Tales of the constellations

But things did not work out so well for the tame bull. As soon as even a small wolf came near him he let out a bellow and charged into the middle of the herd to save himself. Word soon spread about this new bull, and the herd was soon reduced by attacks from wild animals. The tame bull grew thin and constantly trembled with fear.

One day the tame bull came to the village and said to the wild bull that he had had enough of freedom. It was not as easy or safe as he had first thought. He was better off tilling the fields; even though it was boring, he always knew that people would feed and water him, as well as protect him from wild animals.

The wild bull smiled, handed over the plough and returned to his herd. He led them far beyond the hills where there were good pastures and the herd soon began to grow again.

Then one day the wild bull led his herd into the sky. From there he watches over all the herds on Earth, so that they grow and flourish. The constellation became known as the Bull, in honour of the strong, brave bull with the curved horns.

The Hare, the Toucan and the Crab

Lepus, Tucana and Cancer

In a village lived a hunter named Urt. He was a wicked and cruel man who would kill any animal he came across in the forest and he would shoot birds just for fun.

In the forest there lived a wood-fairy called Nis. She had bright red hair and her amber eyes shone with kindness and happiness.

Nis was very angry that Urt was killing the animals and birds in the ancient forest so she decided to teach him a lesson. The fairy summoned the fastest hare that she could find and ordered him to pretend to be lame in order to lure the hunter deep into the forest.

One morning, when Urt was setting off to hunt, he caught sight of the hare limping badly on the forest path. Urt decided that this was an easy catch. He began to laugh and reached for his bow and arrows.

But just as he was about to fire the hare cunningly took refuge in the bushes. The hunter became angry and decided to catch the lame hare come what may. But whenever he decided to shoot the hare darted quickly away.

Suddenly, when Urt ran out into a clearing, he heard ringing laughter. The hunter glanced round and saw the wood-fairy, who was laughing at Urt’s unsuccessful hunting.

Now this made the wicked hunter more determined to catch the hare and he let fly one arrow after another into the bushes.

But then the clever hare jumped out of the bushes and ran right up into the heavens. Urt froze with amazement, but again heard Nis laughing. He turned round to fire an arrow at the fairy, but Nis suddenly turned into a multi-coloured bird and flew up into the sky.

Urt took fright and tried to back away into the forest, but before he knew it he had turned into a crab. Then, in the heavens, there appeared the constellations of the Hare, the Toucan and the Crab.

The Dove, the Fox and the Dragon

Columba, Vulpecula and Draco

In a quiet and peaceful village by a river lived a brother and sister, Uor and Tes. Uor was strong and skilful and was the best archer in the village. Tes was very beautiful, kind and intelligent. There was nothing that she did not know and nothing that she could not do.

All the villagers liked and respected the brother and sister. But rumours of Tes’s beauty and kindness spread far and wide, even to the most distant tribe in the land.

When Mar, the chief warrior and archer of this warlike tribe, heard about the beautiful Tes he vowed to fight Uor and marry his beautiful sister.

The wicked Mar gathered his troops and set off to attack the peaceful village. Uor and Tes learned in advance of the enemy’s invasion plans. They heard this news from the birds, whose language they understood.

Tes thought long and hard about what to do to save the village. The brother and sister went out to meet Mar’s forces, and Uor challenged Mar to fight. The wicked Mar burst into laughter, took his bow and arrow, and aimed directly at Uor. But just as Mar released the arrow, Uor turned into a white dove and flew up into the sky. No matter how many times Mar fired, not one arrow hit the dove.

Then he threw away the bow and arrows and began to look for Tes, but she had disappeared. The soldiers had noticed that a red fox had followed the white dove into the sky. Mar then realised that this was the beautiful Tes.

Once more he began to fire arrows at the dove and the red fox, but all of sudden the dove flew to one edge of the heavens and the fox ran to the other edge. Now Mar did not know who to fire at and in a rage he broke his bow and arrow and turned into a dragon.

Thereafter, in the sky appeared the constellations of the Dove, the Fox and the Dragon.

The Wolf

Lupus

In a forest lived a pack of grey wolves. They did what wolves normally do – hunted, rested and howled at the Moon at night. But one day their routine was disrupted. A new fluffy little wolf-cub was born into the pack, but he was completely white.

The cub looked at all the round blue eyes and did not understand why the adult wolves were looking at him so suspiciously. Why was there anger in their eyes and why did they stop the other wolf-cubs from playing with him?

There was much he did not understand but he soon got used to being lonely.

Time passed and still no-one would play with him, so he taught himself everything that a wolf should know.

When the white wolf-cub grew into an adult wolf he was still white and the pack would not accept him.

