was very quick to deal out slaps and punches. So when the sickly Danila was sent to him after he had recovered somewhat from his whipping the old master commented: "He can hardly stand. This work could kill him. He would be no good as a sculptor." But the bailiff insisted, and the craftsman had no choice but to obey.
On the very first day of work, Danila, after contemplating a slab of malachite, told the master how he thought the slab should best be cut so as to preserve its natural pattern.
"What do you understand this matter? Who do you think you are? A skilled craftsman?" Prokopych went on shouting till he tired himself out. Then he asked in a kinder tone: "Well, how do you think it ought to be done?" The master listened attentively and realized that the boy had talent. "But can I teach him? He is so weak and work is so hard; the dust is harmful even to healthy people. He ought to rest and put some flesh on himself first. After that I'll teach him job. There is a craftsman in him," Prokopych thought to himself. So he started by feeding him well, sent him to pick berries and mushrooms, and fish in the pound. Winter came and Prokopych bought Danila a fur coat, winter cap and gloves all the time keeping him from work. They spent the evenings talking about the skills of stone-carving. Danila observed the old man's work closely and started to practice on small pieces of malachite. He rapidly gained experience, and a rumour soon spread that a new and skilled stonecutter had appeared. The bailiff summoned Danila and ordered him to make a cup, a strict copy of the form and ornamentation of the cup in a drawing he gave the boy. The model posed a demanding task but one containing no beauty, and this bothered Danila. When tired he would go into the woods and fields. It was haymaking time and the plants were laden with flowers and berries. He wandered as in search of something. Passers-by asked him what he had lost. "Haven't lost anything but can't find it either," he would answer. Some people began to think that the lad was a little touched. He saw the beauty in the stone and yet did not know how to convert it into a piece of art. His face grew thin and his eyes gained a strange wildness. "What do we do with malachite? Grind, carve and polish it but all the wrong way," he thought. Prokopych tried to comfort him saying that theirs was to fulfil the order and nothing more, but he could not convince the young man.
At last Danila finished the ordered cup. His fellow craftsman praised the work: "Line for line it resembles the drawing…there is not a single fault… it couldn't be done better." He listened then burst out: "That's just what wrong… It's too clean-cut and smooth… When you look at a common flower, it brings joy to your heart, but in this cup you find only skill and patience… Where has the natural beauty of the stone gone? Whose heart will this cup cheer?"
The oldest among the craftsmen present said: "You had better keep such thoughts out of your head. Otherwise you'll find yourself at the Mistress of the Copper Mountain." And then he told a story about craftsmen who lived in the mountain. No one has ever seen them. Whatever the Mistress wanted, they made for her. The pieces looked as if they were alive because the sculptors had seen the stone flower and gained from it an understanding of the beauty hidden within the stone. Once one saw the flower, ordinary life lost all its sweetness.
"I'd like to look at it," said Danila resolutely. Prokopych tried to distract the lad's thoughts from the stone flower by speaking about marriage. There was a nice girl called Katya who loved Danila and had taken his liking. But the old master's efforts were all in vain. Danila spent time wandering near a copper mine looking for stones he had dreamed of to find. Once all of a sudden he heard a voice: "Seek on Serpent Hill." He looked around. There was nobody there. "On Serpent Hill, I tell you," repeated the same voice, and Danila saw a woman so shadowy she seemed to be made of blue mist.
The next day the young sculptor went to Serpent Hill and found just what he wanted. He wasted no time setting to work on it. He toiled fast and well. The leaves and stems decorating the cup all looked as real as in life. However, the upper part of the cup did not turn out well. The other craftsmen came and praised the work, but Danila was not satisfied. Once again he went to Serpent Hill with the story of stone flower in mind. "If I could just catch a glimpse of it," he thought, and as suddenly as last time the Mistress of the Copper Mountain appeared before him dressed in malachite.
"Well, master Danila, your cup was a failure?"
"Yes, it did not work out," he agreed.
"Don't lose heart… Try again. You'll have the stones you want."
"No. I can't work any more. I'm exhausted. Let me have a look at the stone flower."
"I could show it to you, but then afterwards you'd regret it."
"Would you keep me captive in the mountain?"
