Every edition of the collection ended with the dictionary of unusual words and concepts. "The Watchhouse on Dumna Mountain" () was Bazhov's essay which served as an introduction to the first edition of "The Malachite Box". It contained some information about the life, industry and culture at the Urals. The first short version of the essay, included in the 1939 book, was titled "The Watchhouse on Dumna Mountain". In 1940 the author expanded it and renamed to "By the Old Mine" (). This version was first published in the 3rd volume of the "Uralsky Sovremennik" almanac (1940). Starting with the 3rd edition of "The Malachite Box", this essay was published in all subsequent editions. The author included the essay in every "The Malachite Box" edition for the purpose of familiarizing the reader with the unique culture of the Ural region. "Beloved Name" (alternative translation: That Dear Name) describes how the first Cossacks came to the Ural Mountains and were faced a tribe of the "Old People" who didn't know the value of gold. The Cossacks decide to take away the lands of the Old People. In this "skaz", the old miner's sons meet the Great Serpent (alternative translation: Poloz the Great Snake), the master of gold. He appears before them as a man in gold tunic. "His cap was yellow with red flaps on both sides, and his boots were gold too... The earth sank under him where he stood." He shows them how to find gold 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, she catches the eye of a young noble man. She promises to marry him if he shows her the Tsarina herself at the Malachite Room of the Palace. Danilo the Craftsman hears about a most beautiful Stone Flower grows in the domain of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain.