CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024558961 
 
Cornell University Library 
 QB 55.G85 
 
 Stars and the 
 
 r stories: 
 
 3 1924 024 558 961 
 
 olin 
 
"Why did not somebody teaeh me the constellations, and 
 make me at home in the starry heavens, which are always over- 
 head, and which I don't half know to this day 1 " 
 
 — Thomas Caelyle. 
 
Aries 
 
 Taurus 
 
 Gemini 
 
 Cancer 
 
 BAKD OF THE ZODIAC 
 
 Pisces 
 
 Aquarius 
 
 Capricorims 
 
 Sagittarius 
 
 Scorpio^ 
 
 Virgo 
 
 When the Sim is in Aries 
 
THE STARS 
 AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 A Book for Young People 
 
 PREPARED BY 
 
 ALICE MARY MATLOCK GRIFFITH 
 
 WITH PEN SKETCHES BY 
 
 MARGARET BOROUGHS 
 
 AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
Copyright, 1913, 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 November, 1939 
 
 PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY 
 
 QUINN a BODEN COMPANY. INC 
 
 RAHWAV, N. J. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 My purpose here is to interest the child in the stars, 
 which are always with him ; to stimulate his imagination ; 
 and to direct him in a pastime — the hunting out of the 
 constellations and individual stars — ^that may become an 
 enduring joy. 
 
 With the help of the oblong charts and their duplicates, 
 in which Miss Boroughs has placed the animals, he can 
 learn the constellations separately and in groups, with 
 the ancient mythic animals in their places ; and by using 
 the round charts at the back of the book, he can see the 
 sky as a whole, as it appears from our Northern Hemi- 
 sphere during the different seasons, and trace out the 
 smaller or less important constellations which I have not 
 given. A good way to learn the configurations that form 
 the constellations is to draw them. If the charts are 
 held over the head, with the cardinal points in the 
 proper places, the stars can be seen as they are in the 
 sky ; or the same result can be obtained by one who sits 
 facing the south and holds the charts with the north end 
 upwards. 
 
 If any child has as much pleasure in reading this 
 book as I have had in preparing it, or obtains a broader 
 outlook upon life from its perusal, all my efforts will be 
 fully repaid. 
 
 A. M. M. G. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Volume of the Skies . William Habington . . 2 
 
 My Star .... Robert Browning . . 2 
 
 The Stars and Their Stories ..... 3 
 
 The Song of the Stars . William Gullen Bryant . 5 
 
 THE TWO BEARS 
 
 The Two Bears ........ 11 
 
 Ursa Major . . . Thomas Hood . . .15 
 
 Hymn to the North Star . William Gullen Bryant . 16 
 
 THE WINGED HORSE 
 
 The Winged Horse ....... 23 
 
 The Chimaera . . . 'Nathaniel Haivthorne . . 25 
 
 Pegasus in Pound . . Henry W. Longfelloio . 38 
 
 THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 
 
 The Summer Triangle Group 
 
 — The Lyre, the Eagle, the 
 
 Swan, the Arrow, the 
 
 Dolphin ......... 45 
 
 The Finding of the Lyre . James Russell Lowell . 49 
 
 Orpheus and Eurydice 
 
 (Abridged) Alfred Noyes . . .50 
 
 THE ROYAL FAMILY 
 
 The Royal Family ....... 61 
 
 The Star Club . . . Julia E. Rogers . . 75 
 
 Andromera (abridged) . . Charles Kingsley . . 76 
 
 vu 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 THE ORION GROUP 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Orion 
 
 « • • * 
 
 • 
 
 . 87 
 
 Astrology . 
 
 • • • ■ 
 
 • 
 
 . 100 
 
 Taurus 
 
 . Bayard Taylor . 
 
 • 
 
 . 101 
 
 The Lost Pleiad 
 
 . Mrs. Remans 
 
 . 
 
 . 104 
 
 Orion 
 
 . Charles Tennyson 
 
 Turner 
 
 . 105 
 
 Canopus 
 
 . Thomas Moore . 
 
 • 
 
 . 105 
 
 Canopus 
 
 . Thomas Carlyle . 
 
 # 
 
 . 105 
 
 Canopus (abridged) 
 
 . Bayard Taylor . 
 
 . 
 
 . 106 
 
 AURIGA AND GEMINI 
 
 Auriga and Gemini . . . . .113 
 
 To Castor and Pollux . Fomer (Shelley's translation) 114 
 
 The Battle of Lake Regillus Thomas Bahington Macaulay 115 
 
 THE TWO LIONS AND THE CRAB 
 The Two Lions and the Crab . . . . .143 
 
 BERENICE'S HAIR 
 Berenice's Hair . . . Catullus (Martin's transla'n) 150 
 
 BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 
 
 Bootes, Virgo, and Hercules . . . . .157 
 
 Bootes and Virgo . . Aratus . .161 
 
 The Three Golden Apples . Nathaniel Hawthorne . .163 
 
 ARIADNE'S CROWN 
 
 The Champion of Athens . R. E. Francillon . .177 
 
 Ariadne's Crown . . Nonnus (Mrs. Browning's 
 
 translation) . . .189 
 
 CENTAURUS AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS 
 
 Alpha Centauri and the 
 Southern Cross . . . . . . .195 
 
 Constellations . . . WilUam Cullen Bryant . 196 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 OTHER STORIES OF THE STARS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Genebal Myths — Selected from 
 
 " Birth and Growth of Myth " 
 
 by Edward Clodd . . .201 
 
 Dabkness .... Lord Byron . . . 208 
 
 Death of Woblds . . Richard A. Proctor . .211 
 
 An Ode .... Joseph Addison . , .215 
 
 ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 
 
 AsTBONOMY Through the Ages . . . . .217 
 AsTBONOMiCAi Observatories . Edward Everett . . 222 
 "Marching on a Stab" . R. Weatherhead . . 239 
 The First Telescope — From 
 Galileo's " Aatronomical Mes- 
 senger," translated by . E. 8. Carlos , . . 241 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The Magnitudes ........ 253 
 
 Stabs of the Fibst Magnitude ..... 254 
 
 Stab Names ........ 254 
 
 Geeek Alphabet ........ 257 
 
 Index and Glossary ....... 265 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Perseus — Andromeda 
 
 The Band of the Zodiac 
 
 Dance of the Pleiades . 
 
 Chart. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor 
 
 The Two Bears .... 
 
 Chart. Pegasus .... 
 
 The Winged Horse 
 
 Chart. Lyra — Aquila — Cygnus — Sagitta — Delphinus 
 
 The Lyre, the Eagle, the Swan, the Arrow, the Dolphin 
 
 Ganymede . 
 
 Orpheus and Eurydice . 
 
 Chart. Cepheus — Cassiopeia 
 
 The Royal Family 
 
 Perseus and Andromeda 
 
 Chart. Orion — Taurus — Sirius — Lepus — Argo 
 
 The Orion Group . 
 
 Chart. The Pleiades 
 
 Photograph of the Pleiades 
 
 Chart. Auriga and Gemini 
 
 Auriga and Gemini 
 
 Chart. Leo — ^Leo Minor — Cancer 
 
 The Two Lions and the Crab . 
 
 Chart. Bootes — Ariadne's Crown — Hercules 
 
 Bootes, Ariadne's Crown, Hercules . 
 
 Hercules and the Golden Apples 
 
 Theseus and the Minotaur 
 
 Chart. Centaurus and the Southern Cross 
 
 Interior of Yerkes Observatory 
 
 Compound Reference Chart . 
 
 Charts for Different Months . 
 
 Facing 
 Facing 
 
 Facing 
 
 Frontispiece 
 Facing 2 
 8 
 9 
 . 20 
 . 21 
 . 42 
 . 43 
 48 
 54 
 58 
 59 
 72 
 84 
 85 
 99 
 Facing 104 
 110 
 111 
 140 
 141 
 154 
 155 
 Facing 172 
 Facing 188 
 . 194 
 Facing 234 
 . 258 
 . 259-264 
 
 xi 
 
THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
THE VOLUME OF THE SKIES 
 
 When I survey the bright 
 
 Celestial sphere, 
 So rich with jewels hung, that night 
 Doth like an Ethiop bride appear; 
 My soul her wings doth spread, 
 
 And heavenward flies, 
 The Almighty^s mysteries to read 
 In the large volumes of the skies. 
 
 — William Habington. 
 
 MY STAR 
 
 All that I know 
 
 Of a certain star 
 Is, it can throw 
 
 (Like the angled spar) 
 Now a dart of red. 
 
 Now a dart of blue; 
 Till my friends have said 
 They would fain see, too. 
 My star that dartles the red and the blue! 
 Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled: 
 They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it. 
 What matter to me if their star is a world? 
 
 Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it. 
 
 — ^Browning. 
 
'M 'V 
 
 Q b* 
 
 < % 
 
 W J=i 
 
 H .S 
 
 •a, c 
 
 o •« 
 
 < E 
 
 ■^ i- 
 
THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven. 
 Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. 
 
 — ^Longfellow : Evangeline, 
 
 The stars that twinkle so beautifully on any clear 
 night, and that look so small, are really all of them 
 great suns like our own. Most of them, in fact, are 
 larger than our sun. If they were not, we could not 
 see them, they are so far away from us. If you could 
 stand on the nearest fixed star, and look back to our 
 sun, you would see it as one of the very smallest of all 
 the stars. And then this Earth, that seems so big to us, 
 and Venus, and Mars, and Jupiter, and the other planets, 
 you could not see at all. It is possible, indeed it is almost 
 probable, that every star has a family of planets about 
 it, just as our sun has; perhaps, too, the light and heat 
 it sends out nourish life on its planets, just as the light 
 and heat of our sun make possible the life around us 
 here on the Earth. 
 
 From the beginning, men have looked at the stars, 
 and wondered what they are and what they mean. Are 
 they scattered about in haphazard fashion, without any 
 order at all? So far as we have yet been able to 
 learn, they really are. But if you will watch a little 
 while, you will see that the brighter ones seem to be 
 grouped together, so that you can make pictures with 
 them. On the plains of Asia, or in rainless Egypt, cen- 
 
 3 
 
4 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 turies before Christ — nobody knows just when — men be- 
 gan to see such pictures in the heavens. As they saw 
 these pictures, they began to tell stories of how they 
 came to be up there. Each picture, as they saw it, is 
 called a constellation, which simply means a cluster of 
 stars; and each story has for its hero some king or 
 demigod, some beast or bird, who, it was supposed, was, 
 after his death, transported to the sky and changed to a 
 group of stars, to remind men of all times of his glory 
 and his achievements. 
 
 Of course, to you and me, there is nothing real about 
 the figures they saw ; it is only in our imaginations that 
 we can see the Lion, the Swan, and the others. Yet we 
 ought to learn to recognize the constellations, in order 
 to be able to find our way among the stars. It is an easy 
 matter to learn them, and to be able to recognize them 
 whenever we see them. To be sure, not all the stars can 
 be seen at any one time. Some of them go down in the 
 west as others rise in the east. And, indeed, if you will 
 watch at the same hour for three or four weeks in suc- 
 cession, you will observe that the sky changes slightly 
 from night to night. But by noting them through the 
 seasons, we can, in the course of a year, see all but those 
 so far to the south that they appear only to people living 
 near the equator, or on the other side of it. And as we 
 look upon the constellations in their procession, each will 
 remind us of its own story. 
 
 Not only the stories told in the long ago are inter- 
 esting. Those told by modern men of science, though 
 of a very different kind, are quite as interesting. These 
 latter-day stories tell the adventures, not of earth-bom 
 heroes who were changed into stars, but of the stars 
 
THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 5 
 
 themselves, what they are made of, and how they move 
 among their celestial neighbors. 
 
 In the pages that follow you will find charts that will 
 enable you to identify the constellations quite readily 
 for yourself. You will also find stories of both kinds, 
 those of the ages long ago, told under summer sky, or 
 beside winter fire, to explain the constellations that men 
 noticed then, even as you and I still see them ; and those 
 that the astronomers of to-day tell us, after they have 
 scanned the face of the heavens with the instruments 
 they have invented to aid them. And, finally, you will 
 read verses into which the poets have woven their/ 
 thoughts of the stars and their stories. 
 
 THE SONG OF THE STARS 
 
 When the radiant mom of creation broke, 
 
 And the world in the smile of God awoke, 
 
 And the empty realms of darkness and death 
 
 Were moved through their depths by his mighty breath, 
 
 And orbs of beauty and spheres of flame 
 
 From the void abyss by myriads came — 
 
 In the joy of youth as they darted away. 
 
 Through the widening wastes of space to play, 
 
 Their silver voices in chorus rang, 
 
 And this was the song the bright ones sang : 
 
 '* Away, away, through the wide, wide sky, 
 The fair blue fields that before us lie — 
 Each sun with the worlds that round him roll, 
 Each planet, poised on her turning pole ; 
 With her isles of green, and her clouds of white, 
 And her waters that lie like fluid light. 
 
6 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 *' For the source of glory uncovers his face, 
 And the brightness overflows unbounded space, 
 And we drink as we go to the luminous tides 
 In our ruddy air and our blooming sides : 
 Lo, yonder the living splendors play ; 
 Away, on our joyous path, away ! 
 
 ** Look, look, through our glittering ranks afar, 
 
 In the infinite azure, star after star, 
 
 How they brighten and bloom as they swiftly pass ! 
 
 How the verdure runs o'er each rolling mass! 
 
 And the path of the gentle winds is seen, 
 
 "Where the small waves dance, and the young woods lean, 
 
 ** And see, where the brighter day-beams pour, 
 How the rainbows hang in the sunny shower; 
 And the morn and eve, with their pomp of hues, 
 Shift 'er the bright planets and shed their dews ; 
 And 'twixt them both, o'er the teeming ground, 
 "With her shadowy cone the night goes round ! 
 
 '* Away, away! in our blossoming bowers. 
 
 In the soft airs wrapping these spheres of ours, 
 
 In the seas and fountains that shine with morn. 
 
 See, Love is brooding, and Life is bom. 
 
 And breathing myriads are breaking from night, 
 
 To rejoice, like us, in motion and light. 
 
 *' Glide on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres, 
 
 To weave the dance that measures the years ; 
 
 Glide on, in the glory and gladness sent 
 
 To the furthest wall of the firmament — 
 
 The boundless visible smile of Him 
 
 To the veil of whose brow your lamps are dim. ' - 
 
 — William Cullen Bryant. 
 
THE TWO BEARS 
 
 URSA MAJOR AND URSA MINOR 
 
 These two constellations whirl so closely to the pole that 
 in our northern latitudes we do not see them set. Each has 
 a ^oup of stars resembling a dipper; and so they are often 
 called the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. 
 
 In the ancient pictures of the Great Bear the legs are much 
 longer than shown here; the two hind legs stretch away to 
 the Lesser Lion, and the left front paw touches the two stars 
 that lie just in front of it here; consequently the figure with 
 its long tail and long legs has small likeness to a bear. 
 
Onward the kindred Bears with footsteps rude 
 Dance 'round the pole, pursuing and pursued. 
 
THE TWO BEARS 
 
 CALLISTO AND ARCAS 
 
 The Greeks, if we are to judge from their stories, evi- 
 dently felt that the friendship of the gods was as likely 
 to bring trouble as their enmity. It proved so in the 
 hard experience of Callisto. She was a beautiful maiden 
 whom Jupiter saw and admired. He showed her many a 
 favor, and visited her often ; but he endeavored to keep 
 his visits a secret from his wife, Juno, for she was jealous- 
 hearted. The goddess, however, learned of the friend- 
 ship, and she made up her mind to take a severe revenge 
 upon the human maiden. 
 
 Callisto had a baby boy, but not even the love of her 
 son could keep her from going a-hunting. While Cal- 
 listo was eagerly following the chase one day, she had the 
 bad luck to meet Juno. Now, Juno was the most 
 majestic of all the goddesses, as, to be sure, was entirely 
 befitting in the Queen of Olympus. The mere sight of 
 her must have inspired awe in Callisto. And when the 
 poor lady saw the divine eyebrows straighten into the 
 severity of a frown, and the regal, dark eyes, that Homer 
 loves to describe, glow with the fires of jealousy, she must 
 have felt terror as well as awe. Poor, poor creature, her 
 days of happiness were done. With never a pang of 
 pity, the goddess commanded that she change from a 
 woman to a bear. And lo ! the thing was done. 
 
 Long, long might the babe wait for his mother, and 
 
 11 
 
12 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 weep because she returned not. How was he to know, 
 or his nurse or his grandfather to know, that far in the 
 lonely forest wandered a she-bear, with the frightened 
 heart of a woman in her breast ? All his tears could not 
 change that hairy breast back to the white bosom that 
 had pillowed his baby head so tenderly, could not trans- 
 form rough paws back to the soft hands that had held 
 him so lovingly. And the bear must have suffered, too. 
 For if Juno was unkind enough to wish for revenge at 
 all, she was doubtless unkind enough not to permit the 
 bear to forget that she had been a woman and a mother. 
 I have sometimes wondered if, when, late in the night, 
 the moon shone quietly and sleepily over hillside and 
 town, the bear-mother did not creep up as close to her 
 old home as she dared, and stand looking sadly at house- 
 tops and deserted streets, and long for a sight of her 
 little one ; only to steal unsatisfied away in the gray, cold 
 dawn, back to her caves and secret recesses. The story 
 does not say, but I think she must have done so. The 
 pain in her heart, I trow, was very great, like that in the 
 heart of the father in Matthew Arnold's '' The For- 
 saken Merman,'' a poem I like to read to my children, 
 and one that you will like, too, if you will ask your 
 teacher to find it and read it to you. 
 
 Young people forget quickly. Callisto's little Areas, 
 if he remembered his mother at all, thought of her as 
 dead. He grew through infancy and well into boyhood, 
 active and strong. Like his mother, he became a great 
 hunter. 
 
 Then, when he was fifteen years old, came another 
 unlucky day. He was hunting. Suddenly he perceived 
 near him a bear. Neither had heard the other, and 
 both were surprised. At last, he and his mother had 
 
THE TWO BEARS 13 
 
 met again. It is possible she saw in him a resemblance 
 to what she had been, or to his father, and recognized 
 him. It is certain that he did not perceive his mother 
 in the shaggy form that stood affrighted before him. 
 For a moment they gazed one upon the other. She had 
 no power to make him understand. And he gave her no 
 time to flee away; but, lifting his bow (bravely, as he 
 would have thought, if he had had time to think about 
 it at all), he was about to send an arrow piercing through 
 her heart. 
 
 But the friendship of the gods does not bring only 
 evil. Jupiter had not forgotten the maiden he had once 
 loved so kindly. He could not reunite mother and son 
 by restoring Callisto to human form, for one god may 
 not directly undo what another god has done. He could, 
 nevertheless, do what was still better, since eternal fame 
 is better than a long life, even if life be filled with hap- 
 piness. What he did do, was, first, to change Areas 
 into a bear, too, and then to transfer both mother and 
 son as stars to the sky. There you will see them 
 as the constellations of the. Greater and the Lesser 
 Bears. 
 
 One would have thought that Juno would rest satisfied, 
 now that the woman she had feared as a rival had be- 
 come a group of stars, and could not possibly again give 
 her cause for jealousy. But the vindictiveness in her 
 heart was even yet unsated. If her hated rival was to be 
 placed among the never-fading stars, her revenge must 
 likewise be eternal. She sought out her brother, Nep- 
 tune, god of the sea, told him her story, and begged him, 
 as a favor to her, to refuse to permit the mother and 
 son ever to enter his realm. Neptune granted her re- 
 quest; and consequently the Great Bear and the Little 
 
14 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Bear never sink into the ocean, ** the baths of all the 
 western stars/' 
 
 THE TWO BEARS 
 
 Change as the stars may from night to night, these 
 two groups, the Great Bear and the Lesser Bear, can be 
 seen from any place in the northern latitudes at any 
 time of the year. We will commence our search by 
 finding them. They are among the easiest to identify, 
 too. Every boy and girl knows the Big Dipper. If you 
 look to the north, you can hardly fail to see it the first 
 thing — seven bright stars set in the shape of a big tin 
 dipper. Four stars make the bowl, and three the 
 handle. Six of these stars are of the second magnitude 
 and one of the third. In the olden times, the Big 
 Dipper was called by some people David's Chariot, the 
 four stars in the bowl representing the wheels, and the 
 three others the horses. Still other people have named 
 them the Seven Oxen, and others again, the Plowshare. 
 In England, Charles's "Wain is the popular name. But 
 the name most commonly used is the Great Bear, the 
 stars in the bowl being in the bear's body, and those in 
 the handle being in his tail, as you may see from the 
 chart. 
 
 One of the stars in the Great Bear is quite interesting, 
 because it offers an opportunity to see whether you have 
 good, strong eyes or not. The middle star of the three 
 in the tail is named Mizar, and it has a very small com- 
 panion, called Alcor, ' * the Test, ' ' because it is used as a 
 test of vision, since only a good eye can see it without 
 the help of a telescope. 
 
 The two stars that form the outer edge of the bowl 
 
THE TWO BEARS 15 
 
 of the Big Dipper are called the ** Pointers, '* because 
 they point to the North Star. When we have found the 
 North Star, we have also found the Lesser Bear, because 
 the North Star is the most important star in this group. 
 The Lesser Bear is like the Great Bear in shape, but is 
 smaller. It is sometimes called the Little Dipper. The 
 North Star is the end star of the Lesser Bear's tail, and 
 the end of the dipper handle ; and the four stars of the 
 bowl are in his body. The North Star itself is fre- 
 quently called Polaris, because a line passed through 
 the earth's poles, and extended into the sky, would come 
 very near it. 
 
 Within the last few years it has been discovered that 
 Polaris is whirling very rapidly around a dark com- 
 panion, and that both together are coming towards us 
 at a tremendous speed. How this is known you can 
 read in *' Astronomy Through the Ages," which comes 
 later in this book. 
 
 With a knowledge of where the Little and Big Dipper 
 are, and by the aid of the charts, you can easily find 
 all the other constellations in their due times and sea- 
 sons. 
 
 UESA MAJOR 
 
 Scholar: 
 
 I marvel why (seeing she hath the form of a beare) 
 her tail should be so long. 
 Master: 
 
 Imagine that Jupiter, fearing to come too nigh unto 
 her teeth, layde holde on her tayle, and thereby drewe 
 her up into the heavens ; so that she of herself being very 
 weightie, and the distance from the earth to the heavens 
 
16 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 very great, there was great likelihood that her taile must 
 stretch. Other reason have I none. 
 
 — Thomas Hood. 
 
 HYMN TO THE NORTH STAR 
 
 The sad and solemn night 
 Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires; 
 
 The glorious host of light 
 Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires ; 
 All through her silent watches, gliding slow, 
 Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go. 
 
 Day, too, hath many a star 
 To grace his gorgeous reign, as bright as they: 
 
 Through the blue fields afar, 
 Unseen, they follow in his flaming way : 
 Many a bright lingerer, as the eve grows dim, 
 Tells what a radiant troop arose and set with him. 
 
 And thou dost see them rise. 
 Star of the Pole ! and thou dost see them set. 
 
 Alone, in thy cold skies, 
 Thou keep 'st thy old unmoving station yet, 
 Nor join'st the dances of that glittering train, 
 Nor dipp'st thy virgin orb in the blue western main. 
 
 There, at morn's rosy birth, 
 Thou lookest meekly through the kindling air. 
 
 And eve, that round the earth 
 Chases the day, beholds thee watching there; 
 There noontide finds thee, and the hour that calls 
 The shapes of polar flame to scale heaven's azure walls. 
 
THE TWO BEARS 17 
 
 Alike, beneath thine eye, 
 The deeds of darkness and of light are done ; 
 
 High toward the starlit sky- 
 Towns blaze, the smoke of battle blots the sun, 
 The night storm on a thousand hills is loud, 
 And the strong wind of day doth mingle sea and cloud. 
 