The grey wolves said that a white wolf would spoil their hunting as he could be seen too easily. In fact, one white wolf among all the grey ones would be a disgrace to the pack.

The grey wolves decided to get rid of the white wolf. They made a plan; while the pack were out hunting, the white wolf would be blamed for making a mistake and letting their prey escape. The wolves shouted at the white wolf and said that because of him the pack would go hungry.

This happened again and again, and the grey wolves said that they did not need such a useless hunter, especially a white one.

The white wolf with blue eyes left the pack and wandered for several days in the forest. He knew that wolves must live in a pack and could not survive on their own.

The white wolf decided to go to a high cliff above the river and throw himself off onto the rocks below, but when he came out of the forest, he saw another white wolf who was also heading for the river. They looked at one another, smiled and walked side by side up to the cliff edge.

When they reached the very edge they saw yet another white wolf. He looked at the two others and turned away from the edge of the cliff.

The three white wolves went back into the forest. There they met some more white wolves, and then more. In the bushes they found some abandoned white wolf-cubs. Thus a whole pack of white wolves was formed.

But the grey wolves still outnumbered the white wolves, and they tried their hardest to drive the white wolves out of the forest.

Then one day the white wolves left the woods. They had grown tired of living in a grey forest among grey wolves and they set off in search of a new, lighter forest.

Perhaps the leader of the white pack, the white wolf with blue eyes, led his pack into the sky because, you see, after the white wolves left the wood, the constellation of the Wolf appeared in the sky. Each night we can see the big wolf with the blue eyes leading his pack across the heavens.

The Dolphin

Delphinus

In a village lived a girl called Etta. She had no parents and lived alone in a little house. Each day she went to the high rocky cliffs by the sea and sometimes climbed down the steep path to the water itself.

Etta was an artist and she liked to paint by the sea most of all.

One day she was sitting and painting right beside the water. Suddenly she noticed that a large black dolphin had swum up to the shore and was watching what she was doing. Etta threw the dolphin a piece of sugar and he leapt up, catching it in mid-air. When the dolphin surfaced again there was a merry twinkle in his eyes.

After that the dolphin came to the shore every day to play with the girl. She always brought him a treat. Each day the dolphin gave Etta a present of cockleshells and shiny pebbles of all colours; he also brought her pearls. The girl eventually accumulated a whole box of pearls and the shiny pebbles turned out to be valuable jewels.

In this way, Etta became rich and she bought herself a new house and new clothes. But despite this, she remained just as kind and went to the sea each day to paint a little and call on her friend. She named the dolphin Higi. He continued to bring Etta precious stones and she brought him treats.

Then one day a nice man came from a nearby village and proposed to Etta. The day of the wedding was set and after the wedding Etta and her husband would journey to his village.

On the day of leaving, Etta came to the sea to say goodbye to Higi. She cried bitterly as it was hard for her to part from the dolphin. But there was a twinkle in Higi’s eyes.

When Etta went to her husband’s village she never suspected that the dolphin would swim across the sea after her.

In the new village Etta grew sad and abandoned her painting. Her husband was a kind, intelligent person and he advised her to take up her paints again and go down to the sea, which she did. How she smiled with pleasure when she saw Higi by the shore!

The dolphin leapt out of the water with happiness. Then he dived and did not appear for a long time, but when he surfaced a necklace of pink pearls landed at Etta’s feet.

Higi dived deep once more, surfaced again and leapt so high that he ended up in the sky.

Each evening Etta saw her kind friend in the sky. Higi was smiling at her from above and his eyes were gleaming.

Etta and the dolphin were happy. They could see one another every day.

What is more, everyone can see the kind, cheerful Higi, since he turned into the constellation of the Dolphin and shines brightly in the heavens.

The Phoenix, Cassiopeia, Orion and the Centaur

Phoenix, Cassiopeia, Orion and Centaurus

In a village lived Meir and Nan. They both fell in love with a girl called Ulara. She was beautiful and seemed to be a very good person, but in fact she was wicked, greedy and cunning.

Ulara promised to marry the man who would be first to catch and bring to her the bird of life : the Phoenix. The bird of life could fulfil any wish and Ulara wanted so much to be queen of the world, to rule over everyone and to become rich and powerful.

Meir and Nan went off in search of the Phoenix. They walked for a long time through the forest. Ulara followed unnoticed behind Meir and Nan. All of a sudden they came to a clearing around an ancient oak-tree and on one of its branches sat the bird of life.

Ulara, Meir and Nan ran towards the tree.

Meir thought: “I wish I had my bow and arrows with me so that I could shoot the Phoenix”.

