Corner View : M is for ... Malachite

Almost a week late :-)

My kids were given this old fairy tale book by their Great-grandmother. "The Malachite Casket" is a series of Ural legends, traditions and sayings, woven into folk-fantasy stories by the author Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). Characters include the Mistress of the Copper Mountain who guards its wealth, the Great Serpent with its trail of gold and skillful artists and craftsmen who know the secrets of the mountain.

Although I had not heard of this book before it was given to my kids, "The Malachite Casket" is regarded as a classic - Sergei Prokofiev drew inspiration from it for his ballet "The Flower and the Stone" and the book has also sparked symphonies, films and operas.

The illustrations, by Victor Kirillov are wonderfully enigmatic, all tinted green, reminiscent of malachite of course.

Malachite is a mineral used as a semi precious stone in jewellery. It is found in many places around the world including the Urals in Russia and King Solomon's Mines in Israel.

I have some malachite jewellery myself, inlaid in sterling silver. I love the different shades of green stripes. My favourites are the ring and the bracelet which often receive comments from people when I wear them. 

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For more "Corner Views" from around the world, please check out the links in the comments on Francesca's blog.

Here are some more "Corner Viewers":
Theresa, La Ninja, Don, Woolf, Joyce,

Kasia , Cole, Valerie, Susanna, Tally, Isabelle, Swig, Lise, Elsa, Bulb, ... ok, still not got all the links, I'll do some more in next week's post :-)