 On thy unaltering blaze 
 The half -wrecked mariner, his compass lost. 
 
 Fixes his steady gaze. 
 And steers, undoubting, to the friendly coast; 
 And they who stray in perilous wastes, by night, 
 Are glad when thou dost shine to guide their footsteps 
 right. 
 
 And, therefore, bards of old, 
 Sages and hermits of the solemn wood. 
 
 Did in thy beams behold 
 A beauteous type of that unchanging good, 
 That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray 
 The voyager of time should shape his heedful way. 
 
 — William Cullen Bryant. 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 
 
 PEGASUS 
 
 The Bears can be seen every night in the year and all night 
 long. Not so, with most of the constellations. As the earth 
 changes its place in the course of the year, some of them 
 sink out of sight, not to be seen again for months. Each 
 season has its own constellations. All through the autumn, 
 the one called Pegasus, the wonderful Winged Horse, can 
 be seen flying across the sky. He commences these flights 
 early in September, and the last we see of him is in mid-winter, 
 when he flies down in the west after the setting sun. 
 
Alpterat 
 
 Algenib 
 
He's not four-footed; with no hinder parts, 
 And shown but half, rises the sacred Horse. 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 
 
 If you will extend the line that passes from the 
 Pointers to Polaris, you will observe four bright stars 
 (three of them of the second magnitude and one of the 
 third) that form an almost perfect square, known as 
 the Square of Pegasus. One of the stars lies in An- 
 dromeda as well as Pegasus. The Square, large as it is, 
 is by no means all of Pegasus. It is in the body of the 
 Horse, and forms only about one-third of the whole 
 constellation. The Horse's head stretches off to the 
 west, where there shines a bright star in its nostril. 
 
 The Greeks told a pretty tale of the birth and exploits 
 of Pegasus. When Perseus had slain Medusa — a story 
 which is to be told later on — and was flying back home, 
 carrying her head carefully behind him, some drops of 
 her blood fell into the sea ; and Neptune, the god of the 
 sea, because he had been in love with Medusa when she 
 was still beautiful, took these drops and some foam of 
 the sea, and changed them into a beautiful white horse, 
 which rose from the crest of a wave and flew to Olympus 
 for the pleasure of the gods. Very few mortals ever 
 rode this winged steed. There are some who say that 
 Perseus and Andromeda were borne by it up to heaven. 
 
 The most famous story, however, is about Bellero- 
 phon's ride. When he was a boy, Bellerophon acci- 
 dentally killed his brother. Home became hateful to 
 him, and so he wandered away. He lived for a time at 
 the court of King Proetus, but he was falsely accused by 
 
 23 
 
24 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Queen Anteia, and Proetns planned his death. He gave 
 him a sealed letter to take to the king of Lycia. When 
 the Lyeian king opened it, he found it was a request 
 to put Bellerophon to death. The king of Lycia tried 
 to obey the request, though it was against his will. He 
 told Bellerophon to go and slay the Chimaera, a terrible 
 monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's 
 tail. 
 
 Many heroes had attacked the Chimaera, but none had 
 escaped alive. Bellerophon, in great dejection, was 
 comforted by Minerva, who appeared before him and 
 gave him a golden bridle, with directions how and when 
 to use it. 
 
 The hero placed himself in hiding beside a spring to 
 which Pegasus sometimes came to drink. When the 
 winged steed came and stooped to the water, Bellerophon 
 leaped upon its back. He got the golden bit between 
 the horse's teeth, and immediately it became perfectly 
 gentle, though it had never been ridden by a mortal 
 before. Pegasus bore Bellerophon to where the 
 Chimaera was, and together they bore down upon the 
 monster, and, of course, Bellerophon slew it. 
 
 After other adventures, the hero returned to Lycia, 
 and married the king's lovely daughter. But his heart 
 became full of pride; he thought himself equal to the 
 gods, and determined to mount Pegasus and ride up to 
 Olympus. He might have succeeded, but Jupiter, 
 angered by his presumption, sent a gadfly, which stung 
 the horse so painfully that it reared and plunged until 
 Bellerophon was dismounted and thrown to the earth 
 far below. After that adventure Pegasus was never lent 
 to a mortal again. 
 
 The story of the destruction of the Chimaera has 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 25 
 
 been told at length by our great American writer, 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his beautiful manner, a part of 
 whose story I must quote for you, changing just three or 
 four words, 
 
 THE CHIMAEEA 
 
 Bellerophon 's heart began to throb! He gazed 
 keenly upward, but could not see the winged creature, 
 whether bird or horse ; because just then it had plunged 
 into the fleecy depths of a summer cloud. It was but 
 a moment, however, before the object reappeared, sink- 
 ing lightly down out of the cloud, although stiU at a 
 vast distance from the earth. Bellerophon shrank back, 
 so that he was hidden among the thick shrubbery which 
 grew all around the fountain. Not that he was afraid of 
 any harm, but he dreaded lest, if Pegasus caught a 
 glimpse of him, he would fly far away, and alight in 
 some inaccessible mountain-top. For it was really the 
 winged horse. After he had expected him so long, he 
 was coming to quench his thirst with the water of Pirene. 
 
 Nearer and nearer came the aerial wonder, flying in 
 great circles, as you may have seen a dove when about 
 to alight. Downward came Pegasus, in those wide, 
 sweeping circles, which grew narrower, and narrower 
 still, as he gradually approached the earth. The nigher 
 the view of him, the more beautiful he was, and the 
 more marvelous the sweep of his silvery wings. At 
 last, with so light a pressure as hardly to bend the 
 grass about the fountain, or imprint a hoof-tramp in the 
 sand of its margin, he alighted, and, stooping his wild 
 head, began to drink. He drew in the water, with long 
 and pleasant sighs, and tranquil pauses of enjoyment; 
 
26 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 and then another draught, and another, and another. 
 For, nowhere in the world, or up among the clouds, did 
 Pegasus love any water as he loved this of Pirene. And 
 when his thirst was slaked, he cropped a few of the 
 honey-blossoms of the clover, delicately tasting them, 
 but not caring to make a hearty meal, because the 
 herbage, just beneath the clouds, on the lofty sides of 
 Mount Helicon, suited his palate better than this 
 ordinary grass. 
 
 After thus drinking to his heart's content, and, in his 
 dainty fashion, condescending to take a little food, the 
 winged horse began to caper to and fro, and dance, as 
 it were, out of mere idleness and sport. There never 
 was a more playful creature made than this very 
 Pegasus. So there he frisked, in a way that it delights 
 me to think about, fluttering his great wings as lightly 
 as ever did a linnet, and running little races, half on 
 earth and half in air, and which I know not whether 
 to caU a flight or a gallop. When a creature is per- 
 fectly able to fly, he sometimes chooses to run, just for 
 the pastime of the thing ; and so did Pegasus, although 
 it cost him some httle trouble to keep his hoofs so near 
 the ground. Bellerophon, meanwhile, peeped forth from 
 the shrubbery, and thought that never was any sight so 
 beautiful as this, nor ever a horse's eyes so wild and 
 spirited as those of Pegasus. It seemed a sin to think 
 of bridling him and riding on his back. 
 
 Once or twice Pegasus stopped, and snuffed the air, 
 pricking up his ears, tossing his head, and turning it 
 on aU sides, as if he partly suspected some mischief or 
 other. Seeing nothing, however, and hearing no sound, 
 he soon began his antics again. 
 
 At length, — ^not that he was weary, but only idle and 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 27 
 
 luxurious, — Pegasus folded his wings, and lay down on 
 the soft green turf. But, being too full of aerial life to 
 remain quiet for many moments together, he soon rolled 
 over on his back, with his four slender legs in the air. 
 It was beautiful to see him, this one solitary creature, 
 whose mate had never been created, but who needed no 
 companion, and, living a great many hundred years, 
 was as happy as the centuries were long. The more he 
 did such things as mortal horses are accustomed to do, 
 the less earthly and the more wonderful he seemed. 
 Bellerophon almost held his breath, partly from a de- 
 lightful awe, but still more because he dreaded lest the 
 slightest stir or murmur should send him up, with the 
 speed of an arrow-flight, into the farthest blue of the 
 sky. 
 
 Finally, when he had had enough of rolling over and 
 over, Pegasus turned himself about, and, indolently, like 
 any other horse, put out his legs, in order to rise from 
 the ground; and Bellerophon, who had guessed that he 
 would do so, darted suddenly from the thicket and 
 leaped astride of his back. 
 
 Yes, there he sat, on the back of the winged horse ! 
 
 But what a bound did Pegasus make, when, for the 
 first time, he felt the weight of a mortal man upon his 
 loins! A bound, indeed! Before he had time to draw 
 a breath, Bellerophon found himself five hundred feet 
 aloft, and still shooting upward, while the winged horse 
 snorted and trembled with terror and anger. Upward 
 he went, up, up, up, until he plunged into the cold misty 
 bosom of a cloud, at which, only a little while before, 
 Bellerophon had been gazing, and fancying it a very 
 pleasant spot. Then, again, out of the heart of the 
 cloud, Pegasus shot down like a thunderbolt, as if he 
 
28 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 meant to dash both himself and his rider headlong 
 against a rock. Then he went through about a thou- 
 sand of the wildest caprioles that had ever been per- 
 formed either by a bird or a horse. 
 
 I cannot teU you half that he did. He skimmed 
 straight forward, and sideways, and backward. He 
 reared himself erect, with his forelegs on a wreath of 
 mist, and his hindlegs on nothing at all. He flung out 
 his heels behind, and put down his head between his 
 legs, with his wings pointing right upward. At about 
 two miles' height above the earth, he turned a somerset, 
 so that Bellerophon 's heels were where his head should 
 have been, and he seemed to look down into the sky, in- 
 stead of up. He twisted his head about, and, looking 
 Bellerophon in the face, with fire flashing from his eyes, 
 made a terrible attempt to bite him. He fluttered his 
 pinions so wildly that one of the silver feathers was 
 shaken out, and, floating earthward, was picked up by a 
 child, who kept it as long as he lived, in memory of 
 Pegasus and Bellerophon. 
 
 But the latter (who, as you may judge, was as good a 
 horseman as ever galloped) had been watching his op- 
 portunity, and at last clapped the golden bit of the en- 
 chanted bridle between the winged steed's jaws. No 
 sooner was this done than Pegasus became as manageable 
 as if he had taken food, all his life, out of Bellerophon 's 
 hand. To speak what I really feel, it was almost a sad- 
 ness to see so wild a creature grow suddenly so tame. 
 And Pegasus seemed to feel it so, likewise. He looked 
 round to Bellerophon, with the tears in his beautiful 
 eyes, instead of the fire that so recently flashed from 
 them. But when Bellerophon patted his head, and 
 spoke a few authoritative, yet Mnd and soothing, words, 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 29 
 
 another look came into the eyes of Pegasus; for he was 
 glad at heart, after so many lonely centuries, to have 
 found a companion and a master. 
 
 Thus it always is with winged horses, and with all 
 such wild and solitary creatures. If you can catch 
 and overcome them, it is the surest way to win their love. 
 
 While Pegasus had been doing his utmost to shake 
 Bellerophon off his back, he had flown a very long 
 distance ; and they had come within sight of a lofty 
 mountain by the time the bit was in his mouth. Bel- 
 lerophon had seen this mountain before, and knew it to 
 be Helicon, on the summit of which was the winged 
 horse's abode. Thither (after looking gently into his 
 rider's face, as if to ask leave) Pegasus now flew, and, 
 alighting, waited patiently until Bellerophon should 
 please to dismount. The young man, accordingly, 
 leaped from his steed's back, but still held him fast 
 by the bridle. Meeting his eyes, however, he was so 
 affected by the gentleness of his aspect and by the 
 thought of the free life which Pegasus had heretofore 
 lived, that he could not bear to keep him a prisoner, if 
 he really desired his liberty. 
 
 Obeying this generous impulse he slipped the en- 
 chanted bridle off the head of Pegasus, and took the bit 
 from his mouth. 
 
 '* Leave me, Pegasus! " said he. ** Either leave me, 
 or love me. ' ' 
 
 In an instant the winged horse shot almost out of 
 sight, soaring straight upward from the summit of 
 Mount Helicon. Being long after sunset, it was now 
 twilight on the mountain-top, and dusky evening over 
 all the country round about. But Pegasus flew so high 
 that he overtook the departed day, and was bathed in 
 
30 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 the upper radiance of the sun. Ascending higher and 
 higher, he looked like a bright speck, and, at last, 
 could no longer be seen in the hollow waste of the sky. 
 And BeUerophon was afraid that he should never be- 
 hold him more. But, while he was lamenting his own 
 folly, the bright speck reappeared, and drew nearer and 
 nearer, until it descended lower than the sunshine ; and, 
 behold, Pegasus had come back! After this trial there 
 was no more fear of the winged horse's making his 
 escape. He and BeUerophon were friends, and put 
 loving faith in one another. 
 
 That night they lay down and slept together, with 
 BeUerophon 's arm about the neck of Pegasus, not as a 
 caution, but for kindness. And they awoke at peep of 
 day, and bade one another good-morning, each in his 
 own language. 
 
 In this manner, BeUerophon and the wondrous steed 
 spent several days, and grew better acquainted and 
 fonder of each other all the time. They went on long 
 aerial journeys, and sometimes ascended so high that the 
 earth looked hardly bigger than — the moon. They vis- 
 ited distant countries, and amazed the inhabitants, who 
 thought that the beautiful young man, on the back of 
 the winged horse, must have come down out of the sky. 
 A thousand miles a day was no more than an easy space 
 for the fleet Pegasus to pass over. BeUerophon was de- 
 lighted with this kind of life, and would have liked 
 nothing better than to live always in the same way, aloft 
 in the clear atmosphere; for it was always sunny 
 weather up there, however cheerless and rainy it might 
 be in the lower region. But he could not forget the 
 horrible Chimaera, which he had promised King lobates 
 to slay. So, at last, when he had become well accus- 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 31 
 
 tomed to feats of horsemanship in the air, and could 
 manage Pegasus with the least motion of his hand, and 
 had taught him to obey his voice, he determined to at- 
 tempt the performance of this perilous adventure. 
 
 At daybreak, therefore, as soon as he unclosed his 
 eyes, he gently pinched the winged horse's ear, in order 
 to arouse him. Pegasus immediately started from the 
 ground, and pranced about a quarter of a mile aloft, 
 and made a grand sweep around the mountain top, by 
 way of showing that he was wide awake, and ready for 
 any kind of an excursion. During the whole of this lit- 
 tle flight, he uttered a loud, brisk, and melodious neigh, 
 and finally came down at Bellerophon 's side, as lightly 
 as ever you saw a sparrow hop upon a twig. 
 
 ** Well done, dear Pegasus! well done, my sky-skim- 
 mer! '' cried Bellerophon, fondly stroking the horse's 
 neck. ** And now, my fleet and beautiful friend, we 
 must break our fast. To-day we are to flght the ter- 
 rible Chimaera.'' 
 
 As soon as they had eaten their morning meal, and 
 drank some sparkling water from a spring called Hip- 
 pocrene, Pegasus held out his head, of his own accord, 
 so that his master might put on the bridle. Then, with 
 a great many playful leaps and airy caperings, he 
 showed his impatience to be gone; while Bellerophon 
 was girding on his sword, and hanging his shield about 
 his neck, and preparing himself for battle. When 
 everything was ready, the rider mounted, and (as was 
 his custom, when going a long distance) ascended five 
 miles perpendicularly, so as the better to see whither he 
 was directing his course. He then turned the head of 
 Pegasus towards the east, and set out for Lycia. In 
 their flight they overtook an eagle, and came so nigh 
 
32 THE STARS AND THEIE STORIES 
 
 him, before lie could get out of their way, that Bellero- 
 phon might easily have caught him by the leg. Hasten- 
 ing onward at this rate, it was still early in the fore- 
 noon when they beheld the lofty mountains of Lycia, 
 with their deep and shaggy valleys. If Bellerophon had 
 been told truly, it was in one of those dismal valleys that 
 the hideous Chimaera had taken up its abode. 
 
 Being now so near their journey's end, the winged 
 horse gradually descended with his rider ; and they took 
 advantage of some clouds that were floating over the 
 mountain-tops, in order to conceal themselves. 
 
 Hovering on the upper surface of a cloud, and peep- 
 ing over its edge, Bellerophon had a pretty distinct view 
 of the mountainous part of Lycia, and could look into 
 all its shadowy vales at once. At first there appeared 
 to be nothiQg remarkable. It was a wild, savage, and 
 rocky tract of high and precipitous hills. In the more 
 level part of the country, there were the ruins of houses 
 that had been burnt, and, here and there, the carcasses 
 of dead cattle, strewn about the pastures where they 
 had been feeding. 
 
 '* The Chimaera must have done this mischief," 
 thought Bellerophon. *' But where can the monster 
 be^ " 
 
 As I have already said, there was nothing remark- 
 able to be detected, at first sight, in any of the valleys 
 and dells that lay among the precipitous heights of the 
 mountain. Nothing at all ; unless, indeed, it were three 
 spires of black smoke, which issued from what seemed 
 to be the mouth of a cavern, and clambered sullenly 
 into the atmosphere. Before reaching the mountain-top, 
 these three black smoke-wreaths mingled themselves 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 33 
 
 into one. The cavern was almost directly beneath the 
 winged horse and his rider, at the distance of about a 
 thousand feet. The smoke, as it crept heavily upward, 
 had an ugly, sulphurous, stifling scent, which caused 
 Pegasus to snort and Bellerophon to sneeze. So dis- 
 agreeable was it to the marvelous steed (who was ac- 
 customed to breathe only the purest air), that he waved 
 his wings, and shot half a mile out of the range of this 
 offensive vapor. 
 
 But, on looking behind him, Bellerophon saw some- 
 thing that induced him first to draw the bridle, and 
 then to turn Pegasus about. He made a sign, which 
 the winged horse understood, and sunk slowly through 
 the air, until his hoofs were scarcely more than a man's 
 height above the rocky bottom of the valley. In front, 
 as far off as you could throw a stone, was the cavern's 
 mouth, with the three smoke-wreaths oozing out of it. 
 And what else did Bellerophon behold there? 
 
 There seemed to be a heap of strange and terrible 
 creatures curled up within the cavern. Their bodies lay 
 so close together that Bellerophon could not distinguish 
 them apart; but, judging by their heads, one of these 
 creatures was a huge snake, the second a fierce lion, and 
 the third an ugly goat. The lion and the goat were 
 asleep ; the snake was broad awake, and kept staring 
 around him with a great pair of fiery eyes. But — and 
 this was the most wonderful part of the matter — ^the 
 three spires of smoke evidently issued from the nostrils 
 of these three heads! So strange was the spectacle 
 that, though Bellerophon had been all along expecting 
 it, the truth did not immediately occur to him, that 
 here was the terrible three-headed Chimaera. He had 
 
34 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 found out the Chimaera's cavern. The snake, the lion, 
 and the goat, as he supposed them to be, were not three 
 separate creatures, but one monster! 
 
 The wicked, hateful thing! Slumbering, as two- 
 thirds of it were, it still held, in its abominable claws, 
 the remnant of an unfortunate lamb, — or possibly (but 
 I hate to think so) it was a dear little boy, — which its 
 three mouths had been gnawing, before two of them fell 
 asleep ! 
 
 All at once, Bellerophon started as from a dream, and 
 knew it to be the Chimaera. Pegasus seemed to know 
 it, at the same instant, and sent forth a neigh, that 
 sounded like the call of a trumpet to battle. At this 
 sound the three heads reared themselves erect, and 
 belched out great flashes of flame. Before Bellerophon 
 had time to consider what to do next, the monster flung 
 itself out of the cavern and sprung straight towards 
 him, with its immense claws extended, and its snaky 
 tail twisting itself venomously behind. If Pegasus had 
 not been as nimble as a bird, both he and his rider 
 would have been overthrown by the Chimaera 's head- 
 long rush, and thus the battle have been ended before 
 it was well begun. But the winged horse was not to be 
 caught so. In the twinkling of an eye he was up aloft, 
 half-way to the clouds, snorting with anger. He shud- 
 dered, too, not with affright, but with utter disgust at 
 the loathsomeness of this poisonous thing with three 
 heads. 
 
 The Chimaera, on the other hand, raised itself up so 
 as to stand absolutely on the tip-end of its tail, with 
 its talons pawing fiercely in the air, and its three heads 
 spluttering fire at Pegasus and his rider. My stars, 
 how it roared, and hissed^ and bellowed! Bellerophon, 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 35 
 
 meanwhile, was fitting his shield on his arm, and draw- 
 ing his sword. 
 
 '' Now, my beloved Pegasus,'' he whispered in the 
 winged horse's ear, '' thou must help me to slay this 
 insufferable monster; or else thou shalt fly back to thy 
 solitary mountain-peak without thy friend Bellerophon. 
 For either the Chimaera dies, or its three mouths shall 
 gnaw this head of mine, which has slumbered upon thy 
 neck! " 
 
 Pegasus whinnied, and, turning back his head, rubbed 
 his nose tenderly against his rider's cheek. It was his 
 way of telling him that, though he had wings and was 
 an immortal horse, yet he would perish, rather than 
 leave Bellerophon behind. 
 
 ' * I thank you, Pegasus, ' ' answered Bellerophon. 
 * ^ Now, then, let us make a dash at the monster ! ' ' 
 
 Uttering these words, he shook the bridle; and Peg- 
 asus darted down aslant, as swift as the flight of an 
 arrow, right towards the Chimaera 's threefold head, 
 which, all this time, was poking itself as high as it 
 could into the air. As he came within arm's-length, 
 Bellerophon made a cut at the monster, but was carried 
 onward by his steed before he could see whether the 
 blow had been successful. Pegasus continued his course, 
 but soon wheeled round, at about the same distance from 
 the Chimaera as before. Bellerophon then perceived 
 that he had cut the goat's head of the monster almost 
 off, so that it dangled downward by the skin, and seemed 
 quite dead. 
 
 But, to make amends, the snake's head and the lion's 
 head had taken all the fierceness of the dead one into 
 themselves, and spit flame, and hissed, and roared, with 
 a vast deal more fury than before. 
 
36 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 *' Never mind, my brave Pegasus!" cried BeUero- 
 phon. '' With another stroke like that, we wiU stop 
 either its hissing or its roaring/' 
 
 And again he shook the bridle. Dashing aslantwise, 
 as before, the winged horse made another arrow-flight 
 towards the Chimaera, and Bellerophon aimed another 
 downright stroke at one of the two remaining heads, as 
 he shot by. But this time, neither he nor Pegasus 
 escaped so well as at first. With one of its claws, the 
 Chimaera had given the young man a deep scratch in 
 his shoulder, and had slightly damaged the left wing 
 of the flying steed with the other. On his part Bellero- 
 phon had mortally wounded the lion's head of the mon- 
 ster, insomuch that it now hung downward, with its fire 
 almost extinguished, and sending out gasps of thick 
 black smoke. The snake's head, however (which was 
 the only one left now) was twice as fierce and venomous 
 as ever before. It belched forth shoots of fire five hun- 
 dred yards long, and emitted hisses so loud, so harsh, 
 and so ear-piercing, that King lobates heard them, fifty 
 miles off, and trembled till the throne shook under him. 
 
 '' Well-a-day! " thought the poor king; '' the Chi- 
 maera is certainly coming to devour me ! " 
 
 Meanwhile Pegasus had again paused in the air, and 
 neighed angrily, while sparkles of a pure crystal flame 
 darted out of his eyes. How unlike the lurid fire of the 
 Chimaera! The aerial steed's spirit was all aroused, 
 and so was that of BeUerophon. 
 
 *' Dost thou bleed, my immortal horse? " cried the 
 young man, caring less for his own hurt than for the 
 anguish of this glorious creature, that ought never to 
 have tasted pain. '* The execrable Chimaera shall pay 
 for this mischief with his last head! " 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 37 
 
 Then he shook the bridle, shouted loudly, and guided 
 Pegasus not aslant wise as before, but straight at the 
 monster's hideous front. So rapid was the onset, that it 
 seemed but a dazzle and a flash before Bellerophon was 
 at close gripes with his enemy. 
 