Nan thought: “I wish I had the legs of a horse so that I could reach the tree first and catch the bird”.

Ulara dreamed of becoming ruler of the whole world.

From somewhere above a crown fell and landed on Ulara’s head, and Ulara began to rise up into the sky. She wanted to be queen of the whole world, and where better to see the whole world than from the sky?

A bow and arrows suddenly appeared in Meir’s hands. Nan unexpectedly turned into a creature that was half man, half horse. The upper part of his body was human but his legs were those of a horse.

The bird of life had fulfilled the wishes of all three people. She took wing and flew off into the sky. Meir and Nan ran after her and also found themselves in the sky.

Thus in the heavens appeared the constellations of the Phoenix, the Queen Ulara, Meir the hunter and Nan the half man, half horse.

The people later called these constellations Cassiopeia, Orion the hunter, and the Centaur, but the bird of life remained as the constellation of the Phoenix.

The Cup

Crater

On a hill there stood a house and in the house lived the wizard Moron. Moron had two magic cups. One of these was made of gold and decorated with diamonds and rubies. This cup could give people as much gold and as many precious stones as they desired. People were always coming to the wizard to ask for gold from the precious cup.

Moron also had another cup. It was plain and made of simple baked clay. If a person asked, it would give them bread and water. No-one ever asked for anything from this cup, although the wizard looked after it just as well as the gold cup and placed it where everyone could see it.

One year there was a drought in the village; the sun scorched the fields and all the fruit and vegetables went without water. The villagers went to the wizard to ask the cup for gold coins and precious stones. With this money the people bought bread and vegetables in other villages and they did not go hungry.

The following summer the drought also fell upon all the neighbouring villages. The people went to Moron once more for money and they received it. But people were hungry everywhere and had no use for money and precious stones.

Then the villagers remembered the wizard’s other cup, the clay one. Moron was pleased to let the people use it. The villagers were very happy as the bread and water meant that they were no longer hungry.

News of the wonderful cup that gave bread and water soon spread to all the villages. Crowds of people began to come and there was enough bread and water for all of them. Autumn passed, followed by winter and spring and the next summer brought a fine harvest of wheat and vegetables. Everyone forgot about the simple clay cup and again went to the wizard just to ask for gold and precious stones.

One day, when all the villagers had come together to ask Moron for money, the clay cup suddenly began to shake and rose up into the sky. There it turned into the shining constellation of the Cup.

The people were ashamed that they had forgotten about the simple cup, which had saved their lives during the famine. Many of them refused the gold coins as they understood that not everything that is valuable in life glitters.

The Great Bear and the Little Bear

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

The village lay nestled in the hills. It was an ordinary village, full of ordinary people. In the village lived a family who were known for their kindness, especially their daughter Ayna.

Life went on as normal in the village until one day at dawn, a black carriage appeared on the main street. It was pulled by black horses and was driven by a man dressed all in black. For some reason he was extremely happy, smiling broadly and occasionally bursting into laughter.

A black cage stood on the carriage and inside it on a chain sat a little fluffy white bear-cub. He was licking his paws and tears streamed from his eyes.

The people in the village looked out of their windows, went out into the street and scolded the man in black: was he not ashamed to hold the white bear-cub on a chain and torment it so?

Only the kind family offered anything beyond harsh words. They made the carriage stop and Ayna began to beg the driver to release the unhappy bear-cub. The stranger smiled and said that he would only free the animal if someone would give up their eyesight in return.

Everyone fell silent.

Then Ayna stepped forward and said that she was prepared to do so. The man in black roared with laughter and opened the black cage. The fluffy white bear-cub came out of the cage and poor Ayna lost her eyesight.

While the inhabitants of the village examined the bear-cub and said sympathetic words to Ayna, the man in black on the black carriage disappeared.

The bear-cub had stopped crying but Ayna’s tears flowed freely. Then the cub took a rope in its teeth and began to lead Ayna around the village, over the hills and through the fields.

As the days passed the pair became a familiar sight in the village, until one evening the people looked up and saw that the fluffy white bear-cub was leading Ayna up into the sky.

Since that time the little bear-cub has led Ayna across the heavens. They are always visible in the sky so that people are reminded about good and evil.

The Virgin, the Swan and the Hunting Dogs

Virgo, Cygnus and Canes Venatici

On the Moon lived a beautiful Princess who was kind and intelligent. The King of the Sun and the King of the Earth asked the Princess to choose one of them to become her husband. She said that it should be decided by a competition.

The Kings would have to go to the lake the next morning where they would see a swan. The first one to catch the swan would become the Princess’s husband.

