You will see seven stars in a line, left of the Peacock, dipping down toward the Pole—these form the Crane.
And a long-necked fellow it is, too.”
Another rest was necessary here, to enable James to connect in his mind the last collection of constellations with his circumpolar ones. His father then took him to those about the equator and north of it, and thus introduced him to the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
“You have learned, my dear boy, the names of these signs; I want now to teach you their positions.
Yes; I would like to know how big the Bull is. Do his horns poke the polar star, while he hangs his tail over the equator?
Our Bull is a funny one, for he has no tail, because he has no hind quarters. If he reached from the pole to the equator, a few Bulls would fill up the sky, and leave no room for Bears, Swans, Hunters, and other creatures up there. Now look at the Orion’s Belt, and run down the line of the three stars as you did to Sirius, but in the opposite direction, as far north as the other is south.
I have it—a beautiful star between the Belt and the pretty Pleiades.
That is Aldebaran, the Bull’s eye. Your Pleiades are in the Bull’s neck. The Hyades are the cluster near the eye.
What is the great star, a little out of the road, between Aldebaran and the Belt?