 The Chimaera, by this time, after losing its second 
 head, had got into a red-hot passion of pain and ram- 
 pant rage. It so flounced about, half on earth and 
 partly in the air, that it was impossible to say which 
 element it rested upon. It opened its snake-jaws to 
 such an abominable width that Pegasus might almost, 
 I was going to say, have flown right down its throat, 
 wings outspread, rider and all. At their approach it 
 shot out a tremendous blast of its fiery breath and en- 
 veloped Bellerophon and his steed in a perfect at- 
 mosphere of flame, singeing the wings of Pegasus, 
 scorching off one whole side of the young man's golden 
 ringlets, and making them both far hotter than was 
 comfortable, from head to foot. 
 
 But this was nothing to what followed. 
 
 When the airy rush of the winged horse had brought 
 him within the distance of a hundred yards, the Chi- 
 maera gave a spring, and flung its awkward, huge, ven- 
 omous, and utterly detestable carcass right upon poor 
 Pegasus, clung round him with might and main, and 
 tied up its snaky tail into a knot! Up flew the aerial 
 steed, higher, higher, higher, above the mountain-peaks, 
 above the clouds, and almost out of sight of the solid 
 earth. But still the earth-born monster kept its hold, 
 and was borne upward along with the creature of light 
 and air, Bellerophon, meanwhile turning about, found 
 himself face to face with the ugly grimness of the 
 Chimaera 's visage, and could only avoid being scorched 
 
38 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 to death, or bitten right in twain by holding up his 
 shield. Over the upper edge of the shield, he looked 
 sternly into the savage eyes of the monster. 
 
 But the Chimaera was so mad and wild with pain, 
 that it did not guard itself so well as might else have 
 been the case. Perhaps, after all, the best way to fight 
 a Chimaera is by getting as close to it as you can. In 
 its efforts to stick its horrible iron claws into its enemy, 
 the creature left its own breast quite exposed; and per- 
 ceiving this, Bellerophon thrust his sword up to the 
 hilt into its cruel heart. Immediately the snaky tail 
 untied its knot. The monster let go its hold of Pegasus, 
 and fell from that vast height downward; while the fire 
 within its bosom, instead of being put out, burned 
 fiercer than ever, and quickly began to consume the 
 dead carcass. Thus it fell out of the sky, all aflame, 
 and (it being nightfall before it reached the earth) was 
 mistaken for a shooting-star or a comet. But, at early 
 sunrise, some cottagers were going to their day's labor, 
 and saw, to their astonishment, that several acres of 
 ground were strewn with black ashes. In the middle of 
 a field, there was a heap of whitened bones a great deal 
 higher than a haystack. Nothing else was ever seen of 
 the dreadful Chimaera ! 
 
 — Nathaniel Hawthorne. 
 
 PEGASUS IN POUND 
 
 Once into a quiet village, 
 
 Without haste and without heed, 
 In the golden prime of morning, 
 
 Strayed the poet's winged steed. 
 
THE WINGED HORSE 39 
 
 It was Autumn, and incessant 
 
 Piped the quails from shocks and sheaves, 
 And, like living coals, the apples 
 
 Burned among the withering leaves. 
 
 Loud the clamorous bell was ringing 
 
 From its belfry gaunt and grim; 
 'Twas the daily call to labor, 
 
 Not a triumph meant for him. 
 
 Not the less he saw the landscape, 
 
 In its gleaming vapor veiled ; 
 Not the less he breathed the odors 
 
 That the dying leaves exhaled. 
 
 Thus, upon the village common, 
 
 By the school-boys he was found; 
 And the wise men, in their wisdom, 
 
 Put him straightway into pound. 
 
 Then the somber village crier, 
 
 Einging loud his brazen bell, 
 Wandered down the street proclaiming 
 
 There was an estray to sell. 
 
 And the curious country people, 
 
 Rich and poor, and young and old, 
 Came in haste to see this wondrous 
 
 Winged steed, with mane of gold. 
 
 Thus the day passed, and the evening 
 
 Fell, with vapors cold and dim; 
 But it brought no food nor shelter. 
 
 Brought no straw nor stall for him. 
 
40 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Patiently, and still expectant, 
 
 Looked he through the wooden bars, 
 
 Saw the moon rise o'er the landscape, 
 Saw the tranquil, patient stars; 
 
 Till at length the bell at midnight 
 Sounded from its dark abode, 
 
 And, from out a neighboring farm-yard, 
 Loud the cock Alectryon crowed. 
 
 Then, with nostrils wide distended, 
 Breaking from his iron chain, 
 
 And unfolding far his pinions, 
 To those stars he soared again. 
 
 On the morrow, when the village 
 
 Woke to all its toil and care, 
 Lo ! the strange steed had departed, 
 
 And they knew not when nor where. 
 
 But they found, upon the greensward 
 Where his struggling hoofs had trod, 
 
 Pure and bright, a fountain flowing 
 From the hoof -marks in the sod. 
 
 From that hour, the fount unfailing 
 Gladdens the whole region round. 
 
 Strengthening all who drink its waters, 
 While it soothes them with its sound. 
 
 — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 
 
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 
 
 LYRA— AQUILA— CYGNUS— SAGITTA— DELPHINUS 
 
 These constellations belong to the summer and early fall, 
 but if we have not spent too much time with Pegasus we 
 can find them high in the west in October. Some of them 
 can still be seen early in the evening, hanging low down in 
 the west, as late as December. If you have missed them in 
 the fall, you can look forward to finding them next siunmer. 
 
 Vega is the brightest star in Ljrra, Altair in Aquila, and 
 Deneb in Cygnus. The triangle made by the three stars, with 
 Altair as the apex, is an almost perfect isosceles triangle. 
 
 The Eagle, in the old charts, is represented as if seen from 
 below, and is clasping the boy with his sharp claws. The de- 
 sign of the present drawing was suggested by a modern mural 
 painting in the Library of Congress. 
 
/ 
 
 Cygnus-The Swan'' 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 Vega 
 
 Lyra— 
 The Lyre 
 
 Aquila-The rBagle 
 
Everything that heard him play, 
 Even the billows of the sea, 
 Hung their heads, and then lay by. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
THE SUMMER TEIANGLE GROUP 
 
 THE LYRE — THE EAGLE — THE SWAN — THE ARROW — THE 
 
 DOLPHIN 
 
 Mercury (or Hermes), son of Jupiter, and one of the 
 twelve gods of Olympus, was god of merchants and of 
 thieves ; and he was wondrously fond of teasing. On the 
 very day he was born, he escaped from his mother, stole 
 the Cows of the Sun, and drove them off to a cave, 
 where he ate two of them and hid the rest. The next day, 
 while he was playing on the sea-shore, he found the shell 
 of a tortoise. He seized upon it for a plaything, bored 
 holes along the edges, stretched strings across it, and 
 found he could make music with it. But the lyre, which 
 he had invented in this way, was not to be his for long. 
 The cattle he had stolen were sacred to Apollo, the 
 god of the sun, who soon discovered the thief, and was 
 not to be appeased until Mercury gave him the lyre 
 as a peace-offering. Apollo was god of music, as well as 
 of the sun, and was delighted with the new instrument. 
 
 DowQ on the earth lived Orpheus, a beautiful musi- 
 cian whom Apollo loved. As a mark of his special 
 favor, Apollo lent the lyre to Orpheus, who then was 
 able to make music so exquisite that not only men and 
 birds, but even the trees and the very rocks, were 
 charmed. But Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice, and 
 became so absorbed in his passion he forgot his music. 
 Then Apollo was vexed, and bade a serpent go and sting 
 
 45 
 
46 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Eurydice to death. Orpheus knew that the dead de- 
 parted to dwell among the shades in Hades. He took 
 the lyre, and went in search of Eurydice. When he 
 came before the ruler of the lower regions, then did 
 
 Otpheus sing 
 Such notes as, warbled to the string, 
 Drew iron tears down Pluto^s cheek, 
 And made HeU grant what love did seek. 
 
 — ^Milton: II Penseroso. 
 
 He played such sweet music that Pluto consented to 
 allow Eurydice to follow her lover back to the upper 
 world if Orpheus would not turn to look upon her before 
 they emerged from Hades. Alas! love was too strong. 
 Orpheus did look back, and his half-regained Eurydice 
 was lost to him. After the death of the disconsolate 
 Orpheus, Apollo took back the lyre, and placed it 
 among the stars. 
 
 I saw, with its celestial keys. 
 Its chords of air, its frets of fire, 
 The Samian^s great ^olian lyre. 
 Rising thro* all its sevenfold bars 
 From earth unto the fixed stars. 
 
 — Longfellow: The Occultation of Orion, 
 
 Lyra is a small constellation, but it is easily found. 
 You have only to look back of the bowl of the Little 
 Dipper, and there you will see it shining conspicuously. 
 Its brightest star is Vega, a star of the first magnitude, 
 one of the three brightest in the Northern Hemisphere. 
 Its blue-white rays are wonderfully brilliant. The 
 actual size of Yega must be very great, probably a hun- 
 
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 47 
 
 dred times that of our sun. Two small stars (between 
 the fourth and the fifth magnitude) form a tiny triangle 
 with Vega. And one of these stars and three other little 
 ones make up a quadrangle. 
 
 Not far from Lyra is Aquila, the Eagle, concerning 
 which the following story is told. Hebe was long the 
 cup-bearer for the gods, but once she tripped and fell. 
 After this unlucky accident she was no longer con- 
 sidered fitted for her office, and had to resign it. Jupiter, 
 having surveyed mankind and chosen the son of a king 
 of Troy as the most beautiful, despatched his sacred 
 bird, the eagle, to fetch the youth to heaven. 
 
 And godlike Ganymede, most beautiful 
 Of men, the gods beheld, and caught him up 
 To heaven, so beautiful was he, to pour 
 The wine of Jove, and ever dwell with them. 
 
 — Homer (Bryant's translation). 
 
 For his services the eagle was placed among the con- 
 stellations. 
 
 To find Aquila, you follow a line from the Little Dip- 
 per to Lyra, and then on about as far the other side of 
 Lyra. Its brightest star (first magnitude) is Altair, in 
 the neck or body of the Eagle. Altair has two attend- 
 ants, one on each side, and both quite close. One is of 
 the third magnitude, the other of the fourth. 
 
 Another neighbor of Lyra is Cygnus, which is also 
 associated with Apollo, though more remotely than Lyra. 
 Apollo had a son, Phaethon, who persuaded his father to 
 allow him to drive the chariot of the sun around the 
 world for one day. But the horses were too strong for 
 Phaethon to manage ; they ran away, and approached so 
 close to earth that everything was about to burn up. 
 
48 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Jupiter saw what was happening, and hurled one of his 
 bolts of thunder at the young charioteer, who fell head- 
 long into the river Eridanus. Cygnus, the intimate 
 friend of Phaethon, gathered all the charred remains of 
 the body he could find, and gave them burial. In his 
 grief he kept diving into the river, to find still other 
 fragments. In this dismal task he looked so like a 
 swan, which is always diving mournfully, that the gods 
 out of pity turned him into a swan, and transferred him 
 to the sky. 
 
 Cygnus is between Lyra and Pegasus, and is more 
 commonly called the Northern Cross. Deneb, the bright- 
 est star of the group, is not quite of the first magnitude, 
 but is classed with the first magnitude stars. In the 
 beak of the Swan — or the foot of the Cross — is Albireo, 
 which a good pair of field glasses reveals as a double star. 
 The smallest telescope shows immediately that one of 
 the doublets is of the third magnitude, and the other of 
 the seventh. The larger is a light yellow in color, and 
 the smaller a deep blue. The blue of the smaller star 
 is so pronounced, and the contrast between the two is so 
 remarkable, that Albireo is one of the favorite show ob- 
 jects to the possessor of a small telescope. 
 
 About half-way between Altair and Albireo is a tiny 
 constellation of the fourth and fifth magnitude stars 
 named the Arrow, or Sagitta. 
 
 There hes an Arrow — ^from what bow it fell 
 Near to the flying Swan, no Poets tell. 
 
 Between Altair and Pegasus lies the remarkably beau- 
 tiful and tiny constellation of the Dolphin — ^more often 
 caUed Job 's Coffin. 
 
Ganymede 
 
 (From the painting by George Frederick Watts) 
 
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 49 
 
 With four fair stars he decks the summer skies, 
 Sparkling and soft as maiden's beauteous eyes. 
 
 The Dolphin owes its place among the stars to its kind- 
 ness of heart and its love of music. Arion, the famous 
 lyric poet and musician, had gone to Italy and gained 
 great wealth by his profession. "When he was return- 
 ing to Lesbos, his native island, the seamen resolved to 
 murder him that they might have his riches. He per- 
 suaded them to allow him to play his lute once more. 
 He sang so sweetly that all the fish were enraptured and 
 gathered around the boat. Then Arion cast himself 
 overboard to escape the seamen, and a dolphin took him 
 on his back and brought him safely to land. Arion 
 went to the king, and told him of his escape. The first 
 time the sailors came to land, they were crucified. None 
 of the Dolphin's stars are very bright ones; two are of 
 the third magnitude, and three of the fourth; the rest 
 are all smaller. 
 
 THE FINDING OF THE LYRE 
 
 There lay upon the ocean's shore 
 "What once a tortoise served to cover; 
 A year or more, with rush and roar, 
 The surf had rolled it over. 
 Had played with it, and flung it by. 
 As wind and weather might decide it, 
 Then tossed it high where sand-drifts dry 
 Cheap burial might provide it. 
 
 It rested there to bleach or tan. 
 
 The rains had soaked, the suns had burned it? 
 
 With many a ban the fisherman 
 
50 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES ^ 
 
 Had stumbled o'er and spumed it; 
 And there the fisher-girl would stay, 
 Conjecturing with her brother 
 How in their play the poor estray 
 Might serve some use or other. 
 
 So there it lay, through wet and dry 
 
 As empty as the last new sonnet, 
 
 Till by and by came Mercury, 
 
 And, having mused upon it, 
 
 ** Why, here,'' cried he, ^' the thing of things 
 
 In shape, material, and dimension 1 
 
 Give it but strings, and, lo, it sings, 
 
 A wonderful invention! " 
 
 So said, so done ; the chords he strained. 
 And, as his fingers o'er them hovered, 
 The shell disdained a soul had gained. 
 The lyre had been discovered. 
 O empty world! that round us lies. 
 Dead shell, of soul and thought forsaken, 
 Brought we but eyes like Mercury's 
 In thee what songs should waken ! 
 
 — James Russell Lowell. 
 
 ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE * 
 
 Cloud upon cloud, the purple pinewoods clung to the 
 rich Arcadian mountains, 
 Holy-sweet as a column of incense, where Eurydice 
 roamed and sung: 
 
 * Copyright, 1908, by The Macmillan Company. 
 
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 51 
 
 All the hues of the gates of heaven flashed from the 
 white enchanted fountains 
 Where in the flowery glades of the forests the rivers 
 that sing to Arcadia sprung. 
 
 Down to the valley she came, for far and far below in 
 the dreaming meadows 
 Pleaded ever the Voice of voices, calling his love by 
 her golden name ; 
 So she arose from her home in the hills, and down 
 through the blossoms that danced with their 
 shadows, 
 Out of the blue of the dreaming distance, down to the 
 heart of her lover she came. 
 
 Lost in his new desire 
 
 He dreamed away the hours; 
 
 His lyre 
 Lay buried in the flowers: 
 
 To whom the King of Heaven, 
 Apollo, lord of light, 
 
 Had given 
 Beauty and love and might: 
 
 Yet in his dream's desire 
 He drowsed away the hours: 
 
 His lyre 
 Lay buried in the flowers. 
 
 Then in his wrath arose 
 Apollo, lord of light. 
 
 That shows 
 The wrong deed from the right ; 
 
52 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 How all good things await 
 The soul that pays the price 
 
 To Fate 
 By equal sacrifice; 
 
 And how on him that sleeps 
 For less than labor's sake, 
 
 There creeps, 
 Uncharmed, the Pythian snake. 
 
 "Was not the menace indeed more silent? Ah, what care 
 for labor and sorrow? 
 Gods in the meadows of moly and amaranth surely 
 might envy their deep sweet bed 
 Here where the butterflies troubled the lilies of peace, 
 and took no thought for the morrow, 
 And golden-girdled bees made feast as over the lotus 
 the soft sun spread. 
 
 Nearer, nearer the menace glided, out of the gorgeous 
 gloom around them, 
 Out of the poppy-haimted shadows deep in the heart 
 of the purple brake ; 
 Till through the hush and the heat as they lay, and their 
 own sweet listless dreams enwound them, — 
 Mailed and mottled with hues of the grape-bloom, sud- 
 denly, quietly, glided the snake. 
 
 Subtle as jealousy, supple as falsehood, diamond-headed 
 and cruel as pleasure, 
 Coil by coil he lengthened and glided, straight to the 
 fragrant curve of her throat: 
 
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 53 
 
 There in the print of the last of the kisses that still 
 glowed red from the sweet long pressure, 
 Fierce as famine and swift as lightning over the glit- 
 tering lyre he smote. 
 
 And over the cold white body of love and delight 
 Orpheus arose in the terrible storm of his grief, 
 
 With quivering up-clutched hands, deadly and white, 
 And his whole soul wavered and shook like a wind- 
 swept leaf: 
 
 As a leaf that beats on a mountain, his spirit in vain 
 Assaulted his doom and beat on the Gates of Death: 
 Then prone with his arms o'er the lyre he sobbed out 
 his pain, 
 And the tense chords faintly gave voice to the pulse 
 of his breath. 
 
 And he heard it and rose, once again, with the lyre in 
 his hand. 
 And smote out the cry that his white-lipped sorrow 
 denied : 
 And the grief's mad ecstasy swept o'er the summer-sweet 
 land, 
 And gathered the tears of all Time in the rush of its 
 tide. 
 
 There was never a love forsaken or faith forsworn, 
 There was never a cry for the living or moan for the 
 slain. 
 But was voiced in that great consummation of song ; ay, 
 and borne 
 To storm on the Gates of the land whence nono 
 Cometh again. 
 
54 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Transcending the barriers of earth, comprehending them 
 aU, 
 He followed the soul of his loss with the night in his 
 eyes; 
 And the portals lay bare to him there ; and he heard the 
 faint call 
 Of his love o'er the rabble that wails by the river of 
 sighs. 
 
 Oh then, through the soul of the Singer, a pity so vast 
 Mixed with his anguish that, smiting anew on his lyre, 
 
 He caught up the sorrows of hell in his utterance at last. 
 Comprehending the need of them aU in his own great 
 desire. 
 
 On through the deserts of hell she came; for over the 
 fierce and frozen meadows 
 Pleaded ever the Voice of voices, calling his love by 
 her golden name; 
 So she arose from her grave in the darkness, and up 
 through the wailing fires and shadows, 
 On by chasm and cliff and cavern, out of the horrors 
 of death she came. 
 
 Then had she followed him, then had he won her, striking 
 a chord that should echo for ever, 
 Had he been steadfast only a little, nor paused in the 
 great transcendent song ; 
 But ere they had won to the glory of day, he came to 
 the brink of the flaming river 
 And ceased, to look on his love a moment, a little mo- 
 ment, and overlong. 
 
C3 
 
 Q -O 
 > t 
 
 
 
 1/3 
 
 D 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE GROUP 55 
 
 He gazed: he ceased to smite 
 The golden-chorded lyre: 
 
 Delight 
 Consumed his heart with fire. 
 
 Though in that deadly land 
 His task was but half-done, 
 
 His hand 
 Drooped, and the fight half -won. 
 
 Out of his hand the lyre 
 Suddenly slipped and fell, 
 
 The fire 
 Acclaimed it into hell. 
 
 The night grew dark again: 
 There came a bitter cry 
 
 Of pain, 
 Oh Love, once more I die! 
 
 And lo, the earth-dawn broke, 
 And like a wraith she fled : 
 
 He woke 
 Alone: his love was dead. 
 
 Though the golden lute of Orpheus gathered the splen- 
 dors of earth and heaven, 
 All the golden greenwood notes and all the chimes of 
 the changing sea, 
 Old men over the fires of winter murmur again that he 
 was not given 
 The steadfast heart divine to rule that infinite freedom 
 of harmony. 
 
56 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Therefore he failed, say they ; but we, that have no wis- 
 dom, can only remember 
 How through the purple perfumed pinewoods white 
 Eurydice roamed and sung: 
 How through the whispering gold of the wheat, where 
 the poppy burned like a crimson ember, 
 Down to the valley in beauty she came, and under her 
 feet the flowers upsprung. 
 
 — ^Alfred Noyes. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 
 
 CEPHEUS— CASSIOPEIA 
 PERSEUS— ANDROMEDA 
 
 The four constellations of the Royal Family rise with 
 Pegasus or directly after him. They can be found in the 
 east in October, and the most important ones are overhead 
 in December. In northern latitudes Cepheus and Cassiopeia 
 never set. Andromeda is low down in the west in February, 
 with Perseus following close behind. 
 
Long, I trow, 
 Thou wilt not seek her in the nightly sky, 
 So bright her head, so bright 
 Her shoulders, feet, and girdle. 
 Yet even there she has her arms extended, 
 And shackled, even in heaven; uplifted. 
 Outspread eternally, are those fair hands. 
 
 — ^AratuSo 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 
 
 On the opposite side of Polaris from the Great Dipper 
 are the four constellations of the Royal Family. King 
 Cepheus, with his wife, Queen Cassiopeia; their daugh- 
 ter, the Princess Andromeda, the heroine of the legend ; 
 and the Princess's lover, Perseus, the golden-haired 
 hero. None of the four is especially bright, and all ex- 
 cept Cassiopeia are hard to find ; but with the aid of the 
 chart you can soon locate them. 
 
 Cepheus, the dimmest, with no star much brighter 
 than the third magnitude, is just back of the Lesser 
 Bear. 
 
 Next is Cassiopeia, five of whose stars form a W that 
 lies open to the Pole Star, and is about as far from 
 Polaris on one side as the Pointers are on the other. 
 This W is also called Cassiopeia's Chair, and there the 
 Queen sits throned in heaven. A line commencing at 
 the star that joins the handle and the bowl of the Big 
 Dipper and drawn through Polaris, passes through Cas- 
 siopeia, and, when extended on, through Andromeda. 
 
 The constellation of Andromeda shares one of its 
 brightest stars, named Alpherat, with the constellation 
 of Pegasus, the Winged Horse. It is in Andromeda's 
 head and the Horse 's body. The other bright stars, two 
 of the second magnitude and one of the third, stretch 
 along back of the W. By using your chart, and start- 
 ing with Alpherat, you can soon find the Princess, with 
 her hands chained high in the heavens, as Perseus found 
 
 61 
 
62 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 her with her hands chained high to the rock by the sea- 
 shore. 
 
 Below Andromeda is her lover Perseus, watching 
 eternally, and ever ready to protect her against any 
 harm that may threaten, his uplifted sword in one hand 
 and the dread Medusa 's head in the other. 
 
 The most interesting of all the stars of the Royal 
 Family is in Perseus. A line from the end star of the 
 Lesser Bear through Polaris passes near it. Its name is 
 Algol, but it is often called the ^* Demon Star " (Algol 
 is Arabic for ** the demon "), because it is in the head 
 of Medusa, and winks or changes its brightness. It is 
 one of the variable stars. Most of the time it is a star 
 of the second magnitude; but every two days, twenty 
 hours, and forty-nine minutes its light begins to fade, 
 and three or four hours later it has lost three-fourths of 
 its brightness, dwindling to nearly a fourth magnitude 
 star. Then it begins to grow brighter, and in three or 
 four hours has regained its former brilliancy. These 
 changes can be detected with the naked eye, and in 
 former times greatly puzzled everybody. In recent 
 times we have learned that a great dark body is circling 
 around Algol, as the moon circles around the earth; 
 only it completes its trip in a little less than three days. 
 In making its circuit it passes between AJgol and the 
 earth, and partially obliterates Algol's light. 
 