The next morning the Kings went to the lake and not far from the shore there was indeed a beautiful white swan. The King of the Sun began to feel sorry for the swan and at first he could not bring himself to shoot it. But when he saw the King of the Earth preparing his bow and arrows he followed suit.

The Kings fired but it was as if the swan was protected by an invisible wall. The arrows either fell short or flew too far, so not one of them hit the swan.

Then the Kings decided to use their hunting dogs to catch the swan.

The dogs broke into a run and chased the swan around the lake, but then the swan flapped its wings and flew up into the sky. Suddenly it divided into two, with one part remaining as a swan and the other turning into the Princess.

Thereafter, the constellations of the Swan and the Virgin appeared in the sky.

However, the dogs were so carried away by the chase that they tore after their quarry right into the sky. Even now the Hunting Dogs run across the sky, not knowing whether to chase the swan or the princess.

The Painter and the Bird of Paradise

Pictor and Apus

In a mountain village there lived the artist Karnan. His little house was high up on the side of the mountain at the edge of a forest.

Karnan would get up before sunrise each day as he liked to watch the sun rise over the mountains, the morning mist disperse and dew-drops appear on the grass like diamonds.

The artist loved to listen as all the animals begin to stir and the birds start to sing in the forest. Most of all, Karnan liked the song of a small but very beautiful bird known as the bird of paradise. She would often fly up to the artist’s house and sing and he would paint wonderful pictures while listening to her. They became friends.

But one day the bird of paradise did not come. Karnan waited for her for several days. He began to worry and set off into the forest to search for his little friend. He soon found the bird of paradise ; she was hopping along the ground and could not fly as she had hurt her wing.

The artist picked up the bird and carried her to the doctor in the village. To save the bird’s life the doctor had to cut off the damaged wing.

The bird of paradise became well again and she hopped along singing her wonderful songs. But she could no longer fly, so she went to live in the artist’s house.

One day Karnan took his paints and paper and began to paint a picture of a wing from a bird of paradise. He painted all day without stopping to rest.

When the work was finished the artist cut out the wing and tied it to the bird. He then took her in his arms and went into the mountains. There he threw the bird up into the air and away she flew. Higher and higher she went and the happy Karnan ran after her.

They found themselves in the sky and so they became the constellations of the Painter and the Bird of Paradise; there the bird still sings her beautiful songs and the artist Karnan paints his wonderful pictures.

The Indian and the Octant

Indus and Octans

There was once an ancient village on an island and it was said to be as old as the Earth itself. Great buildings used to stand there and the people lived in beautiful houses.

Time passed and the people changed; they no longer knew how to read the ancient books, the beautiful houses crumbled and their roofs became full of holes. None of the villagers bothered to repair their houses.

“When it rains it is impossible to repair your house” they said, “and when the sun shines there is no problem anyway”. The people did nothing but sit in their chairs and look at the sea. Over time the villagers came to believe that there was no other dry land on Earth and no other people.

One day, after a heavy storm, a boat was washed up on the shore and there was a man in the boat. He told the people of the island that he came from a great land beyond the sea. Whilst travelling across the waters, the storm had dashed his vessel against the rocks but he had managed to save himself. The people listened but did not believe the stranger’s story – how could there be another land where other people lived?

The stranger had brought an instrument with him known as an octant. He used it to show the islanders how to observe the Sun, Moon and stars, as well as how to calculate the position of the great land beyond the sea.

The people listened to the stranger but did not believe that it was possible to solve such difficult problems with the help of this octant.

The man from the boat claimed that on the great land there were many different machines that were far more advanced than the simple octant. The people just looked at the octant in amazement…

After a time the stranger could no longer bear life on the island where time stood still so he built a boat and sailed away.

One evening the islanders looked up into the sky and saw the stranger with his instrument. From the sky he tried to explain to them that there were so many new things in the world. Life does not stand still and the world changes. But the islanders still did not understand what the stranger wanted from them.

Then the people stopped looking into the sky and forgot completely about the stranger with the octant. They passed into history and no-one heard anything more about the island or its inhabitants.

However, the constellations of the Indian and the Octant remain in the sky and shine for all those people who believe in progress and want to learn more about the world.

The Ram

Aries

On the banks of a little river there was a village, much the same as any other village and life there was good. But one day there was a drought; the sun scorched everything and the river dried up.

The following summer there was another drought and hunger set in. The people began to slaughter their animals to survive. In the village lived a man called Ir. Ir had a large woolly sheep that he was very fond of. The woolly sheep lived in the house with Ir and he watched the peoples’ suffering with knowing eyes.

It seemed to Ir that the white woolly sheep understood him. He always talked to the sheep and shared his happiness and woes with him. After such conversations Ir’s soul became lighter.

