The Mistress of the Copper Mountain

by Ian Betteridge

Many years ago, a man called Stepan worked

in the mines of Krasnogorsk. It was dangerous work, but Stepan worked hard and saved his money. He was saving money to marry the girl he loved.

One day he was working in the mine when he saw a woman dressed in a dark green dress. She was the most beautiful woman Stepan had ever seen.

“I am the mistress of the copper mountain and you must leave this mine,”she told him. Stepan told his boss what the mistress had said, but he became angry and sent Stepan back to work.

The next day, the mistress visited Stepan again. She used her magic to take him out of the mine to her castle.There was gold and silver everywhere.The mistress asked Stepan to stay and marry her.

“I cannot,” he said. “I love a girl called Nastyona and I have promised to marry her.”

The mistress smiled.

“You have passed the test,” she said. “Take this gold. Forget me. Go to Nastyona and marry her.”

Stepan took the gold and married Nastyona but he was never happy because he could never forget the beautiful mistress of the copper mountain.

Activity 2

Choose the best answer for each question.

1.Why was Stepan saving his money?

2.What clothes did the mistress of the copper mountain wear?

3.What did Stepan’s boss do when Stepan told him what the mistress said?

4.How did the mistress take Stepan out of the mine?

5.Why was Stepan never happy?

a. He could never forget the mistress of the copper mountain.

b. He became angry.

c. So he could marry Nastyona.

d. She used her magic.

e. A dark green dress.

Activity 3

Read the story again and complete each of these sentences with one word from it.

1.Working in the Krasnogorsk mine was _____ work but Stepan worked hard.

2.The mistress told Stepan that the miners had to _____ the mine.

3.In the castle of the mistress, there was lots of silver and _____.

4.When the mistress asked Stepan to marry her, it was a _____.

Activity 4

“Stepan was saving money to marry the girl he loved.” This is the past continuous tense. We use the past continuous to talk about something that has not finished happening in our story.

Make the past continuous using the verb “be” + verb-ing.

Read sentences 1～5 and choose the right form of the verb “be”.

a. was

b. were

1.Stepan _____ working in the mine when he saw a beautiful woman.

2.Stepan and Nastyona _____ planning to get married.

3.The boss was angry because he thought Stepan _____ being lazy.

4.Nastyona _____ waiting for Stepan to save enough money.

5.The people of Krasnogorsk _____taking copper from the ground.

Know More

铜山女王是苏联作家巴若夫的童话集《孔雀石箱》中的一个超人形象。她是矿山的保护神，凡是勤劳正直的人，她都会不遗余力地给予帮助。其实，铜山娘娘的原形并不好看，是一条蜥蜴，但她常以美丽姑娘的形象出现在人们面前，身着绿孔雀石色长袍，背拖一条青黑色长辫，一手持鹤嘴形大锄，一手擎朵亮晶晶的小花。铜山娘娘心地善良，但又不失年轻姑娘的活泼顽皮。她时常对好人开一些善意的玩笑，而对恶人则毫不留情地予以惩戒。