 Now for the myth-story, which is more romantic than 
 that of any other persons among the stars. The main 
 reason, undoubtedly, why the members of the Royal 
 Family were given a place among the stars was the love 
 affair between Perseus and Andromeda. Previous to 
 the time, however, when Perseus found and loved An- 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 63 
 
 dromeda, his life was filled with adventure. Misfortune 
 had marked him for her own even before his birth. 
 
 PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA 
 
 Acrisius, king of Argos, was rich and powerful, but 
 he was not a particularly happy monarch. How could 
 he be? He surely had sufficient cause for unhappiness 
 in the message of Fate which he received through an 
 oracle : * ^ Acrisius shall be slain by the hand of his own 
 grandson.'' His only child was his daughter, Danae. 
 They had looked forward to a happy marriage for her, 
 and a prosperous life for her children. Now the king's 
 one desire was to prevent her from being married. He 
 had a tower built of brass, shut his daughter up in it, 
 and placed guards around it, with dire threats of death 
 if they failed in their watch. With all these precau- 
 tions he hoped to cheat fate. But the will of the gods 
 may not be frustrated. All the king's devices were of 
 no avail. His soldiers might keep sleepless watch 
 through day and through night, but their efforts could 
 not have been less successful if they had striven to pre- 
 vent the sun from showering his golden beams upon the 
 tower. 
 
 When Acrisius learned that Danae had a baby son, he 
 was much perturbed and very wroth. Still imagining 
 that he might escape the decrees of fate, he did what I 
 think was a craven thing. He sought to save his own 
 life through the death of another person. That that 
 other person was his own daughter will not make his 
 deed any the pleasanter in your estimation. He deter- 
 mined that both his daughter and her son must perish. 
 But even his heart was not frightened enough and cruel 
 
64 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 enough to make him willing to stain his hands with the 
 blood of his own family. He hit upon a scheme that 
 appeared to be as effective as simple. 
 
 '* Make me a large cask/' he ordered his carpenter. 
 
 ** Line it with rugs and shawls," he commanded his 
 upholsterer; for, you see, he was willing to make death 
 as pleasant as he could. 
 
 ^' Place Danae and her child within the cask,'* he 
 bade the soldiers of his guard. '* Take them in a 
 boat far out from the shore, and toss them into the 
 sea.'' 
 
 He thought certainly in this way they must perish, 
 and his own precious life would be prolonged. He had 
 yet to learn that, though the gods work slowly, they work 
 their will surely. 
 
 His behests were obeyed, of course. For he was a 
 powerful king, even though in his madness a cruel one. 
 The cask was thrown to the waves. Hour after hour it 
 rose and fell with them monotonously. I suspect the 
 only thing that saved the mother from insanity was the 
 need of caring for her babe. By what miracle they were 
 preserved alive I am sure I do not know. I only tell the 
 story to you as it was told to me. For days they floated 
 on, the sport of sea and wind. No, not quite sport, 
 either. All the while, a superhuman will was directing 
 their course. The pitying gods caused the cask to be 
 washed ashore on the island of Seriphus. There a 
 kindly fisherman broke it open, and rescued the cast- 
 aways; and again Danae felt the good solid earth be- 
 neath her feet. He led her to his hut, and he and his 
 good wife provided her with dry, warm clothes and nour- 
 ishing food, and they kept her there until she had 
 quite recovered from the shock of her terrifying experi- 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 65 
 
 ence. Then they heard from her the story of all that 
 had happened. 
 
 This fisherman, humble as he seemed, was brother to 
 the king of the island. In the course of time, news came 
 quite naturally to the king of the guests in his brother's 
 cottage, and of their marvelous sea-voyage. When he 
 learned that Danae was the daughter of a king, he made 
 haste to invite her to come and be a guest in the royal 
 palace. Since a king 's invitation is much the same thing 
 as a command, Danae could not well refuse. I have no 
 doubt, however, that she would greatly have preferred 
 to remain in the obscure home of the kind fisherman. 
 But off to the palace she and her son must go. 
 
 The years passed on. In the palace of King Poly- 
 dectes Danae still lived, with her son, to whom she had 
 given the name Perseus. He had grown to be a young 
 man, and had received the education of a prince of the 
 royal blood. In athletic feats and in the management 
 of weapons of chase and war he surpassed all his com- 
 panions. Now he was to find that the protection of 
 Polydectes brought hardship with it. The king fell in 
 love with Danae, and wished to marry her. But she did 
 not love him, and would not consent. He was about to 
 compel her to obey him, when Perseus interfered, say- 
 ing any man who annoyed his mother must reckon with 
 him. Polydectes, balked in this manner, laid a plan to 
 get rid of Perseus. 
 
 *' If you are such a splendidly brave fellow,'' said he 
 to Perseus, ^* you ought to demonstrate it for us. Let 
 me tell you what you do," he continued tauntingly. 
 ** You go and slay the Gorgon Medusa, and bring her 
 head back here. Then, perhaps, we will grant that you 
 have the right to raise your voice when men are present. ' ' 
 
66 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Perseus knew very little about what he was under- 
 taking, but he could not pause in the face of such a 
 challenge as that. 
 
 *' Very well, 111 do it! " he replied, with the rash 
 assurance of youth. '* Swear to me that for a year 
 and a day you will secure my mother from all annoy- 
 ance, and within that time I wiU return and bring Me- 
 dusa's head with me." 
 
 Then the king lightly made oath, for he was well 
 assured in his mind that long before the twelve months 
 were gone Perseus would be removed from his path for- 
 ever. 
 
 Perseus was at a loss, indeed. He knew that Medusa 
 was one of the Gorgons, but how was he to find her, and 
 what armor would protect him or what sword smite off 
 her head? He went to bed that night very much 
 troubled, you may be sure. As he slept, he had a 
 dream, — that is, he thought it was a dream, but it was 
 really a vision. He dreamed, as it seemed to him, that 
 the eternal gods came down around his couch, and spoke 
 to him, and comforted him. First, there was Mercury, 
 the messenger of the gods, who addressed him, saying: 
 
 '' What! you are not afraid, are you, Perseus? " 
 
 And Perseus would have answered in indignation, but 
 the power of speech seemed to be gone from him. Mer- 
 cury evidently expected no reply, for without waiting he 
 went on : 
 
 ** You are now a man, and it is time you should be 
 doing the deeds of a man. ' ' 
 
 Again the heart of Perseus stirred within him, and he 
 would have been glad to say, if he could have spoken : 
 
 *' Well, bright stranger, I should just like to know 
 what you caU what I have been doing for the last sev- 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 67 
 
 eral years past? I certainly have not been doing the 
 sweeping or cooking or spinning around here. And 
 there is not a man in all this island who can run faster, 
 or hit harder, or shoot straighter than I can ! ' ' 
 
 Mercury apparently thought he had done enough 
 teasing, for he went on in soberer style : 
 
 ** The gods, who have watched over you all the time, 
 have prepared great adventures for you. Without our 
 help you could accomplish little; with it you can do 
 anything. And we mean to help you. This Medusa 
 you are to seek and slay, dwells a great distance from 
 here. For all the rapidity of your running, you would 
 need a long time to reach there. Now, I am something 
 of a traveler myself. And I get about as fast as I do 
 because I am the fortunate possessor of a pair of winged 
 sandals. ' ' 
 
 Here, lifting his foot and stooping over, Mercury took 
 off a sandal, and first held it up for Perseus to see, and 
 then placed it beside the bed. While he was taking ofE 
 the other one and placing it beside the first, he went on 
 talking : 
 
 '' The wings, you see, are not very large, but I have 
 never had to complain of them yet. They 11 let you walk 
 on the ground, or they'll carry you through the air, 
 just as you please. I have never tried to see just how 
 fast they will carry me. My uncle Apollo drives the 
 chariot of the sun around the world every day, and 
 pretty frequently I have to outrun his horses to deliver 
 a message to him. I think they '11 carry you faster than 
 — than the fastest runner in this island could run. Try 
 them. I'll leave them here for you." 
 
 As Mercury turned away, there approached out of the 
 shadows a tall, dark man, whose beard and eyebrows 
 
68 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 and hair were inky black, and whose eyes were like wells 
 they were so deep and dark. Just the trace of a smile, 
 caused by the jesting of Mercury, flitted among the 
 wrinkles of his most ancient face. But he was not used 
 to jesting, and evidently dwelt among excessively solemn 
 people. He was all for business. 
 
 '' I came from the realm where dwell the souls of the 
 dead ^' (and Perseus knew then it was Pluto talking), 
 * * to bring you what you must have in order to find Me- 
 dusa." 
 
 While he was speaking, Perseus thought he saw him 
 lift a helmet and place it on his head. I say ^' thought 
 he saw," because even as Perseus was still looking at 
 him, suddenly he wasn 't there. Perseus batted his eyes, 
 and looked again; and then, just as suddenly, there 
 stood Pluto again where he had been before. 
 
 ** Do you see me now? " asked Pluto. 
 
 And while Perseus was preparing to say '* yes," be- 
 hold! Pluto was not there. Two seconds later, he re- 
 appeared, and without waiting for any word from Per- 
 seus, he explained: 
 
 ** This helmet you see in my hand " (and Perseus 
 really could see it this time) *' is a valuable possession. 
 When you have it on your head, you can be either 
 visible or invisible, as you wish, and as long as you wish. 
 I shall leave it with you. Put on the sandals, wear the 
 helmet, and seek out the Graeae. " 
 
 Physical activity comes to all men; and knowledge 
 comes to those who will learn from the experience of 
 men who have lived before them. At last, to a few, 
 comes wisdom, mightiest of all. 
 
 As Pluto drew back, and faded into a shadow, the 
 place where he had stood, disappearing and reappearing 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 69 
 
 so puzzlingly, was taken by Minerva. In the moonlight 
 she looked very gracious and very beautiful to Perseus; 
 and the moonbeams that fell upon the shield she car- 
 ried were doubled in brilliancy. 
 
 ** To slay Medusa, my good Perseus, you will need 
 your own sword, and the sandals of swiftness, and the 
 helmet of invisibility," she said. '' And you will need 
 still more. Some things must be looked directly in the 
 face when they are attacked. Some must be seen in- 
 directly. This shield, this ^gis of mine, which shines 
 so brightly in the moonlight, will serve you as a mirror. 
 When you have found the Medusa, look not directly 
 upon her face, lest calamity befall. Use the shield for 
 a mirror; through it find and slay the monster. Only 
 the Graeae can tell you how to find Medusa, and to find 
 the Graeae you must journey to the northernmost regions 
 of the world." 
 
 Minerva left the shield beside the sandals and the 
 helmet, and passed from sight. However much Perseus 
 desired to stay awake, so soon as his visitors were gone 
 he fell asleep. "When he roused in the morning, he 
 found the precious gifts of the gods, and he knew that 
 his dream was not all a dream. He remembered the in- 
 structions that had been given him. Probably he tried 
 the sandals, and I suspect he tested the power of the 
 helmet upon his friends, but, as I have said before, the 
 story does not tell. He bade farewell to his mother, and 
 departed on his adventure. 
 
 He walked along until he came to a hiUside, where no 
 one was in sight. He bound on his sandals and rose up, 
 up into the air. Slowly he went at first, until he gained 
 confidence; then off he went, swifter than a carrier 
 pigeon, swifter than the seven-league boots ever carried 
 
70 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 their owner. Straight to the north he flew, on and on 
 for days, till he came to the land of cold and perpetual 
 darkness. Here, he knew, lived the Graeae, of whom he 
 had learned something before he left home. They were 
 three sisters, hideously ugly, old, old women. They 
 were so old (at least, I guess that was the reason) that 
 they had worn out all their eyes but one, and of aU their 
 teeth, but a single one remained. This one eye and this 
 single tooth they used each in her turn. Perseus placed 
 his helmet on his head, and with a wish made himself 
 invisible. He stole softly among the three old crones, 
 and he seized the eye just as one of them was handing 
 it to the other. At this mishap to them, which, of 
 course, they did not understand, the Graeae were in sore 
 distress. Perseus then explained that he had snatched 
 the eye from them; but he refused, for all their plead- 
 ing, to restore it to them until they had told him all 
 about Medusa, and how she was to be found and slain. 
 Medusa was one of another set of three sisters, named 
 the Gorgons. When she was young and beautiful, she 
 prayed to Minerva one day that she might be allowed 
 to leave her home in the dark, cold, hateful north, and 
 go visit the sunshiny south, where people lived. Minerva 
 refused her prayer, and the angry Medusa, in her vanity 
 and pain, cried out that Minerva's refusal was the 
 result of nothing but jealousy and fear lest men should 
 say that Medusa was more beautiful than she. Minerva 
 punished this gross impiety with a punishment that was 
 most terrible. The face of Medusa remained as beauti- 
 ful as ever, but the long curly locks of her beautiful 
 hair were changed into writhing, hissing snakes, and she 
 became so horrifyingly hideous that whatsoever looked 
 on her head was changed outright into stone. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 71 
 
 Perseus left the Graeae, and flew on till he came to 
 where he knew the Gorgons must be. It behooved him 
 to advance circumspectly. Holding his shield above 
 and slightly before him to use as a mirror, he flew 
 on. Carefully, carefully he moved ahead, looking stead- 
 fastly upon the Aegis. As great good luck would have 
 it, he came upon the Gorgons while they slept. He ap- 
 proached Medusa, and with a single deft stroke he sev- 
 ered her head. He thought to escape without waking 
 her sisters, but they were roused; and when they per- 
 ceived from the headless trunk of Medusa what havoc 
 had been wrought upon them, they began a furious pu,r- 
 suit. They faced a double difficulty, however. Per- 
 seus was invisible, and his winged sandals bore him 
 along with extreme rapidity in his flight. Off to the 
 south he sped away, and soon he distanced them so far 
 as to be perfectly safe. 
 
 The return journey was long and tedious. He en- 
 countered many adventures by the way, too many for 
 me to tell you about them. Always he bore the head 
 of Medusa safely out of sight. His journey took him 
 by way of Africa; why, I am sure I do not see, but it 
 did. While he was flying along above the Libyan desert, 
 some drops of blood fell from Medusa's head upon the 
 hot sands, and gave birth to the venomous serpents that 
 infest that region to this day. Again, while he was 
 crossing over a sea, some drops of blood fell upon the 
 waves, and from them Neptune created the Winged 
 Horse, Pegasus. At still another time he was crossing 
 the northwest part of Africa. There he came upon the 
 Titan Atlas, supporting the weight of the heavens upon 
 his shoulders. Through countless years he had sup- 
 ported them in the same way. Now he was very weary. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 73 
 
 persuaded the gods to punish the mother by sending this 
 fell monster to ravage the dominions of King Cepheus. 
 The king and his counselors besought aid of an oracle, 
 and learned that the evil creature would not be appeased 
 until the mother's sin should be atoned for by the sacri- 
 fice of her daughter to its fury. The chaining of An- 
 dromeda and the coming of the beast were the fulfil- 
 ment of the oracle. In the lines of poetry a few pages 
 onward you may read the story of how Perseus lighted 
 beside her and spoke to her ; how she bade him flee from 
 the danger that threatened her ; and how he fought with 
 the beast, and overcame it, and turned it to a crag 
 among the waves by a sight of the head of Medusa. 
 
 Of course, the hero fell in love with the heroine. 
 And when Perseus restored the beautiful Andromeda 
 to her distracted parents, they were so grateful they 
 offered to bestow upon him anything in their might. 
 And what gift would he have of them but Andromeda 
 to be his wife ? But 
 
 Ay me! for aright that I could ever read, 
 
 Could ever hear by tale or history, 
 
 The course of true love never did run smooth. 
 
 At the very feast given to celebrate the nuptials, a 
 former suitor of the princess came with an army of re- 
 tainers to claim her for himself, meaning to take her by 
 force if need be. Perseus commanded all who were 
 friendly to him to turn away and hide their eyes. Then 
 he drew Medusa's head from his cloak, and held it aloft. 
 And the boisterous suitor, who had been too great a 
 coward to fight against the sea-monster for Andromeda, 
 was changed into stone, and all his men with him. 
 When the time came to depart, Perseus took An« 
 
74 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 dromeda, his wife, with him, and journeyed on to 
 Seriphns. He came none too soon. The year and a 
 day of his allotted absence were gone by, down to the 
 setting of the sun on the last day. Polydectes had long 
 ago supposed that Perseus was slain. Because he 
 thought himself safe, he was this day persecuting Danae 
 to force her into obedience to his will. Perseus quickly 
 understood what was going on, and he became so angry 
 that just the minute the opportunity offered itself he 
 plucked out the head of Medusa and held it before the 
 gaze of Polydectes. And then Seriphus needed a new 
 king. Perseus remembered the king's brother, the old 
 fisherman who had been kind to his mother and to him. 
 So he sent for the fisherman to leave his hut and come 
 to the palace; and then and there he had the people 
 swear allegiance to the fisherman as their new king. 
 
 After that, he set out with his wife and his mother, 
 and came to Argos. He found turmoil in the land. A 
 usurper had seized upon the throne, and cast the old 
 King Acrisius into prison. Perseus overcame the 
 usurper, and restored his grandfather to the throne. 
 The story ought to end here with an '' And they all 
 lived happy ever after." But there was that oracle, 
 *' Acrisius shall be slain by the hand of his own grand- 
 son." The gods do not forget, and they do not fail. 
 In the games to celebrate the restoration of the aged 
 king, Perseus took his part gleefully. They were play- 
 ing quoits. The turn of Perseus came. With all his 
 strength he hurled his quoit. By some strange mis- 
 chance — or was it by the will of the godsV — the quoit 
 swerved from its straight course, and struck Acrisius in 
 the temple. The oracle was fulfilled. 
 
 Perseus was so filled with grief at this mishap that he 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 75 
 
 could not endure to stay near the place. He exchanged 
 his kingdom for another one far removed. There he 
 ruled wisely and kindly, and drew to the end of his 
 days, much loved by his subjects. He had remained 
 ever dear to the gods, and after death he was trans- 
 ferred by them to the stars, and his wife and her par- 
 ents with him. This story was first told a long, long 
 time ago, but in the heavens the four constellations of 
 the Royal Family still shine, to remind us of the stories 
 of a beautiful woman and a very brave hero. 
 
 THE STAR CLUB 
 
 I WISH you success with your Star Club. Perhaps 
 your uncles and aunts will start clubs, too. We have 
 three Star Clubs in our family — one in New York, one 
 in Michigan, and one in Colorado. Last winter the 
 
 Colorado Star Gazers '' sent this challenge to the 
 
 New Jersey Night-Owls :'' ^^ We het you can't see 
 Venus by daylight! '^ 
 
 That seemed possible, because during that week the 
 " evening star '' was by far the brightest object in the 
 sky. But father and daughter searched the sky before 
 sunset in vain, and finally we had to ask the '' Moon- 
 struck Michiganders '' how to see Venus while the sun 
 was shining. Back came these directions on a postal 
 card : '' Wait until it is dark and any one can see Venus. 
 Then find some tree, or other object, which is in line with 
 Venus and over which you can just see her. Put a 
 stake where you stand. Next day go there half an hour 
 before sunset, and stand a little to the west. You will 
 see Venus as big as life. The next afternoon you can 
 find her by four o'clock. And if you keep on you will 
 see her day before yesterday ! ' ' 
 
 
76 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 That was a great ** stunt." We did it; and there 
 are dozens like it you can do. And that reminds me 
 that Father was mistaken about our interest lasting only 
 two years. We know that it will not die till we do. For, 
 even if we never get a telescope, there will always be 
 new things to see. Our club has still to catch Algol, the 
 ** demon's eye,'' which goes out and gleams forth every 
 three days, because it is obscured by some dark planet we 
 can never see. And we have never yet seen Mira * the 
 wonderful, which for some mysterious reason dies down 
 to ninth magnitude and then blazes up to second mag- 
 nitude every eleventh month. 
 
 Ah, yes, the wonders and the beauties of astronomy 
 ever deepen and widen. Better make friends with the 
 stars now. For when you are old there are no friends 
 like old friends. 
 
 — Julia E. Rogers: Earth and Sky Every 
 Child Should Know. By permission of 
 the publishers, Doubleday, Page and 
 Company. 
 
 ANDROMEDA 
 
 In the spray, like a hovering foam-bow, 
 
 Hung, more fair than the foam-bow, a boy in the bloom 
 of his manhood. 
 
 Golden-haired, ivory-limbed, ambrosial; over his shoul- 
 der 
 
 Hung for a veil of his beauty the gold-fringed folds of 
 the goat-skin, 
 
 Bearing the brass of his shield, as the sun flashed clear 
 on its clearness. 
 
 * Mira is in Cetus, a constellation in the southern hemisphere, but 
 visible from northern latitudes. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 77 
 
 Curved on his thigh lay a falchion, and under the gleam 
 
 of his helmet 
 Eyes more blue than the main shone awful ; around him 
 
 Athene 
 Shed in her love such grace, such state, and terrible 
 
 daring. 
 Hovering over the water he came, upon glittering 
 
 pinions, 
 Living, a wonder, outgrown from the tight-laced gold 
 
 of his sandals ; 
 Bounding from billow to billow, and sweeping the crests 
 
 like a sea-gull ; 
 Leaping the gulfs of the surge, as he laughed in the joy 
 
 of his leaping. 
 Hovering under her brows, like a swallow that haunts 
 
 by the house-eaves, 
 Delicate-handed, he lifted the veil of her hair ; while the 
 
 maiden 
 Motionless, frozen with fear, wept aloud; till his lips 
 
 unclosing 
 Poured from their pearl-strung portal the musical wave 
 
 of his wonder. 
 ** Ah, well spoke she, the wise one, the gray-eyed Pallas 
 
 Athene, — 
 Kjiown to Immortals alone are the prizes which lie for 
 
 the heroes 
 Beady prepared at their feet ; for requiring a little, the 
 
 rulers 
 Pay back the loan tenfold to the man who, careless of 
 
 pleasure, 
 Thirsting for honor and toil, fares forth on a perilous 
 
 errand 
 
78 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Led by the guiding of gods, and strong in the strength 
 
 of Immortals. 
 Thus have they led me to thee : from afar, unknowing, I 
 
 marked thee, 
 Shining, a snow-white cross on the dark-green walls of 
 
 the sea-cliff; 
 Carven in marble I deemed thee, a perfect work of the 
 
 craftsman. 
 Curious I came, till I saw how thy tresses streamed in 
 
 the sea-wind. 
 Glistening, black as the night, and thy lips moved slow 
 
 in thy wailing. 
 Speak again now — Oh speak ! For my soul is stirred to 
 
 avenge thee; 
 Tell me what barbarous horde, without law, unrighteous 
 
 and heartless, 
 Hateful to gods and to men, thus have bound thee, a 
 
 shame to the sunlight. 
 Scorn and prize to the sailor: but my prize now; for a 
 
 coward. 
 Coward and shameless were he, who so finding a glorious 
 
 jewel 
 Cast on the wayside by fools, would not win it and keep 
 
 it and wear it. 
 Even as I will thee; for I swear by the head of my 
 
 father. 
 Bearing thee over the sea-wave, to wed thee in Argos 
 
 the fruitful, 
 Beautiful, meed of my toil no less than this head which 
 
 I carry, 
 Hidden here fearful — oh speak ! ' ' 
 Then, like a fawn when startled, she looked v4th a 
 
 shriek to the seaward. 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 79 
 
 ** Touch me not, wretch that I am! For accursed, a 
 
 shame and a hissing, 
 Guiltless, accurst no less, I await the revenge of the 
 
 sea-gods. 
 Yonder it comes! Ah go! Let me perish unseen, if I 
 
 perish ! 
 Spare me the shame of thine eyes, when merciless fangs 
 
 must tear me 
 Piecemeal ! Enough to endure by myself in the light of 
 
 the sunshine, 
 Guiltless, the death of a kid! " 
 
 But the boy still lingered around her, 
 Loath, like a boy, to forego her, and waken the cliffs 
 
 with his laughter. 
 * ' Yon is the foe, then ? A beast of the sea ? I had 
 
 deemed him immortal; 
 Kiss me but once, and I go.'' 
 
