Who Is The Two Bears?
The bears that send the silver axe flying to the Moon
The Two Bears attack one of the Sultan's bees and lead the Baron to throw his silver axe. They have no names in the original story, but they set off the tale of his trip to the Moon.
One day, two bears appear and go after a bee carrying honey. The Baron throws his silver axe to protect it, but misses. The axe keeps flying higher and higher until it lands on the Moon. The bears escape unharmed, and the story turns to the Baron's quest to get his axe back.
The Baron plants a fast-growing Turkish bean, climbs its vine all the way to the Moon, and finds the axe. But when he tries to return, the sun's heat has withered the vine. So he twists a rope out of straw and climbs down, cutting and retying it along the way as he makes for the ground. A fuss over one small bee becomes a voyage to the Moon, and that wild leap is the fun of the story.
