尼诺和忠狗——克麗丝桃

Callisto was a beautiful young woman. Zeus, chief of the gods, loved her very much. The goddess Hera, Zeus' wife, hated her very much. She was jealous of Callisto's beauty. She wanted Zeus to forget her.

She decided to change Callisto into a bear. "I will take away your beauty," cried Hera. "My husband has been charmed by your beauty. He will quickly forget you if you are not here anymore."

Callisto didn't know what was happening to her. She felt very strange. She was becoming more and more frightened. Callisto fell down on her hands and knees. When she tried to stretch out her arms to pray, she discovered she was completely covered with black fur. Her hands had become big and round. They were now paws.

Callisto cried out and wept. She tried to stand up, but she couldn't. She was now a big black bear.

She lifted up her paws to beg for mercy. Hera heard her cries and laughed. Hera was happy with what she had done and didn't answer Callisto's prayers.

Callisto slept in the woods alone all night. In the morning she tried to go home, but the dogs barked at her when she walked about the neighborhood. She ran back into the woods.

She was very sad. She was afraid she would never see her family or friends again. She had to learn to live like an animal. As time went by, she almost forgot what it was like to be a human being.

One day, many years later, a young man spotted a bear while he was hunting. The bear was Callisto. She had seen the young man enter the woods. She recognized him. She became very excited. It was her son, Arcas.

Arcas had become a strong young man. He liked hunting in the forest. Upon seeing him, Callisto rushed to him and tried calling his name. She couldn't, and to Arcas she just looked like an angry bear. He raised his hunting spear to kill the bear.

Zeus saw this and felt very sorry for both of them. He knew he couldn't change Callisto back to a woman. He wanted to do something for her. He knew she was very lonely.

He decided to change Arcas into a bear. This he did very quickly. Arcas immediately recognized his mother. Neither of them knew why they had been changed into bears.

Zeus then placed the two bears in the northern sky as the Great and Little Bear. If you look in the northern sky, you can see these two constellations next to each other.

克丽丝桃是个美丽的年轻女人。众神之王宙斯非常爱她。但他的妻子希拉女神非常讨厌她。希拉非常嫉妒克丽丝桃的美丽。她想要宙斯忘记她。

她决定把克丽丝桃变成一只熊。希拉大叫:『我要夺走你的美貌。我丈夫被妳的美貌所迷惑。假如你不再在这儿出现,他很快就会忘记你。』

克丽丝桃不知道她怎幺了。她感到很奇怪。她愈来愈害怕。她倒下来趴在地上。当她试着伸出双臂祈祷时,她发现她全身长满了黑毛。她的手变得又大又圆,变成熊掌了。

克丽丝桃大声叫喊、哭泣。她设法站起来,但没法子。她现在是只大黑熊了。

她举起她的双掌祈求怜悯。希拉听到她的哭泣却哈哈大笑。她为自己所做的一切得意洋洋。而对克丽丝桃的祈求置之不理。

克丽丝桃整晚独自睡在森林中。她设法在早晨回家,但是当她在家附近走动时,狗对着她吠叫。她又跑回森林里。

她很伤心,害怕永远再也无法看到她的家人和朋友。她必须学着过像动物一样的生活。日子一天天过去,她几乎忘了原来身为人类的那种感觉。

多年后,有一天一个年轻人在狩猎时,看见了一只熊。那只熊就是克丽丝桃。她看见那年轻人进入森林里来。她认出了他。她非常兴奋,那就她儿子阿克斯。

阿克斯已经是一位体格健硕的年轻人。他喜欢在森林里狩猎。克丽丝桃一看到他,便冲上前试着叫他的名字。但她无法叫出来,对阿克斯而言,她看起来就像一只愤怒的熊。他举起他的矛要射死这只熊。

宙斯目睹此情此景,对他们母子感到很抱歉。他知道他无法把克丽丝桃变回女人。然而他想要为她尽点心力。他知道她很孤独。

他决定将阿克斯变成一只熊。而且很快地这样做了。阿克斯立刻认出他的妈妈来。他们两人都不知道为何被变成熊。

宙斯将这两只熊安置在北方的天空,称做大熊星座和小熊星座。假如你望着北方的星空,你就会看到两个星座比邻而居。