 Then lifting her neck, like a sea-bird 
 Peering up over the wave, from the foam-white swells 
 
 of her bosom, 
 Blushing she kissed him: afar on the topmost Idalian 
 
 summit 
 Laughed in the joy of her heart, far-seeing, the queen 
 
 Aphrodite. 
 Loosing his arms from her waist he flew upward, await- 
 ing the sea-beast. 
 Onward it came from the southward, as bulky and black 
 
 as a galley. 
 Lazily coasting along, as the fish fled leaping before it; 
 Lazily breasting the ripple, and watching by sandbar 
 
 and headland. 
 Listening for laughter of maidens at bleaching, or song 
 
 of the fisher, 
 
80 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Children at play on the pebbles, or cattle that pawed on 
 
 the sandhills. 
 Rolling and dripping it came, where bedded in glisten- 
 ing purple 
 Cold on the cold sea-weeds lay the long white sides of 
 
 the maiden, 
 Trembling, her face in her hands, and her tresses afloat 
 
 on the water. 
 As when an osprey aloft, if he see on a glittering 
 
 shallow 
 
 the fin of a wallowing dolphin, 
 
 Falls from the sky like a star, while the wind rattles 
 
 hoarse in his pinions : 
 Over him closes the foam for a moment; then from the 
 
 sand-bed 
 Rolls up the great fish, dead, and his side gleams white 
 
 in the sunshine: 
 Thus fell the boy on the beast, unveiling the face of the 
 
 Gorgon ; 
 Thus fell the boy on the beast ; thus rolled up the beast 
 
 in his horror, 
 Once, as the dead eyes glared into his; then his sides, 
 
 death-sharpened. 
 Stiffened and stood, brown rock, in the wash of the wan- 
 dering water. 
 Beautiful, eager, triumphant, he leapt back again to 
 
 his treasure ; 
 Leapt back again, full blest, toward arms spread wide to 
 
 receive him. 
 Brimful of honor he clasped her, and brimful of love she 
 
 caressed him, 
 Answering lip with lip; while above them the queen 
 
 Aphrodite 
 
THE ROYAL FAMILY 81 
 
 Poured on their foreheads and limbs, unseen, ambrosial 
 
 odors, 
 Givers of longing, and rapture, and chaste content in 
 
 espousals. 
 Happy whom ere they be wedded anoints she, the Queen 
 
 Aphrodite ! 
 Then on the brows of the maiden a veil bound Pallas 
 
 Athene ; 
 Ample it fell to her feet, deep-fringed, a wonder of 
 
 weaving. 
 Ages and ages agone it was wrought on the heights of 
 
 Olympus, 
 Wrought in the gold-strung loom, by the finger of cun- 
 ning Athene. 
 In it she wove all creatures that teem in the womb of 
 
 the ocean — 
 Nereid, siren, and triton and dolphin, and arrowy 
 
 fishes 
 Glittering round, many-hued, on the flame-red folds of 
 
 the mantle. 
 In it she wove, too, a town where gray-haired kings sat 
 
 in judgment; 
 Scepter in hand in the market they sat, doing right by 
 
 the people, 
 Wise : while above watched Justice, and near, far-seeing 
 
 Apollo. 
 Round it she wove for a fringe all herbs of the earth 
 
 and the water, 
 Violet, asphodel, ivy, and vine-leaves, roses and lilies. 
 Coral and sea-fan, and tangle, the blooms and the palms 
 
 of the ocean : 
 Now from Olympus she bore it, a dower to the bride of a 
 
 hero. 
 
82 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Over the limbs of the damsel she wrapt it : the maid still 
 
 trembled, 
 Shading her face with her hands; for the eyes of the 
 
 goddess were awful. 
 Then, as a pine upon Ida when southwest winds blow 
 
 landward, 
 Stately she bent to the damsel, and breathed on her : un- 
 der her breathing 
 Taller and fairer she grew; and the goddess spoke in 
 
 her wisdom. 
 ** Courage I give thee; the heart of a queen, and the 
 
 mind of Immortals ; 
 Godlike to talk with the gods, and to look on their eyes 
 
 unshrinking ; 
 Fearing the sun and the stars no more, and the blue 
 
 salt water ; 
 Fearing us only, the lords of Olympus, friends of the 
 
 heroes ; 
 Chastely and wisely to govern thyself and thy house and 
 
 thy people. 
 Bearing a godlike race to thy spouse, till dying I set theo 
 High for a star in the heavens, a sign and a hope to the 
 
 seamen. 
 Spreading thy long white arms all night in the heights 
 
 of the aether. 
 Hard by thy sire and the hero thy spouse, while near 
 
 thee thy mother 
 Sits in her ivory chair, as she plaits ambrosial tresses. 
 All night long thou wilt shine ; all day thou wilt feast on 
 
 Olympus, 
 Happy, the guest of the gods, by thy husband, the god- 
 begotten." 
 
 — Charles Kingsley. 
 
THE ORION GROUP 
 
 ORION— TAURUS— SIRIUS 
 LEPUS— ARGO 
 
 Farther to the south and east than Perseus will rise the 
 Orion Group. A line drawn from Polaris through the eastern 
 part of the constellation of Perseus will pass very near the 
 Pleiades in Taurus. These constellations can be seen at their 
 best in January and February when they are nearly overhead, 
 although Orion comes chasing Taurus into the night sky 
 in December. Orion, Sirius, and Taurus can still be seen, 
 in April, low down in the west. 
 
 Orion's sword is usually drawn parallel to the belt, not up 
 and down as the line of stars that mark the sword would 
 indicate. 
 
Pleiades 
 
 El NatK 
 
 Lepiis — 
 The Hare 
 
 Canis Major — 
 
Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, 
 Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West. 
 Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade, 
 Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid. 
 
 — Tennyson: Locksley HalL 
 
ORION 
 
 In the olden times an aged and lonely man sat at the 
 door of his hut one day, bemoaning to himself the fact 
 that he was alone in the world. He had no near neighbors, 
 and everything that was done he had to do for himself. 
 He had lived alone for a long while, hunting and fishing. 
 While he was strong, he had no care. But as he felt 
 the weakness of age stealing upon him, he began to think 
 with dread of the helplessness of the very old, and to 
 grieve that he had neither a son nor a daughter. 
 
 As he sat muttering to himself, he looked up and was 
 surprised to see before him three strangers. His ears 
 were good, but he had heard no noise of footsteps. He 
 was startled, but not frightened. He saw they meant 
 to visit him, and so he arose and greeted them cour- 
 teously. The three strangers replied gravely and 
 kindly, and upon his invitation entered the hut, where 
 they were made as comfortable as might be. The old 
 man wondered what in the world could bring the 
 strangers to this lonesome place, and how they could 
 have come, for they looked entirely too little fatigued 
 to have traveled far; but he felt that courtesy did not 
 permit him to question them on these matters. 
 
 Instead, he busied himself to wait on them. He 
 brought cold spring water for them to drink, and 
 would have offered them water to bathe their hands 
 and faces and their feet, but their utter freedom from 
 the weariness of travel caused him to hesitate. While 
 
 87 
 
88 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 he paused, the youngest and most beautiful of the three 
 spoke. His forehead was like the clouds of dawn for 
 whiteness, his cheeks flamed with the rosy red of sun- 
 set, his eyes were blue as the summer noon, and his hair 
 tumbled about his shoulders in masses dark and rich 
 as clouds of winter storm. His words were simple, but 
 they were soothing, and flowed on like the music of the 
 wind sighing in the tree tops. And as he spoke, the 
 hut grew brighter, and filled with an opal light. The 
 aged huntsman was abashed at the change, and knew 
 not what to do. 
 
 Then the tallest of the three, the one who seemed to 
 be the leader, saw the awe in the simple man's face, 
 and reassured him, saying, 
 
 *^ Have no fear. We came but to share your hos- 
 pitality. What was it you were saying when we drew 
 near the cottage? '' 
 
 His voice was deep, and like the pealing of an organ 
 heard afar off. 
 
 When the huntsman heard, he feared no longer, but 
 was like one in a dream, whose will is not his own. Very 
 simply he replied, and told them of his dread of the 
 helplessness of old age, when it should come and find 
 him with no son and no daughter, no one to serve 
 him. 
 
 '* Again I say, have no fear," repeated the leader of 
 the strangers. '* You shall have your wish. For that 
 reason have we come to visit you. ' ' 
 
 And then the old man, looking upon him, understood. 
 That lofty brow, that flowing beard, those beneficent 
 eyes, he could not mistake. He was in the presence of 
 Jove, father of gods and men. And when he knew the 
 gods, he bowed himself, and worshiped them. 
 
THE ORION GROUP 89 
 
 ** Naught have I worthy/' he declared, '* save a single 
 ox, but that will I sacrifice unto you." 
 
 To test him, Jupiter permitted him to build an altar 
 in his yard, and sacrifice the ox upon it. And the gods 
 were well pleased with the old man's service. When 
 they were ready to depart, Jupiter bade him take the ox- 
 hide and bury it in the ground. And though the aged 
 man little knew what it could mean, he joyfully obeyed 
 the command, for he held that the gods would not fail 
 of their promise, they would surely give him what he 
 wished for most. 
 
 Next morning, wondering whether the previous day 
 was not all a dream, the aged huntsman looked out of 
 his door toward the mound of the buried ox-hide, and 
 hardly knew whether to believe his eyes or to believe 
 that he was still dreaming, so astounded was he when 
 he saw a small boy walking from the mound directly 
 towards him. But the gods had kept their word: the 
 boy was real enough. 
 
 The pious huntsman took the boy into his hut, gave 
 him the name Orion, and treated him as his own child ; 
 indeed, he was his own child, for in this manner the 
 gods had given him a son. He cared for him, watched 
 him grow strong, taught him all the lore of forest and 
 hillside. Orion thrived apace, and grew big of bone 
 and muscle. Soon he was larger than his father; and 
 his heart was big as well as his body. He remained with 
 his father, protecting him through all the decrepitude 
 of old age, caring for him patiently and tenderly un- 
 til death came. 
 
 Orion had continued to grow in size and strength, 
 passing beyond human stature; he was now become a 
 giant, as we might naturally have expected of one who 
 
90 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 was bom of the earth, as he was. When his father was 
 no more, Orion allowed the hunt to lead him farther 
 and farther away from home. He was young, he was 
 strong ; the blood ran red in his veins. Daily his merry 
 halloo and the deep baying of his favorite hunting-dog 
 roused the echoes in some new dell or nook of the vale 
 of Tempe or the dales of Arcady. 
 
 The hunt led him one day into the most beautiful 
 valley he had ever seen. Ancient trees spread wide 
 their boughs above a turf so green and soft that his 
 feet sank ankle-deep. Blue flowers lifted their faces 
 and nodded to the breezes and the flecks of sunshine 
 that fell through the leaves of the trees. The song 
 of the birds was made sweeter by the tinkling chorus 
 of a brook that babbled somewhere out of sight. Not 
 Venus herself could have chosen a lovelier spot for her 
 maidens to sport in. Orion forgot the chase, forgot 
 Sirius, and wandered on rejoicing in the serenity and 
 the fragrance of the place, until he was roused from his 
 musing thoughts by the sound of the gleeful voices of 
 girls at play. Following the sounds, he passed around 
 a mass of young trees curtained with blossoming vines, 
 and came upon the edge of a meadow fair and smooth, 
 where he stopped stock-still. 
 
 Well might he think he saw there before him the god- 
 dess of love and her attendant nymphs. He stood long, 
 gazing silently upon them, as in and out they wove hap- 
 pily through the mazes of a dance. Never, never, had 
 he seen creatures more beautiful than these seven tall 
 and lissome maidens. As they danced they tossed a 
 ball from one to another, and their hair and gossamer 
 robes fluttered in the breeze. To the entranced Orion, 
 their very bodies, swaying rhythmically, seemed to make 
 
THE ORION GROUP 91 
 
 music; he was quite sure their voices did. He would 
 willingly have stood forever, looking and listening, 
 could the damsels but have stayed too, dancing and 
 laughing and singing before him. But joy ever makes 
 haste to slip away. One of the maidens missed the 
 ball and it flew past her, straight toward Orion. The 
 tender-hearted youth, with never a thought of fright- 
 ening them, stooped and picked up the ball, meaning to 
 return it that they might resume their play. The whole 
 merry troop had started after it, but when they saw 
 Orion so close upon them, they stopped abruptly, hov- 
 ering for one single second, like a bevy of partridges sur- 
 prised by a hunter in a field of corn. Then, as sud- 
 den as the whir of partridges' wings, they wheeled and 
 fled away. Orion had not the slightest desire to harm 
 any one of them, but he was too much enamored of 
 their loveliness willingly to lose sight of them. He 
 ran in pursuit of them. Away and away they sped. 
 And he followed fast. Always by as much as he drew 
 near to them, by so much did they increase their speed ; 
 and the faster they ran, the oftener he redoubled his 
 effort to overtake them. Long and far the chase con- 
 tinued. The nymphs were sorely distressed, but on 
 they struggled. Often they besought the gods for aid; 
 finally, in agony, they prayed to be turned to birds so 
 that they might escape. The gods granted their prayer, 
 and changed them into doves. But they were dear to 
 the gods, for they were the daughters of Atlas, the giant, 
 who supported on his mighty shoulders the heavens, 
 keeping them from falling and crushing both gods and 
 men. In gratitude, the gods permitted the daughters 
 of Atlas, now changed into doves, to fly on up into the 
 sky, where, through a second change, they were trans- 
 
92 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 formed into the group of stars called the Pleiades, a con- 
 stellation as beautiful as Orion thought the maidens he 
 chased. 
 
 The disappointed lover may have continued to seek 
 for the maidens, not knowing that they were gone from 
 the earth forever. Perhaps he went day after day to 
 the beautiful meadow. I think it very probable that he 
 did, but the story does not say, and I can not tell. If 
 he did, it mattered not how quietly he might approach, 
 he found the place deserted; never again might he see 
 their jocund dance or hear their laughter resounding 
 there. When finally he knew that his search was futile, 
 he resumed his hunting. Again Sirius filled the woods 
 with the din of his baying till they echoed and re-echoed. 
 The disconsolate lover hunted stag and wild boar until, 
 in the joy of the chase, he forgot his grief. Farther 
 and ever farther he wandered ; and as the months passed 
 by, his fame spread, too ; he became known as a mighty 
 hunter. 
 
 One day he came to the island of Chios. There he 
 heard of Oenopion, the king; and it was reported to him 
 that Oenopion had a daughter who was very, very beau- 
 tiful. Orion wondered if she was as beautiful as the 
 Pleiades he had seen. He made way to the capital city, 
 and sought out the palace that he might see for himself. 
 Right well disconcerted was the porter at the palace 
 gate when he saw the giant approach. 
 
 ' ' Ho ! mighty man ! ' ' he said ; ' ' come you in peace 
 or in war ? What seek you ? ' ' 
 
 Now, the porter of the king's palace was himself a 
 tall, strong man, a great warrior in the country 's army ; 
 but beside Orion he looked like a child. 
 
 ** In peace," answered Orion. '* I would speak with 
 
i i 
 
 THE ORION GROUP 93 
 
 your king, and see his daughter, for it has been told 
 me that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. ' ' 
 
 * * Oh ! say you so ! And who are you, that you ^ ' 
 
 But the porter got no further in his impudent reply ; 
 for Orion was not used to being crossed in his will, and 
 now he lifted his arm as if he meant to strike. "Where- 
 upon the porter decided suddenly that politeness is best 
 towards strangers. 
 
 Come you within, stranger,'' he said obsequiously. 
 
 Give me your name and say what land you come from, 
 that I may tell the king who wishes to see him. ' ' 
 
 Orion was easily mollified; so he answered the man's 
 questions, and sent him off to seek Oenopion. 
 
 You may readily believe that when the king heard 
 what a giant had come to visit him, Orion was not kept 
 long in waiting. The porter returned presently, and 
 conducted Orion to the great hall of the palace, where 
 the king sat, surrounded by his courtiers and his war- 
 riors. Orion had to stoop to enter the doorway, and 
 when he was inside, he seemed almost to fill the hall 
 with his bulk, he was so big. He must have appeared 
 very odd to the finely clad men there, as he stalked for- 
 ward, his brawny body clothed in the skin of a lion and 
 his enormous arms and legs bare. The king greeted him 
 courteously, bade him be seated near his royal self, and 
 entered into conversation with him. He asked questions 
 concerning many things ; and Orion answered simply and 
 with dignity; he was not in the least abashed, for it 
 had never entered into his big simple heart to think 
 of himself as the inferior of any man. "When the day 
 had worn on, and night came, serving-men placed tables 
 about, and a feast was prepared. And when the king 
 and his guests had feasted, and it came time to serve 
 
94 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 wine, the king's daughter came into the haUway; she 
 took a beaker from her father's table, and when a 
 servant had poured wine into it, she gave it first to her 
 father, and afterwards to Orion. Before he drank of 
 it, Orion looked upon her, as she stood there before him 
 in the torchlight. She seemed very stately, and fair, 
 and beautiful after the fashion of beauty of the Greek 
 women. As Orion drank of the best wine he had ever 
 tasted, for Chios is famous for its wtue, it certainly lost 
 nothing of its savor because it came to him from the 
 hand of this tall and erect princess. And as he looked 
 upon her, he loved her. Gone was the memory of 
 the Pleiades. He forgot he had come to see if the 
 princess was as beautiful as they. He forgot to make 
 any comparison. He only knew that Merope was beau- 
 tiful, and that he loved her. 
 
 King Oenopion was not greatly prepossessed with 
 Orion — indeed, he rather feared him, for all his gentle 
 disposition; but he invited him to remain as his guest. 
 And Orion stayed on, for he loved Merope, the king's 
 daughter; and he thought she looked not with disfavor 
 upon him. After several days had passed by, Orion 
 asked Oenopion for the hand of his daughter Lq mar- 
 riage. Now was the king highly displeased. He did 
 not approve of Orion for a son-in-law, though why, I 
 am sure, I do not know. I suspect that there was a 
 streak of cowardice in him, and that he feared Orion 
 might somehow endanger his throne. He would much 
 rather have seen Orion gone from the country, or dead, 
 than married to his lovely daughter. He was afraid to 
 say as much, however, to Orion; so made first one ex- 
 cuse and then another. Orion insisted. Then the king 
 replied that word had been brought him of the ravages 
 
THE ORION GROUP 95 
 
 of a fierce wild boar in a corner of his kingdom; the 
 people were in distress, and had sent for help. Of 
 course, he said, the king's daughter could not be mar- 
 ried with feasting and merry-making while the king's 
 subjects were in peril. If Orion, who claimed to be 
 such a marvelous hunter, would slay the boar, then, per- 
 haps, the marriage might be discussed. Orion went and 
 slew the boar with hardly any trouble at all, and soon 
 returned, bringing the tusks as trophies for Merope. 
 He thought that now surely he had won the favor of 
 the king. But he was mistaken, Oenopion disliked 
 him more than before. Instead of consenting to his 
 wedding Merope, he set him still other tasks. Orion 
 cleared the whole island of wild beasts and monsters, 
 and brought the spoils to the princess. Oenopion, how- 
 ever, distrusted him, and hated him still. Despairing 
 of being rid of the giant in any other way, he made him 
 drunk with wine one day, and while Orion was in this 
 helpless condition the king had his eyes put out, and 
 then made the royal servants carry him out to the sea- 
 shore, hoping, I suspect, that, drunk and blind, the 
 waves would drown him. 
 
 In his desperate condition, Orion hardly knew what to 
 do. He sought the advice of an oracle, and was in- 
 structed to procure the aid of certain blacksmiths, who, 
 like himself, were giants. He set off to wander again, 
 and traveled till he came to Lemnos, where he heard the 
 sound of hammers striking on an anvil. He followed 
 the sound, and came where he found Vulcan, the black- 
 smith god, and his attendants at work. Vulcan pitied 
 him, and gave him Cedalion, one of the Cyclops, for a 
 guide. Orion placed Cedalion upon his shoulders, and 
 traveled towards the mountains of the east until he met 
 
96 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 the god of the sun, who caused the first rays of the 
 morning sun to fall upon the blinded eyes, and restored 
 the power of sight to the giant. 
 
 Orion went back to his old life of hunting. Whether 
 he still loved and remembered Merope or not, I can not 
 tell you. But certain it is, as I learned the tale, that 
 while himting in a new country, he encountered a 
 maiden more lovely than any he had yet seen. This was 
 the goddess Diana, even more famed as a huntress than 
 he as a hunter. It is not told in the story that he 
 fell in love with her, but she was pleased with him, and 
 showed him marked favor. Often they followed the 
 chase together. In the end, news of this came to Apollo, 
 the brother of Diana, and he became alarmed lest she 
 should love Orion and desire to marry him. Now Diana 
 had sworn never to marry, and it is a terrible thing for a 
 god or a goddess to break an oath. Such a catastrophe 
 Apollo determined to prevent, no matter how much suf- 
 fering he might cause. 
 
 One day, while they were walking along the shore of 
 the sea, he began to tease his sister, saying he did not 
 believe she could shoot so well as she was famed to do. 
 
 ** Try me," she exclaimed. 
 
 ** Very well, I will," Apollo rejoined. ** Do you see 
 that black speck floating yonder far out on the waves? 
 I dare you to try to hit it." 
 
 The huntress queen lifted her silver bow, fitted a 
 shaft, and, with an aim that looked almost careless, shot 
 her arrow swift and true. The speck sank, and re- 
 appeared no more. Alas ! it was but a sorry jest ApoUo 
 had played. That speck was the head of Orion, who 
 had been sporting in the waves. When Diana learned 
 that she had slain her favorite, she was sorely grieved. 
 
THE ORION GROUP 97 
 
 But grief and tears could not restore life to the dead. 
 The best she could do was to place Orion as a constella- 
 tion among the stars. 
 
 And there he appears, visible to you and me to this 
 day, the most splendid of all the constellations. You 
 can most readily find him in the autumn, — starting in 
 the east early in the evening, and following the chase 
 across the sky through the night, — a giant with girdle, 
 sword, lion's skin, and club. The Pleiades flee be- 
 fore him, ever pursued, never caught. And always fol- 
 lowing close at his heels is his faithful dog, its mouth 
 made of the wonderful star Sirius, the Dog Star, the 
 brightest in the heavens. 
 
 When, with the aid of your charts, you have found 
 the constellation of Orion, to the south and east of 
 Perseus, you will never fail to recognize it afterwards. 
 It contains two first magnitude stars, Betelgeuse and 
 Rigel, that seem to be balanced against each other. Both 
 are tremendous suns, probably thousands of times 
 brighter than our sun, and so far away from us that 
 no astronomer has succeeded in even estimating their 
 distance. Between them lie three stars, almost in a 
 straight row, that match each other in brilliancy and 
 tint as perfectly as if they were selected gems. They 
 are in Orion's belt, and below them hangs the hunter's 
 sword, a line of fourth and fifth magnitude stars. Be- 
 telgeuse and Bellatrix are in his shoulder, and Rigel is 
 in his uplifted foot. With club aloft in his right hand, 
 and the skin of a lion for a shield on his left arm, Orion 
 seems to be awaiting Taurus, who charges down upon 
 him from the northwest, only to be driven forever back- 
 wards across the sky. 
 
98 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 The fiery Aldebaran, in the right eye of Taurus, is a 
 first magnitude star in the cluster forming a V along 
 the nose of Taurus, and called the Hyades. The Hyades 
 were nymphs, the daughters of Atlas, into whose care 
 Jove intrusted the infant Bacchus, and whose fidelity 
 was so great that he rewarded them by giving them a 
 place in the sky. The Hyades have always been as- 
 sociated with rainy weather. 
 