But one morning the villagers came to Ir and said that it was time for him to slaughter his sheep. Ir begged them to wait until the following morning and the people agreed.

During the night Ir secretly led the sheep out of his house and far into the hills; he did not want anyone to slaughter his silent but dear friend.

Ir built a little house far from the village and lived there for a while with the sheep.

One night Ir heard a noise; the villagers had found his house. They started to demand that he hand over the sheep. Ir refused. At that moment, the woolly sheep came out of the house. His wool was unusually shiny. The sheep went up to the villagers and they made way for him. Then the sheep began to shake his head and the wool started to fly from him, although he remained as big and woolly as before.

Suddenly the sheep started to rise slowly upwards, higher and higher, until he had risen so high in the sky that he had become a constellation.

When the people came to their senses and looked down at where the wool had lain on the ground, they saw in its place a great number of gold coins. This money was enough to buy plenty of food from neighbouring villages, where there had been no drought.

Ir kept looking into the sky at the twinkling outline of his dear friend. Suddenly, from somewhere above, a little gold bell on a blue ribbon fell into Ir’s hands. His sheep had worn just such a bell around its neck. Ir looked at the bell, smiled and gazed into the sky again.

The twinkling outline was now clearly visible in the sky and had turned once more into a handsome woolly sheep. The sheep was stamping his hooves and happily nodding his head towards Ir.

Since then, Ir has talked with his friend every evening and the constellation of the Ram has shone in the heavens.

The Sextant and the River

Sextans and Eridanus

Not far from a village lived a scientist called Trei. Trei owned many different scientific instruments such as magnifying glasses, telescopes and microscopes. Most of all, Trei liked to use a large instrument known as a sextant to look at the stars, the Sun and the Moon. The scientist was extremely proud of this sextant.

People would come to Trei and ask him when they should plough, sow and harvest their crops.

One year, when it was time to sow the corn, it poured with rain day after day; it seemed as if it would never end. The villagers turned to Trei and he predicted that the rain would soon end and there would be a drought during the summer.

In the summer there was indeed a drought. The sun beat down mercilessly and everything dried out, even the water in the wells dried up.

The people became convinced that Trei and his sextant had brought drought to the village. They believed that because the scientist had predicted the drought, then he must be able to use his instruments to summon the sun and drive the rain from the fields.

A crowd of people went to the scientist’s house and however much Trei tried to tell them that he had not brought on the drought, they would not believe him.

The crowd began to shout and someone suggested that they should destroy the sextant. This was Trei’s most prized possession and he could not allow them to destroy it. Trei drew the sextant close to himself to protect it from the crowd.

Then a miracle happened: a black storm cloud appeared from somewhere, there was a clap of thunder and a huge amount of water began to pour onto the ground. Soon a river had formed, separating Trei and his sextant from the crowd.

Then the sun appeared once more and the fog lifted. When the people looked they could no longer see the river or Trei with his instrument, but in the night sky had appeared the constellations of the Sextant and the River.

Now, from up in the sky, the scientist observes the Sun, Moon and stars with his favourite instrument and the River flows gently across the heavens to protect Trei from any attack.

The Sculptor

Sculptor

In a village there lived a good man called Evon who carved sculptures out of wood and stone. Near the village he built a whole town out of stone sculptures. In the centre of this town he wanted to make a model of the light Spirit-Stone; so Evon set to work.

In the same village lived another craftsman called Toran, but unlike Evon, Toran made dark and evil figures.

When Toran found out that Evon was making a model of the Spirit-Stone, he wanted to do the same, so he also set to work.

The day came when the work was finished. The whole village gathered to look at the Spirit-Stones.

Evon’s model was made of light stone and its eyes seemed to be looking at people while it smiled; it was as if it radiated a soft light.

Toran’s Spirit-Stone was made from dark stone. When the people approached it, the stone began to shake, its eyes blazed with evil and wicked laughter was heard. The villagers stepped back in surprise.

The stone statue that had come alive began to laugh again and then said: “I am the dark Spirit-Stone! Now I shall rule over you and all people shall obey my command. But the light Spirit-Stone stands in my way. I shall destroy it!”

With these words the evil spirit began to approach the good Spirit-Stone. Evon stood in its path to protect his creation. The dark spirit let out an evil laugh, raised a stone hand above Evon and was about to strike him when the light Spirit-Stone came to life: it began to shake and radiate light, becoming almost transparent.

The light Spirit-Stone picked up Evon and carried him high into the sky. Now the dark spirit could not harm Evon or destroy the good Spirit-Stone.

The dark spirit began to shake with anger and shattered into tiny pieces.