The Great Bear and the Little Bear story about Zeus, Hera, Callisto and Arcas.

The Great Bear and the Little Bear

One Greek myth tells the story of Zeus, the king of the gods, falling in love with a young nymph named Callisto. Callisto gave birth to a son named Arcas. Hera, Zeus's jealous wife, turned the beautiful Callisto into a bear, which ran away into the forest.

Arcas grew up and became a hunter. One day while he was hunting, the bear Callisto heard Arcas's voice and ran to greet her son. Arcas didn't know that the bear was his mother. He was going to kill her but, at that moment, Zeus saw them. He turned the young hunter into a bear too.

Zeus sent both mother and son into the sky as the Great and Little Bears. To get them into the sky, Zeus took the bears by their tails, turned them around over his head and then threw them into the sky. That is why these two bears have long tails.

GLOSSARY

• Zeus [zjus] — Зевс


• nymph [nimf] — нимфа


• Callisto [kœlɪstoʊ] — Каллисто


• jealous [ˈdʒɛləs] — ревнивая


• Arcas [ˈɑːkəs] — Аркас


• to turn into — превращать в


• hunter [ˈhʌntər] — охотник


• to greet [ɡriːt] — приветствовать


• to be going to — собираться, намереваться


• to turn around — вертеть, крутить