 Another cluster in Taurus is, perhaps, the most cele- 
 brated group among tne stars, the lovely Pleiades — 
 '* Though small their size and pale their light, wide is 
 their fame/' In all ages and all countries the Pleiades 
 have been watched and wondered at. By many tribes 
 they have been associated with religious rites, and num- 
 berless myths have grown up about them. Often they 
 are known as the Seven Stars or the Seven Sisters, al- 
 though most people can see only six. One of the stars 
 may have been brighter at some time, because the story 
 of the lost Pleiad is known far and wide. In our rare 
 and delightful Texas atmosphere, which rivals that of 
 Italy and Egypt, I have counted more than seven with 
 the naked eye. 
 
 There has always seemed to be a misty light about 
 them that did not come from the visible stars themselves ; 
 and at last photography has revealed the fact that a 
 vast nebula surrounds the Pleiades, seeming to con- 
 nect them as one great system in the formative stage. 
 They are so vastly far from us that we have no idea 
 how great the distance is, but it requires more than a 
 hundred years for their light to reach us. The Pleiades 
 chart, which is on a much larger scale than our other 
 charts, wiE show you their positions and their names. 
 
THE ORION GROUP 9£ 
 
 Tou will notice that the main stars form a short- 
 handled dipper, and sometimes people who do not know 
 the constellations wonder if they are the ** Little Dip- 
 per. ' ' 
 
 Asterope • 
 
 ' Taygeta 
 
 Celaeno 
 
 Pleione* Pleiades 
 
 Atlas 
 
 Going back to Orion, and following the line made by 
 the stars in his belt to the southeast, yon will find Sirius, 
 the most brilliant and the most fascinatingly beautiful 
 of all the stars. It is in the mouth of Orion's Dog, as 
 we have already learned. Not far away, at the feet of 
 Orion, is Lepus, the Little Hare, which is always being 
 chased by the Dog, but, of course, never caught. 
 
 South of Sirius, but not visible from much of the 
 northern hemisphere, is Argo, the ship in which Jason 
 sailed away in search of the Golden Fleece. Its most 
 brilliant star, Canopus, can sometimes be seen from 
 middle and southern Texas, shining beautifully low 
 down in the south. Canopus is second only to Sirius 
 in magnitude, but it is vastly farther away from us than 
 Sirius is. Professor Simon Newcomb places it among 
 those stars whose intrinsic brilliancy exceeds that of the 
 sun at least ten thousand times. If Canopus is ten 
 thousand times more brilliant than the sun, and Sirius 
 is forty times more brilliant than the sun, how much 
 
100 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 brighter than Sirius is Canopus? If you assume that 
 the size is in proportion to the brilliancy, how far would 
 Canopus stretch beyond the earth, if its center were 
 placed where the center of the sun now is ? 
 
 ASTROLOGY 
 
 In the early civilizations, before knowledge had re- 
 vealed that the stars were vastly distant from us and 
 made of material like our own sun, the people, in trying 
 to explain the workings of the universe, decided that the 
 stars exerted a great influence upon the destiny of man. 
 The astrologers, the men who read the stars, contended 
 that the positions of the stars at the time of a child's 
 birth influenced his whole life. According as he was 
 born under a star lucky or ill-omened, so his life would 
 be successful or ill-favored. The astrologers were con- 
 sulted about all enterprises, and no step of importance 
 was taken until the stars indicated success. 
 
 Many of our words have been derived, through astrol- 
 ogy, from the names of stars that were supposed to 
 shed certain influences; thus, saturnine from Saturn, 
 mercurial from Mercury, and jovial from Jupiter; dis- 
 aster means the disfavor of the stars, and consider means 
 to consult the stars. 
 
 " The oldest astrologers we know of were the Chaldeans, and 
 star-reading was carried from them to the Egyptians and 
 Babylonians. It marched in triumph through Greece and the 
 Roman Empire, and in the latter part of the Middle Ages it 
 held its own in the rest of Europe as well. The Arabians, 
 Persians, and Chinese were past masters in the art of star- 
 reading, and even up to a few years ago Imperial astrologers 
 
THE ORION GROUP 101 
 
 were still on duty at the Peking court. Chairs of astrology 
 were established at the old universities in Southern Europe, 
 and only abolished about the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury; whilst kings and princes of those days showed greater 
 preference for the pronouncements of star-gazers than for 
 those of more competent persons/' — ^B. H. Bijrgel: Astron- 
 omy for All. 
 
 While we have not had official astrologers ** even up 
 to a few years ago, ' ' like the Chinese, yet in the last two 
 years one of our popular magazines has planted a rank 
 weed in a great many homes by publishing a series of 
 articles purporting to explain the influence of the stars. 
 Why should the stars, which are all inanimate masses 
 of matter, have control of our nervous systems or of 
 our destinies, any more than does the brick or wood 
 or stone in the house in which we live? Who believes 
 that he is courageous or weak of heart according as 
 there was an oak or a willow in the yard of the home 
 where he was born? There is as much reason to believe 
 this as to believe that stars influence us. If the people 
 who conceived of astrology had understood the nature 
 of these suns in space as we now know them, astrology 
 would never have been. The scientists and all thinking 
 persons have long known that astrology is the merest 
 superstition, with only its historical interest to give it 
 any claim whatever upon our consideration. 
 
 TAURUS 
 
 The Scorpion's stars crawl down behind the sun, 
 And when he drops below the verge of day, 
 
 The glittering fangs, their fervid courses run. 
 Cling to his skirts and follow him away. 
 
102 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Then, ere the heels of flying Capricorn 
 
 Have touched the western mountain's darkening rim, 
 I mark, stern Taurus, through the twilight gray 
 The glinting of thy horn, 
 
 And sullen front, uprising large and dim, 
 Bent to the starry hunter's sword, at bay. 
 
 Thy hoofs, unwilling, climb the sphery vault; 
 
 Thy red eye trembles with an angry glare, 
 When the hounds follow, and in fierce assault 
 
 Bay through the fringes of the lion's hair. 
 The stars that once were mortal in their love, 
 
 And by their love are made immortal now, 
 Cluster like golden bees upon thy mane. 
 When thou, possessed with Jove, 
 
 Bore sweet Europa's garlands on thy brow, 
 And stole her from the green Sicilian plain. 
 
 Type of the stubborn force that will not bend 
 
 To loftier art, — soul of defiant breath 
 That blindly stands and battles to the end. 
 
 Nerving resistance with the throes of death, — 
 Majestic Taurus! when thy wrathful eye 
 
 Flamed brightest, and thy hoofs a moment stayed 
 Their march at Night's meridian, I was born: 
 But in the western sky. 
 
 Like sweet Europa, Love's fair star delayed, 
 To hang her garland on thy silver horn. 
 
 Thou giv'st that temper of enduring mold. 
 That slights the wayward bent of Destiny, — 
 
 Such as sent forth the shaggy Jarls of old 
 To launch their dragons on the unknown sea: 
 
THE ORION GROUP 103 
 
 Such as keep strong the sinews of the sword, 
 The proud, hot blood of battle, — welcome made 
 
 The headsman's axe, the rack, the martyr-fire, 
 The ignominious cord, 
 When but to yield, had pomps and honors laid 
 
 On heads that molder in ignoble mire. 
 
 Night is the summer when the soul grows ripe 
 
 With Life 's full harvest : of her myriad suns. 
 Thou dost not gild the quiet herdsman 's pipe, 
 
 Nor royal state, that royal actions shuns. 
 But in the noontide of thy ruddy stars 
 
 Thrive strength, and daring, and the blood whence 
 springs 
 The Heraclidean seed of heroes; then 
 Were sundered Gaza's bars; 
 
 Then, 'mid the smitten Hydra's loosened rings, 
 His slayer rested, in the Lernean fen. 
 
 Thine is the subtle element that turns 
 
 To fearless act the impulse of the hour, — 
 The secret fire, whose flash electric burns 
 
 To every source of passion and of power. 
 Therefore I hail thee, on thy glittering track: 
 
 Therefore I watch thee, when the night grows dark, 
 Slow- rising, front Orion's sword along 
 The starry zodiac, 
 
 And from thy mystic beam demand a spark 
 To warm my soul with more heroic song. 
 
 — Bayard Taylor. 
 
104 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 THE LOST PLEIAD 
 
 And is their glory from the heavens departed? 
 — Oh ! void unmark 'd ! — thy sisters of the sky 
 Still hold their place on high, 
 Though from its rank thine orb so long hath started, 
 Thou, that no more art seen of mortal eye. 
 
 Hath the night lost a gem, the regal night? 
 She wears her crown of old magnificence, 
 Though thou art exiled thence — 
 No desert seems to part those urns of light, 
 'Midst the far depth of purple gloom intense. 
 
 They rise in joy, the starry myriads burning — 
 
 The shepherd greets them on his mountains free; 
 And from the silvery sea 
 To them the sailor's wakeful eye is turning — 
 Unchanged they rise, they have not mourned for thee. 
 
 Couldst thou be shaken from thy radiant place 
 Even as a dew-drop from the myrtle spray, 
 Swept by the wind away? 
 Wert thou not peopled by some glorious race, 
 And was there power to smite them with decay ? 
 
 Why, who shall talk of thrones, of scepters riven? 
 Bow'd be our hearts to think of what we are, 
 When from its height afar 
 A world sinks thus — and yon majestic heaven 
 Shines not the less for that one vanish 'd star! 
 
 — Mrs. Felicia Hemans. 
 
The Pleiades 
 
 (Fioni photOKiiiiih by lleibcrt C. WUsoa taken with eight-ini-h pliotomaijliic 
 
 telescope, exposure 7 hours) 
 
THE ORION GROUP 105 
 
 ORION 
 
 How oft IVe watch 'd thee from the garden croft, 
 In silence, when the busy day was done. 
 Shining with wondrons brilliancy aloft. 
 And flickering like a casement 'gainst the sun! 
 I've seen thee soar from out some snowy cloud, 
 "Which held the frozen breath of land and sea, 
 Yet broke and sever 'd as the wind grew loud — 
 But earth-bound winds could not dismember thee, 
 Nor shake thy frame of jewels; I have guess 'd 
 At thy strange shape and function, haply felt 
 The charm of that old myth about thy belt 
 And sword; but, most, my spirit was possess 'd 
 By His great Presence, Who is never far 
 From His light-bearers, whether man or star. 
 
 — Charles Tennyson Turner. 
 
 CANOPUS 
 
 The Star of Egypt, whose proud light 
 Never hath beamed on those who rest 
 In the White Islands of the West. 
 
 — Moore : Lalla Bookh, 
 
 Canopus shining down over the desert, with its blue 
 diamond brightness (that wild, blue, spirit-like bright- 
 ness, far brighter than we ever witness here), would 
 pierce into the heart of the wild Ishmaelitish man, whom 
 it was guiding through the solitary waste there. To his 
 wild heart, with all feelings in it, with no speech for any 
 
106 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 feeling, it might seem a little eye, that Canopus, gleam- 
 ing out on him from the great, deep Eternity ; revealing 
 the inner Splendor to him. 
 
 Cannot we understand how these men worshiped 
 Canopus ; became what we call Sabeans, worshiping 
 the stars? 
 
 To us, also, through every star, through every blade 
 of grass, is not a God made visible, if we will open our 
 minds and eyes? 
 
 We do not worship in that way now: but is it not 
 reckoned still a merit, proof of what we call a '' poetic 
 nature," that we recognize how every object still verily 
 is *' a window through which we may look into Infini- 
 tude itself? " 
 
 — Carlyle: Heroes and Hero-Worship, 
 
 CANOPUS 
 
 Above the palms, the peaks of pearly gray 
 
 That hang, like dreams, along the slumbering skies, 
 
 An urn of fire that never bums away, 
 I see Canopus rise. 
 
 An urn of light, a golden-hearted torch, 
 
 Voluptuous, drowsy-throbbing mid the stars, 
 
 As, incense-fed, from Aphrodite's porch 
 Lifted, to beacon Mars. 
 
 Is it from songs and stories of the Past, 
 
 With names and scenes that make our planet fair, — 
 From Babylonian splendors, vague and vast, 
 
 And flushed Arabian air : — 
 
THE ORION GROUP 107 
 
 Or sprung from richer longings of the brain 
 And spices of the blood, this hot desire 
 
 To lie beneath that mellow lamp again 
 And breathe its languid fire ? 
 
 — Bayard Taylor. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 
 
 THE CHARIOTEER AND THE TWINS 
 
 At the same time of the year in which Orion is in our night 
 sky, farther to the north are the constellations of Auriga and 
 the Twins. They are in the east in December and overhead 
 in February. When we see them last, they are low down in 
 the west in June. 
 
Capell 
 
 Amiga 
 
 El Nath 
 
 Castor 
 
 Pq11u:s 
 
 Gemini— The Tv^m^ 
 
• * 
 
AURIGA (THE CHARIOTEER) 
 
 Thou hast loosened the necks of thine horses, and goaded their 
 
 flanks with affright, 
 To the race of a course that we know not, on ways that are hid 
 
 from our sight. 
 As a wind through the darkness the wheels of their chariot are 
 
 whirled, 
 And the light of its passage is night on the face of the world. 
 
 — ^A. C. Swinburne. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 
 
 Rising at the same season of year with Aldebaran and 
 the Pleiades, and just before Castor and Pollux, is 
 another first magnitude star — Capella, the Goat, which 
 is between Orion and Polaris, and can easily be found 
 by its brightness. The constellation to which it be- 
 longs is known as Auriga, the Charioteer, and has come 
 from such remote ages that its myth has become con- 
 fused. The figure is represented as ^^ a mighty man 
 seated on the milky way. ' ' In his right hand is a whip. 
 His right foot rests upon El Nath, which is the tip of 
 Taurus 's horn, and common to both constellations. On 
 Auriga's left arm rests the Goat, with Capella in its 
 heart. Capella is a tremendous sun, and, according to 
 Professor Newcomb, is about one hundred and twenty 
 times greater than our sun in actual magnitude. 
 
 About half-way between Sirius and the Pointers you 
 will find the bright twin stars. Castor and Pollux, in 
 the constellation of the Twins, or Gemini. They come 
 up in the East about the same time as Betelgeuse and 
 Rigel, but are much farther north. In May and June 
 Castor and Pollux are especially attractive, as they hang 
 low in the northwest, shining out from a glowing sunset 
 sky. 
 
 In the constellation charts, Pollux is the Beta and 
 Castor the Alpha, although Pollux is the brighter of the 
 two.* It is thought that Castor may have been the 
 *See p. 255. 
 
 113 
 
114 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 brighter three hundred years ago, and that it is losing its 
 brilliancy as it recedes from us. Then, too, Pollux is 
 coming towards us; so it is growing brighter. 
 
 The twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, distinguished 
 themselves in hunting. Castor was a mortal, but Pollux 
 was the son of a god. One day Castor was slain in a 
 combat. Pollux in his grief implored Jupiter to allow 
 him to die also, that he might be with his brother. 
 Jupiter was so touched that he permitted Castor to re- 
 turn to life, if Pollux would spend half of his time in 
 Hades. Later they were translated to the sky, where 
 their bright stars, one in the forehead of each, can be 
 seen shining close together. 
 
 The Romans were very partial to the *' Great Twin 
 Brethren,'' and believed that they often led their 
 legions on to success in wars. They built temples to 
 them, and had great feasts in their honor. The sailors 
 also considered the sign of The Twins as an assurance 
 of fair weather and a successful voyage, not infre- 
 quently naming their ships after them. St. Paul tells 
 us in Acts xxviii, 11, ^' After three months we departed 
 in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the isle, 
 whose sign was Castor and Pollux.'' 
 
 TO CASTOR AND POLLUX 
 
 A translation from Homer which shows what the old Greeks 
 
 thought of Castor and Pollux, 
 
 Sing the Twins of Jove, mild Pollux, void of blame, 
 And steel-subduing Castor, heirs of fame. 
 These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save 
 And ships, whose flight is swift along the wave. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 115 
 
 When wintry tempests o'er the savage sea 
 
 Are raging, and the sailors tremblingly 
 
 Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow, 
 
 Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow, 
 
 And sacrifice with snow-white lambs, — ^the wind 
 
 And the huge billow bursting close behind 
 
 Even then beneath the weltering waters bear 
 
 The staggering ship, — they suddenly appear, 
 
 On yellow wings rushing athwart the sky, 
 
 And lull the blasts in mute tranquillity. 
 
 And strew the waves on the white Ocean's bed, 
 
 Fair omen of the voyage; from toil and dread 
 
 The sailors rest, rejoicing in the sight, 
 
 And plow the quiet sea in safe delight. 
 
 — Shelley (Adapted). 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LAKE REGILLUS 
 A Lay Sung at the Feast in Honor of Castor and Pollux, 
 
 Ho, trumpets, sound a war-note! 
 
 Ho, lictors, clear the way! 
 The Knights will ride, in all their pride, 
 
 Along the streets to-day. 
 To-day the doors and windows 
 
 Are hung with garlands all. 
 From Castor in the Forum, 
 
 To Mars without the wall. 
 Each Ejaight is robed in purple, 
 
 With olive each is crowned; 
 
a 16 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 A gallant war-horse imder each 
 
 Paws haughtily the ground. 
 While flows the Yellow River, 
 
 While stands the Sacred Hill, 
 The proud Ides of Quintilis 
 
 Shall have such honor still. 
 Gay are the Martian Kalends: 
 
 December's Nones are gay: 
 But the proud Ides, when the squadron rides, 
 
 Shall be Rome 's whitest day. 
 
 II 
 
 Unto the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 We keep this solemn feast. 
 Swift, swift, the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Came spurring from the east. 
 They came o'er wild Parthenius 
 
 Tossing in waves of pine, 
 O'er Cirrha's dome, o'er Adria's foam, 
 
 O'er purple Apennine, 
 From where with flutes and dances 
 
 Their ancient mansion rings, 
 In lordly Lacedaemon, 
 
 The city of two kings. 
 To where, by Lake Regillus, 
 
 Under the Porcian height, 
 AH in the lands of Tusculum, 
 
 Was fought the glorious fight. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Now on the place of slaughter 
 Are cots and sheepfolds seen, 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 117 
 
 And rows of vines, and fields of wheat, 
 
 And apple-orchards green; 
 The swine crush the big acorns 
 
 That faU from Corne's oaks. 
 Upon the turf by the Fair Fount 
 
 The reaper's pottage smokes. 
 The fisher baits his angle; 
 
 The hunter twangs his bow; 
 Little they think on those strong limbs 
 
 That molder deep below. 
 Little they think how sternly 
 
 That day the trumpets pealed ; 
 How in the slippery swamp of blood 
 
 "Warrior and war-horse reeled; 
 How wolves came with fierce gallop, 
 
 And crows on eager wings, 
 To tear the flesh of captains, 
 
 And peck the eyes of kings ; 
 How thick the dead lay scattered 
 
 Under the Porcian height; 
 How through the gates of Tusculum 
 
 Kaved the wild stream of flight; 
 And how the Lake Eegillus 
 
 Bubbled with crimson foam, 
 What time the Thirty Cities 
 
 Came forth to war with Eome. 
 
 IV 
 
 But, Eoman, when thou standest 
 
 Upon that holy ground, 
 Look thou with heed on the dark rock 
 
 That girds the dark lake round. 
 
118 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 So shalt thou see a hoof -mark 
 
 Stamped deep into the flint: 
 It was no hoof of mortal steed 
 
 That made so strange a dint: 
 There to the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Vow thou thy vows, and pray 
 That they, in tempest and in fight, 
 
 Will keep thy head alway. 
 
 V 
 
 Since last the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Of mortal eyes were seen, 
 Have years gone by an hundred 
 
 And fourscore and thirteen. 
 That summer a Virginius 
 
 Was consul first in place : 
 The second was stout Aulus, 
 
 Of the Posthumian race. 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 From Gabii came in state: 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 Passed through Rome's Eastern Gate; 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 Did in our Forum stand; 
 And there he did his office, 
 
 A scepter in his hand. 
 
 VI 
 
 '* Hear, Senators and people 
 
 Of the good town of Rome, 
 The Thirty Cities charge you 
 
 To bring the Tarquins home : 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 119 
 
 And if ye still be stubborn, 
 
 To work the Tarquins wrong, 
 The Thirty Cities warn you, 
 
 Look that your walls be strong. 
 
 99 
 
 VII 
 
 Then spake the Consul Aulus, 
 
 He spake a bitter jest: 
 ** Once the jays sent a message 
 
 Unto the eagle's nest: — 
 Now yield thou up thine eyrie 
 
 Unto the carrion-kite, 
 Or come forth valiantly, and face 
 
 The jays in deadly fight. — 
 Forth looked in wrath the eagle ; 
 
 And carrion-kite and jay, 
 Soon as they saw his beak and claw, 
 
 Fled screaming far away/' 
 
 YIII 
 
 The Herald of the Latines 
 
 Hath hied him back in state: 
 The Fathers of the City 
 
 Are met in high debate. 
 Then spake the elder Consul, 
 
 An ancient man and wise: 
 ** Now hearken, Conscript Fathers, 
 
 To that which I advise. 
 In seasons of great peril 
 
 'Tis good that one bear sway; 
 Then choose we a Dictator, 
 
 Whom all men shall obey. 
 
120 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Camerium knows how deeply 
 
 The sword of Aulus bites, 
 And all our city caUs him 
 
 The man of seventy fights. 
 Then let him be Dictator 
 
 For six months and no more, 
 And have a Master of the Benights 
 
 And axes twenty-four. " 
 
 IX 
 
 So Aulus was Dictator, 
 
 The man of seventy fights; 
 He made Aebutius Elva 
 
 His Master of the Knights. 
 On the third morn thereafter, 
 
 At dawning of the day, 
 Did Aulus and Aebutius 
 
 Set forth with their array. 
 Sempronius Atratinus 
 
 Was left in charge at home, 
 "With boys, and with gray-headed men, 
 
 To keep the walls of Rome. 
 Hard by the Lake Regillus 
 
 Our camp was pitched at night : 
 Eastward a mile the Latines lay. 
 
 Under the Porcian height. 
 Far over hill and vaUey 
 
 Their mighty host was spread ; 
 And with their thousand watch-fires 
 
 The midnight sky was red. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 121 
 
 XIV 
 
 Now on each side the leaders 
 
 Give signal for the charge; 
 And on each side the footmen 
 
 Strode on with lance and targe ; 
 And on each side the horsemen 
 
 Struck their spurs deep in gore, 
 And front to front the armies 
 
 Met with a mighty roar : 
 And under that great battle 
 
 The earth with blood was red; 
 And, like the Pomptine fog at morn, 
 
 The dust hung overhead ; 
 Ajid louder still and louder 
 
 Rose from the darkened field 
 The braying of the war-horns, 
 
 The clang of sword and shield, 
 The rush of squadrons sweeping 
 
 Like whirlwinds o'er the plain, 
 The shouting of the slaying, 
 
 And screeching of the slain. 
 
 XYII 
 
 But meanwhile in the center 
 
 Great deeds of arms were wrought; 
 There Aulus the Dictator 
 
 And there Valerius fought. 
 Aulus with his good broadsword 
 
 A bloody passage cleared 
 To where, amidst the thickest foes, 
 
 He saw the long white beard. 
 
122 THE STAES AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Flat lighted that good broadsword 
 
 Upon proud Tarquin's head. 
 He dropped the lance : he dropped the reins : 
 
 He fell as fall the dead. 
 Down Aulus springs to slay him, 
 
 With eyes like coals of fire ; 
 But faster Titus hath sprung down, 
 
 And hath bestrode his sire. 
 Latian captains, Roman knights, 
 
 Fast down to earth they spring, 
 And hand to hand they fight on foot 
 
 Around the ancient king. 
 First Titus gave tall Caeso 
 
 A death- wound in the face ; 
 Tall Caeso was the bravest man 
 
 Of the brave Fabian race: 
 Aulus slew Rex of Gabii, 
 
 The priest of Juno 's shrine ; 
 Valerius smote down Julius, 
 
 Of Rome 's great Julian line ; 
 Julius, who left his mansion. 
 
