Big Dipper/ Ursa Major/ Plough

[Noweia]

Does anyone know the full story about the 'saucepan' constellation - I seem to remember someone washing something in a stream and a saucepan with a bent handle (hence one of the names for the constellation) - but I can't find the story anywhere!

[Sludge]

From the bowl to the handle, the stars in the Big Dipper are called Dubhe, Merak, Phecda (or Phad), Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid (or Benetnash). Mizar has a companion star called Alcor. I recollect a story of a little man (Alcor) sitting on the handle waiting to remove the bowl from the fire when it boils upon which the world will end.

[Zen]

Anonymous legend: a saucepan with a tiny man sitting on the handle (Alcor) waiting for the contents of the pan to boil so he can remove it from the fire. This would signal the end of the world.

Some legends interpret the Great Bear as a saucepan. In those stories a small man called Alcor waits for the moment at which the saucepan's contents will begin to boil so that he can take it away from the fire. That day will be the last day of the world.