"No. The path is open. But those who have been there always come back."
She tried to dissuade him for the sake of old Prokopych and Katya. Danila said that he could not live another day without seeing the flower.
"If that is so, Master Danila, let's go to my garden," said the Mistress and led him into the mountain.
Danila saw tall live trees of stone; their leaves were swaying in the wind. The colourful grass beneath was made of stone, too. Of course, there was no sun, however it was light there as before sunset. Golden serpents writhing in dance-like movements were radiating that light. The Mistress took the guest to a meadow where green bells of malachite flowers grew on black bushes. A starlet was twinkling inside each bell. Danila lost himself in the fairy world. He looked and looked but could not see his fill. "Nowhere else is there stone from which such marvellous objects can be created," he said to the woman.
"I would have given you this stone if you could have imagined similarly objects yourself beforehand, but now I cannot," she said, then disappeared.
Upon his return home Danila took a hammer and brought it down on the cup he had recently finished. It broke into little pieces. Danila dashed out of the house and everyone thought he had vanished. Some people were sure that the Mistress of the Mountain had taken him into her workshops forever.
His sweetheart Katya remained unmarried. Young lads sent matchmakers to her but she told them she was pledged to Danila. She did not want to hear that her bridegroom was dead: "No one has seen him dead so for me he is still alive." The maiden took care of Prokopych, watched him working and sometimes helped him a little with the filing and polishing. When the old man died she went on working alone making various small items to earn her living.
One day she could find any stones at home suitable for her work so went to Serpent Hill. There she caught sight of piece of malachite; it was half buried. Katya poked at it with her foot; it came up out of the ground quite easily, with a crack as if a dry twig had been snapped. It was just the stone she needed, with a very rare pattern. At home she was amazed to see how well her work went. She made a lot of brooches and set off to the town to sell them. The merchant she came to was at first surprised and could not believe that the maiden herself had made them. Each bore the pattern of a tree with a bird sitting on twig. It was neat work and the merchant gave her good money and promised to buy all she made.
That was Katya's first joy after Danila vanished and she considered it a sign from him. She went to the spot where she had found the stone and saw another one of the same size. The maiden picked tit up and could not fight back her tears. Again she did not pay any attention to the crack which sounded when she took the malachite. Crying made her feel better; she calmed down and was about to leave the place when she discovered that the ground had disappeared from under her. She was standing atop a high tree and there were other trees like it all round her. Below, in between the trees, she could see grass and flowers previously unknown to her and extraordinary beautiful. Someone resembling her Danila was walking in the meadow and stretching out his arms to her as though he wished to tell her something. Katya threw herself down towards him and… fell right on the ground where she had been standing before. "I must be seeing things. It's time to go home," she decided. For some days she could not dispel the thought that she had seen her beloved and he had sent those stones to her. The second one was even better than the first. Its pattern showed two birds flying towards each other, one from the ground and the other from a tree.
The next time Katya went to Serpent Hill there was something mysterious about the woods. She touched the trees: they were cold and smooth like polished stones and the grass under her feet was the same. She walked calling Danila, and the forest answered: "Not here! Not here!" At that moment the Mistress of the Mountain appeared. "Give me back my bridegroom," said Katya and saw her sweetheart come running. The maiden rushed to meet him. "Wait!" the Mistress commanded. "Well, master Danila, you must choose now. If you go with her you will forget all you learned here; if you stay here, you will have to forget her and all other people."
"I can't forget people and think of sweet Katya every minute of the day. The young man's fidelity pleased the Mistress, and she said smiling: "You have won, Katya. Take your craftsman! For being so wise and faithful, I would like you to go with a gift from me." She allowed Danila to keep the skill he had learned in the mountain, but bade him to forget all he had seen there. In answer to any questions concerning his absence, he was to say that he had travelled far away to a master craftsman to learn his skill.
Danila and Katya went to live in Prokopych's house. Folks say they were happy. No craftsman in the area could compare with Danila. He was known as the Mountain Craftsman. Sometimes he would stop working and become thoughtful. Katya knew what he was thinking about, but did not say a word.

(This tale by Pavel Bazhov is based on a legends of the Urals. English language retelling was done by Vadim Shchanitsyn)