 High on the Velian hill, 
 And through all turns of weal and woe 
 
 Followed proud Tarquin still. 
 Now right across proud Tarquin 
 
 A corpse was Julius laid; 
 And Titus groaned with rage and grief, 
 
 And at Valerius made. 
 Valerius struck at Titus, 
 
 And lopped off half his crest ; 
 But Titus stabbed Valerius 
 
 A span deep in the breast. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 123 
 
 Like a mast snapped by the tempest, 
 
 Valerius reeled and fell. 
 Ah ! woe is me for the good house 
 
 That loves the people well! 
 Then shouted loud the Latines; 
 
 And with one rush they bore 
 The struggling Romans backward 
 
 Three lances' length and more: 
 And up they took proud Tarquin, 
 
 And laid him on a shield, 
 And four strong yeomen bare him, 
 
 Still senseless, from the field. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 But fiercer grew the fighting 
 
 Around Valerius dead; 
 For Titus dragged him by the foot. 
 
 And Aulus by the head. 
 
 On, Latines, on! '' quoth Titus, 
 See how the rebels fly ! ' ' 
 
 Romans, stand firm ! ' ' quoth Aulus, 
 And win this fight, or die ! 
 They must not give Valerius 
 
 To raven and to kite, 
 For aye Valerius loathed the wrong. 
 
 And aye upheld the right ; 
 And for your wives and babies 
 
 In the front rank he fell. 
 Now play the men for the good house 
 
 That loves the people well! " 
 
 
124 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 XIX 
 
 Then tenfold round the body 
 
 The roar of battle rose, 
 Like the roar of a burning forest, 
 
 When a strong north wind blows. 
 Now backward, and now forward, 
 
 Rocked furiously the fray, 
 Till none could see Valerius, 
 
 And none wist where he lay. 
 For shivered arms and ensigns 
 
 Were heaped there in a mound, 
 And corpses stiff, and dying men 
 
 That writhed and gnawed the ground; 
 And wounded horses kicking, 
 
 Ajad snorting purple foam: 
 Right well did such a couch befit 
 
 A Consular of Rome : 
 
 XX 
 
 But north looked the Dictator; 
 
 North looked he long and hard ; 
 And spake to Caius Cossus, 
 
 The Captain of his Guard : 
 *' Caius, of all the Romans 
 
 Thou hast the keenest sight; 
 Say, what through yonder storm of dust 
 
 Comes from the Latian right? 
 
 XXI 
 
 Then answered Caius Cossus : 
 *' I see an evil sight; 
 
 >> 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 125 
 
 The banner of proud Tusculnm 
 
 Comes from the Latian right; 
 I see the plumed horsemen; 
 
 And far before the rest 
 I see the dark-gray charger, 
 
 I see the purple vest; 
 I see the golden helmet 
 
 That shines far off like flame; 
 So ever rides Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name/' 
 
 XXII 
 
 ' ' Now hearken, Caius Cossus : 
 
 Spring on thy horse's back; 
 Ride as the wolves of Apennine 
 
 Were all upon thy track ; 
 Haste to our southward battle: 
 
 And never draw thy rein 
 Until thou find Herminius, 
 
 And bid him come amain." 
 
 XXIII 
 
 So Aulus spake, and turned him 
 
 Again to that fierce strife; 
 And Caius Cossus mounted, 
 
 And rode for death and life. 
 Loud clanged beneath his horse-hoofs 
 
 The helmets of the dead, 
 And many a curdling pool of blood 
 
 Splashed him from heel to head. 
 So came he far to southward, 
 
 Where fought the Roman host, 
 
126 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Against the banners of the marsh 
 
 And banners of the coast. 
 Like corn before the sickle 
 
 The stout Lavinians feU, 
 Beneath the edge of the true sword 
 
 That kept the bridge so well. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 ^ ' Herminius ! Aulus greets thee ; 
 
 He bids thee come with speed, 
 To help our central battle, 
 
 For sore is there our need ; 
 There wars the youngest Tarquia, 
 
 And there the Crest of Flame, 
 The Tusculan Mamilius, 
 
 Prince of the Latian name. 
 Valerius hath fallen fighting 
 
 In front of our array ; 
 And Aulus of the seventy fields 
 
 Alone upholds the day. ' ' 
 
 XXV 
 
 Herminius beat his bosom: 
 
 But never a word he spake. 
 He clasped his hand on Auster's mane: 
 
 He gave the reins a shake. 
 Away, away, went Auster, 
 
 Like an arrow from the bow: 
 Black Auster was the fleetest steed 
 
 From Aufidus to Po. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 127 
 
 XXVI 
 
 Right glad were all the Romans 
 
 "Who, in that hour of dread, 
 Against great odds bare up the war 
 
 Around Valerius dead, 
 When from the south the cheering 
 
 Rose with a mighty swell : 
 ** Herminius comes, Herminius, 
 
 "Who kept the bridge so well ! ' ' 
 
 XXVII 
 
 Mamilius spied Herminius, 
 
 And dashed across the way. 
 ** Herminius! I have sought thee 
 
 Through many a bloody day. 
 One of us two, Herminius, 
 
 Shall never more go home. 
 I will lay on for Tusculum, 
 
 And lay thou on for Rome ! ' ' 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 All round them paused the battle, 
 
 While met in mortal fray 
 The Roman and the Tusculan, 
 
 The horses black and gray. 
 Herminius smote Mamilius 
 
 Through breast-plate and through breast; 
 And fast flowed out the purple blood 
 
 Over the purple vest. 
 Mamilius smote Herminius 
 
128 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Through head-piece and through head ; 
 And side by side those chiefs of pride 
 
 Together fell down dead. 
 Down fell they dead together 
 
 In a great lake of gore : 
 And still stood all who saw them fall 
 
 While men might count a score. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Fast, fast, with heels wild spurning, 
 
 The dark-gray charger fled : 
 He burst through ranks of fighting-men, 
 
 He sprang o'er heaps of dead. 
 His bridle far out-streaming, 
 
 His flanks all blood and foam, 
 He sought the southern mountains, 
 
 The mountains of his home: 
 The pass was steep and rugged, 
 
 The wolves they howled and whined; 
 But he ran like a whirlwind up the pass, 
 
 And he left the wolves behind. 
 Through many a startled hamlet 
 
 Thundered his flying feet; 
 He rushed through the gate of Tusculum, 
 
 He rushed up the long white street ; 
 He rushed by tower and temple. 
 
 And paused not from his race 
 Till he stood before his master's door 
 
 In the stately market-place. 
 And straightway round him gathered 
 
 A pale and trembling crowd j 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 129 
 
 And when they knew him, cries of rage 
 
 Brake forth, and wailing loud: 
 And women rent their tresses 
 
 For their great prince 's fall ; 
 And old men girt on their old swords, 
 
 And went to man the wall. 
 
 XXX 
 
 But, like a graven image, 
 
 Black Auster kept his place, 
 And ever wistfully he looked 
 
 Into his master's face. 
 The raven-mane that daily, 
 
 With pats and fond caresses, 
 The young Herminia washed and combed, 
 
 And twined in even tresses. 
 And decked with colored ribands 
 
 From her own gay attire, 
 Hung sadly o'er her father's corpse 
 
 In carnage and in mire. 
 Forth with a shout sprang Titus, 
 
 And seized black Auster 's rein. 
 Then Aulus sware a fearful oath. 
 
 And ran at him amain. 
 *' The furies of thy brother 
 
 With me and mine abide. 
 If one of your accursed house 
 
 Upon black Auster ride ! ' ' 
 As on an Alpine watch-tower 
 
 From heaven comes down the flame, 
 Full on the neck of Titus 
 
 The blade of Aulus came: 
 
130 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 And out the red blood spouted, 
 
 In a wide arch and tall, 
 As spouts a fountain in the court 
 
 Of some rich Capuan's hall. 
 The knees of all the Latines 
 
 Were loosened with dismay. 
 When dead, on dead Herminius, 
 
 The bravest Tarquin lay. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 And Aulus the Dictator 
 
 Stroked Auster's raven mane, 
 With heed he looked unto the girths, 
 
 With heed unto the rein. 
 * * Now bear me well, black Auster, 
 
 Into yon thick array ; 
 And thou and I wiU have revenge 
 
 For thy good lord this day. ' ' 
 
 XXXII 
 
 So spake he; and was buckling 
 
 Tighter black Auster ^s band, 
 When he was aware of a princely pair 
 
 That rode at his right hand. 
 So like they were, no mortal 
 
 Might one from other know ; 
 White as snow their armor was; 
 
 Their steeds were white as snow. 
 Never on earthly anvil 
 
 Did such rare armor gleam: 
 And never did such gallant steeds 
 
 Drink of an earthly stream. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 131 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 And all who saw them trembled, 
 
 And pale grew every cheek; 
 And Aulus the Dictator 
 
 Scarce gathered voice to speak. 
 * ' Say by what name men call you ? 
 
 What city is your home? 
 And wherefore ride ye in such guise 
 
 Before the ranks of Rome ? ' ^ 
 
 XXXIY 
 
 <i 
 
 By many names men call us; 
 
 In many lands we dwell: 
 Well Samothracia knows us; 
 
 Cyrene knows us well. 
 Our house in gay Tarentum 
 
 Is hung each mom with flowers ; 
 High o'er the masts of Syracuse 
 
 Our marble portal towers; 
 But by the proud Eurotas 
 
 Is our dear native home ; 
 And for the right we come to fight 
 
 Before the ranks of Rome.'' 
 
 XXXY 
 
 So answered those strange horsemen, 
 And each couched low his spear ; 
 
 And forthwith all the ranks of Rome 
 Were bold, and of good cheer: 
 
 And on the thirty armies 
 Came wonder and affright, 
 
132 THE STAKS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 And Ardea wavered on the left, 
 
 And Cora on the right. 
 ' * Rome to the charge ! ' ' cried Aulus ; 
 
 * * The foe begins to yield ! 
 Charge for the hearth of Vesta ! 
 
 Charge for the Golden Shield ! 
 Let no man stop to plunder, 
 
 But slay, and slay, and slay; 
 The gods who live forever 
 
 Are on our side to-day. 
 
 99 
 
 XXXYI 
 
 Then the fierce trumpet-flourish 
 
 From earth to heaven arose. 
 The kites know well the long stem swell 
 
 That bids the Romans close. 
 Then the good sword of Aulus 
 
 Was lifted up to slay: 
 Then, like a crag down Apennine, 
 
 Rushed Auster through the fray. 
 But under those strange horsemen 
 
 Still thicker lay the slain ; 
 And after those strange horses 
 
 Black Auster toiled in vain. 
 Behind them Rome's long battle 
 
 Came rolling on the foe. 
 Ensigns dancing wild above, 
 
 Blades all in line below. 
 So comes the Po in flood-time 
 
 Upon the Celtic plain : 
 So comes the squall, blacker than night, 
 
 Upon the Adrian main. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMIOT 133 
 
 Now by our sire Quirinus, 
 
 It was a goodly sight 
 To see the thirty standards 
 
 Swept down the tide of flight. 
 So flies the spray of Adria 
 
 When the black squall doth blow; 
 So corn-sheaves in the flood-time 
 
 Spin down the whirling Po. 
 False Sextus to the mountains 
 
 Turned first his horse 's head ; 
 And fast fled Ferentinum, 
 
 And fast Lanuvium fled. 
 The horsemen of Nomentum 
 
 Spurred hard out of the fray ; 
 The footmen of Velitrae 
 
 Threw shield and spear away. 
 And underfoot was trampled, 
 
 Amidst the mud and gore, 
 The banner of proud Tusculinn, 
 
 That never stooped before: . 
 And down went Flavins Faustus, 
 
 Who led his stately ranks 
 From where the apple blossoms wave 
 
 On Anio's echoing banks, 
 And Tullus of Arpinum, 
 
 Chief of the Volscian aids, 
 And Metius with the long fair curls, 
 
 The love of Anxur's maids, 
 And the white head of Yulso, 
 
 The great Arician seer, 
 And Nepos of Laurentum, 
 
 The hunter of the deer ; 
 
134 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 And in the back false Sextus 
 
 Felt the good Roman steel, 
 And wriggling in the dust he died, 
 
 Like a worm beneath the wheel: 
 And fliers and pursuers 
 
 "Were mingled in a mass; 
 And far away the battle 
 
 Went roaring through the pass. 
 
 XXXYII 
 
 Sempronius Atratinus 
 
 Sat in the Eastern Gate, 
 Beside him were three Fathers, 
 
 Each in his chair of state — 
 Fabius, whose nine stout grandsons 
 
 That day were in the field, 
 And Manlius, eldest of the Twelve 
 
 Who keep the Golden Shield; 
 And Sergius, the High Pontiff, 
 
 For wisdom far renowned; 
 In all Etruria's colleges 
 
 Was no such Pontiff found. 
 And all around the portal. 
 
 And high above the wall, 
 Stood a great throng of people, 
 
 But sad and silent all; 
 Young lads, and stooping elders 
 
 That might not bear the mail. 
 Matrons with lips that quivered, 
 
 And maids with faces pale. 
 Since the first gleam of daylight, 
 
 Sempronius had not ceased 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 135 
 
 To listen for the rushing 
 
 Of horse-hoofs from the east. 
 The mist of eve was rising, 
 
 The sun was hastening down, 
 When he was aware of a princely pair 
 
 Fast pricking towards the town. 
 So like they were, man never 
 
 Saw twins so like before; 
 Red with gore their armor was, 
 
 Their steeds were red with gore. 
 
 XXXYIII 
 
 ' ' Hail to the great Asylum ! 
 
 Hail to the hill-tops seven ! 
 Hail to the fire that burns for aye, 
 
 And the shield that fell from heaven! 
 This day, by Lake Regillus, 
 
 Under the Porcian height. 
 All in the lands of Tusculum 
 
 Was fought a glorious fight. 
 To-morrow your Dictator 
 
 Shall bring in triumph home 
 The spoils of thirty cities 
 
 To deck the shrines of Rome ! ' ' 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Then burst from that great concourse 
 
 A shout that shook the towers, 
 And some ran north, and some ran south, 
 
 Crying, '' The day is ours! '' 
 But on rode these strange horsemen, 
 
 With slow and lordly pace ; 
 
136 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 And none who saw their bearing 
 
 Durst ask their name or race. 
 On rode they to the Forum, 
 
 While laurel-boughs and flowers, 
 From house-tops and from windows, 
 
 Fell on their crests in showers. 
 When they drew nigh to Vesta, 
 
 They vaulted down amain, 
 And washed their horses in the well 
 
 That springs by Vesta's fane. 
 And straight again they mounted, 
 
 And rode to Vesta's door; 
 Then, like a blast, away they passed, 
 
 And no man saw them more. 
 
 XL 
 
 And all the people trembled, 
 
 And pale grew every cheek ; 
 And Sergius the High Pontiff 
 
 Alone found voice to speak : 
 '^ The gods who live forever 
 
 Have fought for Rome to-day! 
 These be the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 To whom the Dorians pray. 
 Back comes the Chief in triumph. 
 
 Who, in the hour of fight, 
 Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 In harness on his right. 
 Safe comes the ship to haven, 
 
 Through billows and through gales, 
 If once the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Sit shining on the sails. 
 
AURIGA AND GEMINI 137 
 
 "Wherefore they washed their horses 
 
 In Vesta's holy well, 
 Wherefore they rode to Vesta's door, 
 
 I know, but may not tell. 
 Here, hard by Vesta's Temple, 
 
 Build we a stately dome 
 Unto the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 "Who fought so well for Rome. 
 And when the months returning 
 
 Bring back this day of fight. 
 The proud Ides of Quintilis, 
 
 Marked evermore with white, 
 Unto the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Let all the people throng, 
 "With chaplets and with offerings, 
 
 "With music and with song; 
 And let the doors and windows 
 
 Be hung with garlands all, 
 And let the knights be summoned 
 
 To Mars without the wall: 
 Thence let them ride in purple 
 
 With joyous trumpet-sound. 
 Each mounted on his war-horse, 
 
 And each with olive crowned ; 
 And pass in solemn order 
 
 Before the sacred dome. 
 Where dwell the Great Twin Brethren 
 
 Who fought so well for Rome. ' ' 
 
 — Thomas Babington Macaulay. 
 
THE TWO LIONS AND THE CRAB 
 
 LEO— LEO MINOR— CANCER, THE CRAB 
 
 Low in the east in February we have the Two Lions and 
 the Crab following after the Twins. They are directly over- 
 head in April, and are last seen in the west in July. 
 
Cancer or The Crab 
 Praesepe '^^■;:y. 
 
 The Sickle 
 
 Leo Minor — 
 The Little Lion 
 
 Regulus 
 
 Leo— 
 The Lion 
 
 Denebola 
 
 Berenice's Hair 
 
And watch the Manger like a little mist; 
 Far north, in Cancer^s territory, it floats; 
 Its confines are two faintly glimmering stars, 
 One on the north, the other on the south. 
 
THE TWO LIONS AND THE CRAB 
 
 The constellation of Leo, the Great Lion, lies back of 
 the bowl of the Big Dipper. It can easily be located by 
 the sickle-shaped cluster of stars in the Lion's shoulder. 
 The end star in the handle of the sickle is of the first 
 magnitude, and received from Copernicus the name 
 Eegulus C The Little King,'' from Latin rex)^ because 
 of the ancient belief that it ruled the affairs of heaven. 
 The English often call it the Royal Star, and the 
 Persians called it one of the Four Royal Stars, or the 
 Four Guardians of Heaven. The other guardians are 
 Fomalhaut, Aldebaran, and Antares. The reason for 
 calling these stars the Guardians is simple : each oc- 
 cupies a quarter of the sky by itself; and all but Fo- 
 malhaut lie very near the Ecliptic. See if you can find 
 the Royal Four. 
 
 At the tip of the Lion's tail is Denebola, the second 
 brightest star in the constellation. Both Regulus and 
 Denebola are like Sirius in being younger than our sun. 
 
 Nearly all the ancient nations saw a lion in this con- 
 stellation, and the Greeks thought it was the celebrated 
 Nemaean lion slain by the hero Hercules, of whom they 
 tell the story in this fashion. Hercules, the powerful, 
 dwelt at the court of his cousin, King Eurystheus, but 
 the King dreaded him and wished his destruction. He 
 bade Hercules go slay the Nemaean lion and bring back 
 its carcass. He thought Hercules could never escape 
 alive, for this lion was the largest, strongest, and fiercest 
 
 143 
 
144 THE STARS AOT) THEIR STORIES 
 
 ever heard of in the world. Hercules soon found the 
 lion, and shot arrow after arrow at it, but they simply 
 fell to the ground without being able to pierce its hide, 
 and did not even annoy it. Finally one pricked sharply 
 enough to rouse the lion's rage, and with a rush it 
 made for Hercules. The hero had only just time enough 
 to pull up a young oak tree by the roots to use for a 
 club before the lion sprang at him. He wielded his club 
 mightily, beating the lion backwards, and following it 
 clear into its den. There he grappled with it, and, after 
 a fearful wrestle, got his arms about its body and 
 crushed it to death. He threw the corpse over his 
 shoulders and held the paws around his neck, and thus 
 he returned to the court, where Eurystheus was more 
 terrified than before. The lion's skin was so tough 
 that Hercules constantly wore it after that as a sort of 
 armor. 
 
 The Lesser Lion lies between Leo and the Dipper. 
 It is a small constellation; and is inconspicuous both 
 to the naked eye and to the telescope, since it contains 
 no bright stars ; three are of the fourth magnitude, and 
 six of the fifth. It has no myth associated with it, as 
 it was invented in the seventeenth century by Helvetius 
 to occupy an empty space among the constellations. 
 
 Between the Lion and the Twins is the famous Cancer, 
 or Crab. It is a constellation without any bright stars 
 (there are five of the fourth magnitude), and we can 
 but wonder at its great antiquity. In its center, be- 
 tween two of the fourth magnitude stars, shines a sil- 
 very spot called Praesepe, or the Manger. Homer and 
 Aratus sang of the Manger as a weather portent, and 
 in the days of Galileo it became famous because it fur- 
 nished Galileo one of his first assurances that there 
 
THE TWO LIONS AND THE CRAB 145 
 
 are multitudes of stars not visible to the naked eye. 
 He wrote: *' Praesepe is not one star only, but a mass 
 of more than forty small stars. ' ' This was a wonderful 
 discovery in the days when nobody else had seen more 
 stars than you or I can see unaided, and when it was 
 generally believed that all the stars in existence were 
 visible to the naked eye. Now anybody with a large 
 opera or field glass can see all that Galileo saw, and be 
 delighted with the sight — but not as Galileo was de- 
 lighted, because he was the first man ever to see these 
 wonders ; 
 
 " Then felt I as some watcher of the skies 
 When a new planet swims into his ken." 
 
 Praesepe has another honor, also. It is said that the 
 most ancient scientific observation of Jupiter known to 
 us was made by Ptolemy, eighty-three years after the 
 death of Alexander the Great, when Jupiter happened to 
 pass near Praesepe and eclipsed the star now called 
 Delta in the Crab. In English folklore Praesepe is 
 called the Beehive, which it resembles more closely than 
 a manger. 
 
 Cancer is also associated with the myth of Hercules, 
 whose own constellation we shall study later on. Cancer 
 represents the crab that Hera (or Juno) sent to bite 
 the foot of Hercules when he was struggling with the 
 Plydra in the Lernaean marshes. Hercules stepped on 
 it and crushed it; and Juno was so grieved at its death 
 that she persuaded Zeus to translate it to the sky as a 
 constellation. 
 
BERENICE'S HAIR 
 
 COMA BEREKICES 
 
 Rising very shortly after the Lion is the constellation of 
 Berenice's Hair. Its season lasts from February to July. 
 
BERENICE'S HAIR 
 
 If you will pass a line from the star Benetnasch, on 
 the tip of the Great Bear's tail, to Denebola, the 
 star on the tip of the Lion's tail, it will pass through the 
 glimmering little constellation of Berenice's Hair about 
 two-thirds of the way from Benetnasch to Denebola. 
 Berenice 's Hair contains no bright stars. It has several 
 of the fourth and fifth magnitudes, and many of the 
 sixth magnitude that make it twinkle charmingly. An 
 opera glass or a small field glass makes a very pretty 
 sight of this host of tiny stars. 
 
 The name Berenice's Hair, or Coma Berenices, has 
 been derived from an Egyptian fable. Ptolemy, a king 
 of Egypt, was away from home on a long war. Berenice, 
 his bride, grieved greatly over his absence and the 
 dangers he must encounter. She finally vowed to the 
 gods that she would consecrate her wonderful hair to 
 Venus if they would bring her husband safely home. 
 Ptolemy returned, and Berenice fulfilled her promise. 
 But Venus was not willing that such a treasure should 
 remain even in her temple ; so she sent for it and had it 
 placed as a constellation among the stars. There is a 
 story that the locks of Berenice did not consider it as 
 great an honor to be in the sky as on the head of the 
 beautiful Queen, and often lamented that they could not 
 return to her. 
 
 149 
 
150 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 BERENICE'S HAIR 
 
 The sage that did with curious cunning trace 
 
 The lights that gleam through all the vast of space, 
 
 Numbered the constellations o'er, and knew 
 
 The rising of the stars, their setting too; 
 
 What veils the sun's resplendence in eclipse, 
 
 And why at stated times each planet dips 
 
 Beyond our ken; how love's delicious power 
 
 Drew Thivia down from her aerial bower 
 
 To Latmos' cave; — he, Conon, sage divine. 
 
