LEGENDS OF THE GREAT BEAR.
"The Great Bear was said to be Calisto, the beautiful daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was jealous of Calisto, and threatened to destroy her beauty. Fearing that Juno would harm her, Jupiter changed her into a bear.
"'Her arms grow shaggy and deformed with hair,
Her nails are sharpened into pointed claws,
Her hands bear half her weight, and turn to paws;
Her lips, that once could tempt a god, begin
To grow distorted in an ugly grin;
And, lest the supplicating brute might reach
"Calisto had a son named Arcas, who became a great hunter. One day he roused a bear in the chase, and, not knowing that it was his mother, was about to kill her, when Jupiter, taking pity on them both, changed Arcas into the Little Bear."
"Who was Jupiter?" asked Harry.
"In the olden times, he was supposed to live on the top of Mount Olympus, with his beautiful wife Juno. When Jupiter was angry with people, it is said he would hurl thunderbolts at them, and when he was pleased he placed them after death among the stars."
"So he was pleased with Calisto and her son?" said Harry.
"So the story says," replied Mary. "But he also seemed to be afraid of his jealous wife Juno.
"A modern Greek legend gives another account of this constellation or group of stars. It is supposed that at one time the sky was made of glass and it touched the earth on both sides. It was soft and thin, and someone nailed a bear skin upon it, and the nails became stars; and the tail is represented by the three bright stars known as the handle of the Great Dipper.
"Another story is told about a princess who was turned into a bear on account of her pride in rejecting all suitors. For this her skin was nailed to the sky as a warning to other proud maidens.
"Would you like to hear what the Indians tell about the Great Bear?" asked Mary.
"Indeed I should," replied Harry. "I had no idea the Indians looked at the stars."
"They spend so much time on the open plains that they cannot help noticing them," said Mary; "and they tell many strange legends about them. The Iroquois Indians tell the following story about the Great Bear, which must have seemed like a Bear to them, just as it did to the Grecians.
"Once upon a time a party of hunters who were in pursuit of a bear were suddenly attacked by three monster stone giants who destroyed all but three of them. These, together with the bear, were carried up to the sky by invisible hands. The bear is still being pursued by the first hunter with his bow, the second hunter carries a kettle, and the third is carrying sticks wherewith to light a fire when the bear is killed. Only in the autumn does the hunter pierce the bear with an arrow, and it is said that it is the dripping blood that tinges the autumn foliage."
"I like that story," said Harry. "Don't you know another bear story?"
"I can tell you one," replied his sister, "that is told by the Fox Indians of Louisiana. In the days of long ago the Indians believed that the trees were able to walk about at night and talk to each other. One dark night as a bear was wandering homeward through a lonely wood, he was very much surprised to see the trees walking about, nodding their heads and whispering to each other.
"At first Mr. Bear thought it was only the wind; but where he saw a mighty oak before him, the next moment it was far behind him or on the other side of the road. Presently he happened to run against a tree. It was the oak, the lord of trees. The oak was angry and reached out one of its long branches and grabbed the bear by the tail. The bear struggled all night long to get away, and at last the oak, losing all patience, gave his tail a final twist and hurled him up into the sky. They say his tail was stretched in the struggle."