 Descried me, where afar in heaven I shine: 
 
 I 'mongst the stars myself resplendent now, 
 
 I who once curled on Berenice's brow, 
 
 The tress which she, uplifting her fair arms, 
 
 To many a god devoted, so from harms 
 
 They might protect her new-found royal mate. 
 
 • ••••• • 
 
 How wert thou racked with terror and with pain, 
 
 'Til reason tottered in thy tortured brain! 
 
 Yet from thy tenderest maiden years had I 
 
 Thy spirit known magnanimous and high. 
 
 Didst thou that deed of noble note forget, 
 
 Which won for thee thy royal lord, and yet 
 
 Shines on the roll of fame pre-eminent? 
 
 But, oh thy grief when forth thy husband went ! 
 
 What words of anguish! mighty Jove, what sighs! 
 
 What tears by fingers wan dashed from thine eyes! 
 
 • ••••• • 
 
 Then, then it was for thy dear spouse that thou 
 Thy crisped hairs to all the gods didst vow, 
 
BERENICE'S HAIR 151 
 
 With blood of bulls, to speed him home, and bring 
 All Asia vassal bound to Egypt's king. 
 
 Thy prayers were heard; and 'mongst celestials now 
 With luster new I pay thy pristine vow ; 
 And yet reluctantly, oh queen most fair, 
 I parted from thee! by thyself, I swear, 
 And by thy head! and dire shall be his doom, 
 Who may to slight that awful oath presume! 
 But what can stand against the might of steel? 
 'Twas that which made the proudest mountain reel, 
 Of all by Thia's radiant sun surveyed, 
 What time the Mede a new Aegean made, 
 And hosts barbaric steered their galleys tall 
 Through rifted Athos' adamantine wall. 
 When things like these the power of steel confess, 
 What help or refuge for a woman's tress? 
 Oh, Jove ! be all the Chalyb race accurst — 
 All, and whoe'er through earth's recesses first 
 Tracked out the veined ore, and in the fire 
 First shaped and tempered it to uses dire I 
 
 Whilst yet my sister tresses, parted late 
 From me they loved, were mourning o'er my fate, 
 On winged steed, by beating pinions driven, 
 Swept Ethiop Memnon's brother down from heaven, 
 And bore me from Arsinoe 's shrine away, 
 Up through the regions of eternal day. 
 There did he lay me on chaste Yenus' breast; 
 For she it was had sped him on his quest. 
 That Ariadne's crown should not alone 
 Gleam in the forehead of the starry zone, 
 But we, the golden spoils that decked her shrine, 
 Should there as well with equal radiance shine. 
 
152 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Still with the tears of my loved mistress wet, 
 "Was I amidst the stars primeval set : 
 Hard by the Virgin's light, and Lions wild, 
 And to Callisto near, Lycaon's child, 
 I wheel into the west, and lead the way 
 Where slow Bootes, with a coy delay, 
 Beneath the mighty ocean dips his light. 
 But though the footsteps of the gods by night 
 Trample me down, yet am I with the dawn 
 Back to the breast of fair-haired Tethys drawn. 
 Yet be not wroth, Rhamnusian maid, to hear 
 The truth I scorn to hide in vulgar fear; 
 Though on the avowal all the stars cry shame, 
 The yearning which I feel I must proclaim. 
 My state so glads me not, but I deplore 
 I ne'er may grace my mistress' forehead more. 
 With whom consorting in her virgin bloom, 
 I bathed in sweets, and quaffed the rich perfume. 
 
 But oh, my queen ! when lifting up thy gaze 
 Here to the stars, with torches' festal blaze 
 Thou dost propitiate Venus, let not me 
 Be all forgotten or unseen by thee. 
 Nay, rather unto me, who once was all 
 Thine own, with bounteous offerings duly call. 
 Once all thine own? Ay, still thine, only thine! 
 Why am I doomed among the stars to shine? 
 Oh, on the forehead of my queen to play 
 Once more ! Grant this, and then Aquarius may 
 Next to Orion blaze, and all the world 
 Of starry orbs be into chaos whirled I 
 
 — Catullus, translated by Theodore Martin. 
 
BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 
 
 From April till early October, the constellations of Bootes 
 and Hercules, with the Northern Crown — or Ariadne's Crown 
 — lying between them, can be seen crossing the sky, following 
 close after the Lions. They are nearly overhead in early 
 July. 
 
Cor Caroli 
 
 Bootes 
 
 Norfhem Crown 
 or 
 
 ^V Ariadne's Crown 
 
 \ 
 
 Hercules 
 
. . . the immortals divine 
 Loved well that maid. In the midst of the firmament is set 
 
 her sign, 
 A crown of stars, which they name Ariadne's diadem. 
 All night circling amidst the signs that the heavens begem. 
 
BOOTES, VIRGO, AND HERCULES 
 
 The name of the constellation Bootes is interesting 
 because of its great age, coming down to us from deep 
 antiquity. It occurs in a line in Homer ^s Odyssey, sung 
 probably a thousand years before Christ: 
 
 " So he sat and cunningly guided the craft with the helm, 
 nor did sleep fall upon his eyelids as he viewed the Pleiades 
 and Bootes, that setteth late, and the Bear, which they like- 
 wise call the Wain, which tumeth ever in one place and 
 alone hath no part in the baths of Ocean. This star, Calypso, 
 the fair goddess bade him keep ever on the left as he traversed 
 the deep." — Odyssey, Book V. 
 
 Bootes has been represented as a plowman and as 
 a herdsman, but is usually pictured as a tall man holding 
 in leash two dogs, which are tugging away, trying to 
 reach the Great Bear, and driving it round and round 
 the pole. The dogs, known as the Hunting Dogs, have 
 so few stars in them that they are not always shown 
 on the maps as a constellation. Their brightest star, 
 named Cor Caroli, is a beautiful star of the third mag- 
 nitude, and can be found just back of the handle of the 
 Big Dipper. Its name means '' Charles's Heart," and 
 was given it by the astronomer Halley because it is 
 said to have shone out with unusual brilliancy at the 
 time of the coronation of Charles II. 
 
 *' That star that at your birth shone out so bright, 
 It stained the duller sun's meridian light, 
 
 157 
 
158 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Did once again its potent fires renew, 
 Guiding our eyes to find and worship you." 
 
 — Dryden: Astraea Redux. 
 
 The Hunting Dogs, or Canes Venatici, were invented by 
 Helvetius in the seventeenth century ; consequently they 
 possess no mythology, even though they are associated 
 with English history. A line curving downward from 
 the end star in the handle of the Big Dipper will reach 
 the wonder, Arcturus, a star in Bootes, the one first- 
 magnitude star of the constellation, and the rival of 
 Vega and Capella in brightness. These three stars are 
 of almost exactly the same magnitude, all being a very- 
 little below the standard zero magnitude. Arcturus is 
 classed in color with the red stars, and when near the 
 horizon it flames splendidly, but when high in the 
 heavens its color seems to fade. It is a great sun, ex- 
 ceeding ours in intrinsic brilliancy at least one hundred 
 times, and showing by its spectrum that it is older than 
 our sun. Arcturus is one of the '' runaway stars," 
 and is moving so rapidly — from two hundred to three 
 hundred miles per second! — that since the days of 
 Ptolemy it has seemed to move the distance of twice the 
 disk of the moon. 
 
 South of Bootes is the large constellation which has 
 borne the name of the ** Virgin " {Virgo in Latin) 
 among people in all parts of the earth; in China, 
 for example, it is the Frigid Maiden. In pictures the 
 Virgin is usually drawn with a head of wheat in her 
 left hand. In the constellation the wheat is represented 
 by Spica — the name signifying a '' wheat ear " — the 
 only first-magnitude star of the group. Four bright 
 stars, Spica ia Virgo, Denebola in the Lion's tail, Cor 
 
BOOTES— VIRGO— HERCULES 159 
 
 Caroli in the Hunting Dogs, and Arcturus in Bootes, 
 form a geometrical figure called the ** Diamond of 
 Virgo.'' Spica, like Sirius, Rigel, and Vega, belongs to 
 the younger order of suns, and is also of enormous size 
 like them. 
 
 Between Bootes and Lyra, and about equally as far as 
 they are from the Pole, is a large constellation with no 
 striking configurations and no first-magnitude stars. Its 
 Beta is of the second magnitude, and there are several 
 stars of the third. In spite of all this, however, the con- 
 stellation has attracted attention ; many people in many 
 lands have had myths and legends about it, and have 
 used many names for it. We now call it Hercules, after 
 the hero of whom the ancient Greeks tell many mar- 
 velous tales. And they are extremely interesting tales, 
 too; I have already related one, and I wish I might 
 tell you many, but only enough space is left for me 
 to indicate them briefly. You should by all means try 
 to learn more of them for yourself. 
 
 Hercules was the great-grandson of Perseus. The 
 disasters of his life were brought upon him through 
 the dislike of Juno, who became jealous of his mother. 
 When he was a babe in the cradle, she sent two serpents 
 to kill him, but he strangled both of them. Twice Juno 
 sent fits of insanity upon him; in the first he killed 
 his own three children, and in the second he slew his 
 friend Iphitus. These fearful crimes had to be ex- 
 piated. For the first he became the servant of his 
 cowardly cousin Eurystheus, and by him was made to 
 perform the famous '' Twelve Labors," some of which 
 were slaying the Nemaean lion, killing the Lernaean 
 hydra, cleansing the Augean stables, fetching the girdle 
 of the Queen of the Amazons, stealing the apples of the 
 
160 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Hesperides, and seizing and bringing the dog Cerberus 
 from Hades to the upper world. For his second crime 
 he had to become slave to the Queen of the Lydians, who 
 disgraced him by giving him a distaff and setting him 
 to spin among her maidens for three years. His phys- 
 ical strength was most extraordinary. Once he sup- 
 ported on his own shoulders the whole dome of heaven 
 to enable Atlas to get away to wade through the ocean 
 to the Garden of the Hesperides for him. His kindness 
 of heart was still greater. In ignorance he once made 
 an unseemly noise in the house of Admetus just as Al- 
 cestis, the wife of Admetus, was being buried ; when in- 
 formed of the truth, he was so sorry that he atoned 
 for his fault by leaping into the open grave and follow- 
 ing her spirit to the lower regions, where he compelled 
 Pluto to restore Alcestis alive to her husband. But 
 greatest of aU was his pity and his sense of justice. Led 
 by a voice of agony, he climbed the steepest, most rugged 
 heights of the Caucasus mountains, to the rock where 
 Prometheus was bound with chaius to a precipice. Her- 
 cules slew the vulture of Remorse, that ate ever at the 
 heart of the giant; and struck the icy chains off the 
 wrists and ankles of Prometheus (whose name means 
 '* Foresight ''), the kindest friend mankind had ever 
 had. When the time came to die, Hercules heaped up a 
 huge pile of wood, set fire to it, and placed himself on its 
 top ; but just as the flames were about to reach the hero 's 
 tortured body, a cloud came down from the sky and 
 bore him off to heaven. 
 
BOOTES— VIRGO— HERCULES 161 
 
 BOOTES AND VIRGO 
 
 Haed on the traces of the greater Bear 
 Presses Bootes in his swift career. 
 'Mong many gems, more brilliant than the rest, 
 Arcturus glows upon his belted waist. 
 Through the long day he drives the Arctic Wain, 
 And sinks reluctant in the western main. 
 
 Rising beneath Bootes' feet, admire 
 That beauteous form in maidenly attire. 
 In her left hand a golden spike she bears: 
 Glitter with sparkling gems her yellow hairs. 
 Art thou, fair Virgin, daughter of that fam'd 
 Immortal sage of old, Astraeus nam'd, 
 With skilful hand who mapp'd the starry sky, 
 Plumbing its dark abyss with philosophic eye? 
 Or art thou, Goddess, she of heavenly birth. 
 Who condescended once to dwell on earth, 
 Astraea calFd, in fabled days of old — 
 Alas! forever gone — the Poet's age of gold? 
 Then Justice ruPd supreme, man's only guide, — 
 No fraud — no violence — no pride. 
 No sailor ventur'd then to distant clime. 
 And brought back foreign wealth and foreign crime. 
 All tended then the flock, or tilled the soil, 
 And milk and fruit repaid their easy toil; 
 All happy — equal, as the poets sing ; 
 No fierce seditious mob — no tyrant king, — 
 But soon these days of innocence were gone : 
 In his sire's place arose a viler son 
 Of silver race. Then to the mountain's glen 
 Fair Justice fled. Yet still at times were seen 
 Her angel figure and her godlike mien. 
 
162 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 But when she view'd the crowded city's throng — 
 
 '' The proud man's contumely, the poor man's 
 
 wrong " — 
 Vex'd was her righteous soul. ^' Mortals, farewell, 
 Farewell," she said, ^' no more with man I dwell. 
 Ye of your sires a vile degenerate race, 
 Your offspring you, their fathers, will disgrace. 
 War soon will desolate these fruitful lands, 
 A brother 's blood will stain a brother 's hands. 
 Rising to view I see a ghostly train — 
 
 M 
 
 Revenge, Oppression, Woe, Despair, and Pain. 
 
 She said ; and hastening to the mountain 's height 
 
 Fled far away from mortal's longing sight. 
 
 These men soon pass'd away, and in their place 
 
 Far viler sons arose, the brazen race; 
 
 They first the stubborn ore obedient made. 
 
 And forg'd — unhallow'd skill — ^the murderous blade. 
 
 The patient ox, long wont to till the soil, 
 
 To tread the corn, and share his master's toil, 
 
 Dragg'd from his staU — poor harmless, slaughter 'd 
 
 beast — 
 Gave to his cruel lord a bloody feast. 
 Justice was shock 'd, the bloodstain 'd earth she flies; 
 Jove bade her welcome to her native skies ; 
 And near Bootes take her honor 'd place. 
 Where men might still adore her angel face. 
 Sparkle her golden wings with crystal light ; 
 One gem they bear superlatively bright : 
 It rolls neath Leo's tail, and may compare 
 With the fam'd stars that deck the greater Bear. 
 One gem upon her snow-white shoulder shines; 
 One clasps the silken girdle of her loins: 
 
BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 163 
 
 One decks her bending knee ; and in her hand 
 Glitters her golden spike like fiery brand. 
 Many less brilliant stars, by name unknown, 
 Spangle her vestments, and her forehead crown. 
 
 — ^Aratus, translated by John Lamb. 
 
 THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES 
 
 When the old fellow heard who it was that had 
 caught him, he saw with half an eye that it would be 
 necessary to tell him everything that he wanted to know. 
 The Old One was an inhabitant of the sea, and roamed 
 about everywhere, like other seafaring people. Of 
 course, he had often heard of the fame of Hercules, 
 and of the wonderful things that he was constantly 
 performing, in various parts of the earth, and how 
 determined he always was to accomplish whatever he 
 undertook. He therefore made no more attempts to 
 escape, but told the hero how to find the garden of the 
 Hesperides, and likewise warned him of many difficulties 
 which must be overcome before he could arrive thither. 
 
 * * You must go on, thus and thus, ' ' said the Old Man 
 of the Sea, after taking the points of the compass, ^^ till 
 you come in sight of a very tall giant who holds the sky 
 on his shoulders. And the giant, if he happens to be in 
 the humor, will tell you exactly where the garden of 
 the Hesperides lies." 
 
 ^^ And if the giant happens not to be in the humor," 
 remarked Hercules, balancing his club on the tip of his 
 finger, '' perhaps I shall find means to persuade him." 
 
 Thanking the Old Man of the Sea, and begging his 
 pardon for having squeezed him so roughly, the hero 
 
164 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 resumed his journey. He met with a great many 
 strange adventures, which would be well worth your 
 hearing, if I had leisure to narrate them as minutely 
 as they deserve. 
 
 It was in this journey, if I mistake not, that he en- 
 countered a prodigious giant who was so wonderfully 
 contrived by nature that every time he touched the earth 
 he became ten times as strong as ever he had been be- 
 fore. His name was Antaeus. You may see plainly 
 enough that it was a very difficult business to fight 
 with such a fellow, for as often as he got a knockdown 
 blow, up he started again, stronger, fiercer, and abler 
 to use his weapons than if his enemy had let him alone. 
 Thus, the harder Hercules pounded the giant with his 
 club, the further he seemed from winning the victory. 
 I have sometimes argued with such people, but never 
 fought with one. The only way in which Hercules 
 found it possible to finish the battle was by lifting 
 Antaeus off his feet into the air, and squeezing and 
 squeezing and squeezing him until finally the strength 
 was quite squeezed out of his enormous body. 
 
 When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his 
 travels and went to the land of Egypt, where he was 
 taken prisoner, and would have been put to death if he 
 had not slain the king of the country and made his 
 escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa and go- 
 ing as fast as he could, he arrived at last on the shore 
 of the great ocean. And here, unless he could walk on 
 the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his journey must 
 needs be at an end. 
 
 Nothing was before him save the foaming, dashing, 
 measureless ocean. But suddenly, as he looked toward 
 the horizon, he saw something, a great way off, which 
 
BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 165 
 
 he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed very 
 brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, 
 golden disk of the sun when it rises or sets over the 
 edge of the world. It evidently drew nearer, for at 
 every instant this wonderful object became larger and 
 more lustrous. At length it had come so nigh that Her- 
 cules discovered it to be an immense cup or bowl made 
 either of gold or burnished brass. How it had got afloat 
 upon the sea is more than I can tell you. There it was, 
 at all events, rolling on the tumultuous billows, which 
 tossed it up and down and heaved their foamy tops 
 against its sides, but without ever throwing their spray 
 over the brim. 
 
 ^^ I have seen many giants in my time," thought 
 Hercules, ^' but never one that would need to drink his 
 wine out of a cup like this." 
 
 And, true enough, what a cup it must have been ! It 
 was as large — as large — but, in short, I am afraid to say 
 how immeasurably large it was. To speak within 
 bounds, it was ten times larger than a great mill-wheel, 
 and, all of metal as it was, it floated over the heaving 
 surges more lightly than an acorn-cup down the brook. 
 The waves tumbled it onward until it grazed against the 
 shore within a short distance of the spot where Her- 
 cules was standing. 
 
 As soon as this happened, he knew what was to be 
 done, for he had not gone through so many remarkable 
 adventures without learning pretty well how to conduct 
 himself whenever anything came to pass a little out of 
 the common rule. It was just as clear as daylight that 
 this marvelous cup had been set adrift by some unseen 
 power and guided hitherward in order to carry Hercules 
 across the sea on his way to the garden of the Hes- 
 
166 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 perides. Accordingly, without a moment's delay he 
 clambered over the brim and slid down on the inside, 
 where, spreading out his lion's skin, he proceeded to 
 take a little repose. He had scarcely rested until now 
 since he bade farewell to the damsels on the margin of 
 the river. The waves dashed with a pleasant and ring- 
 ing sound against the circumference of the hollow cup ; 
 it rocked lightly to and fro, and the motion was so 
 soothing that it speedily rocked Hercules into an agree- 
 able slumber. 
 
 His nap had probably lasted a good while when the 
 cup chanced to graze against a rock, and in consequence 
 immediately resounded and reverberated through its 
 golden or brazen substance a hundred times as loudly 
 as ever you heard a church bell. The noise awoke 
 Hercules, who instantly started up and gazed around 
 him, wondering whereabouts he was. He was not long 
 in discovering that the cup had floated across a great 
 part of the sea, and was approaching the shore of what 
 seemed to be an island. And on that island what do 
 you think he saw? 
 
 No, you will never guess it — ^not if you were to try 
 fifty thousand times! It positively appears to me that 
 this was the most marvelous spectacle that had ever 
 been seen by Hercules in the whole course of his wonder- 
 ful travels and adventures. It was a greater marvel 
 than the hydra with nine heads, which kept growing 
 twice as fast as they were cut off ; greater than the six- 
 legged man-monster ; greater than Antaeus ; greater than 
 anything that was ever beheld by anybody before or 
 since the days of Hercules, or than anything that re- 
 mains to be beheld by travelers in all time to come. It 
 was a giant! 
 
BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 167 
 
 But such an intolerably big giant! A giant as tall 
 as a mountain; so vast a giant that the clouds rested 
 about his midst like a girdle, and hung like a hoary 
 beard from his chin, and flitted before his huge eyes so 
 that he could neither see Hercules nor the golden cup 
 in which he was voyaging. And, most wonderful of all, 
 the giant held up his great hands and appeared to sup- 
 port the sky, which, so far as Hercules could discern 
 through the clouds, was resting upon his head! This 
 does really seem almost too much to believe. 
 
 Meanwhile the bright cup continued to float onward, 
 and finally touched the strand. Just then a breeze wafted 
 away the clouds from before the giant's visage, and 
 Hercules beheld it with all its enormous features — eyes 
 each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a mile long, 
 and a mouth of the same width. It was a countenance 
 terrible from its enormity of size, but disconsolate and 
 weary, even as you may see the faces of many people 
 nowadays who are compelled to sustain burdens above 
 their strength. What the sky was to the giant, such 
 are the cares of earth to those who let themselves be 
 weighed dov^n by them. And whenever men undertake 
 what is beyond the just measure of their abilities they 
 encounter precisely such a doom as had befallen this 
 poor giant. 
 
 Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long 
 while. An ancient forest had been growing and de- 
 caying around his feet, and oak trees of six or seven 
 centuries old had sprung from the acorns and forced 
 themselves between his toes. 
 
 The giant now looked down from the far height of 
 his great eyes, and perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a 
 
168 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 voice that resembled thunder proceeding out of the cloud 
 that had just flitted away from his face : 
 
 * ' Who are you, down at my feet there ? And whence 
 do you come in that little cup ? ' ' 
 
 * ^ I am Hercules ! ' ' thundered back the hero, in a 
 voice pretty nearly or quite as loud as the giant's 
 own. '^ And I am seeking for the garden of the Hes- 
 perides! " 
 
 ' * Ho ! ho ! ho ! " roared the giant, in a fit of immense 
 laughter. ' ^ That is a wise adventure, truly ! ' ' 
 
 '' And why not? '' cried Hercules, getting a little 
 angry at the giant's mirth. *' Do you think I am 
 afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads? '' 
 
 Just at this time, while they were talking together, 
 some black clouds gathered about the giant's middle and 
 burst into a tremendous storm of thunder and light- 
 ning, causing such a pother that Hercules found it im- 
 possible to distinguish a word. Only the giant's im- 
 measurable legs were to be seen, standing up into the 
 obscurity of the tempest, and now and then a mo- 
 mentary glimpse of his whole figure mantled in a vol- 
 ume of mist. He seemed to be speaking most of the 
 time, but his big, deep, rough voice chimed in with the 
 reverberations of the thunder-claps and rolled away over 
 the hills like them. Thus by talking out of season the 
 foolish giant expended an incalculable quantity of breath 
 to no purpose, for the thunder spoke quite as intelligibly 
 as he. 
 
 At last the storm swept over as suddenly as it had 
 come. And there again was the clear sky, and the 
 weary giant holding it up, and the pleasant sunshine 
 beaming over his vast height and illuminating it against 
 the background of the suUen thunder-clouds. So far 
 
i i 
 
 i c 
 
 BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 169 
 
 above the shower had been his head that not a hair of it 
 was moistened by the raindrops. 
 
 When the giant could see Hercules still standing on 
 the seashore, he roared out to him anew; 
 
 ^ * I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in the world ! And 
 I hold the sky upon my head ! ' ' 
 
 ^ ^ So I see, ' ' answered Hercules. * ^ But can you show 
 me the way to the garden of the Hesperides? '' 
 What do you want there? '' asked the giant. 
 I want three of the golden apples, '^ shouted Her- 
 cules, '* for my cousin, the king.'' 
 
 ** There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, 
 * ^ that can go to the garden of the Hesperides and gather 
 the golden apples. If it were not for this little busi- 
 ness of holding up the sky, I would make half a dozen 
 steps across the sea and get them for you. ' ' 
 
 * ^ You are very kind, ' ' replied Hercules. ^ ' And can- 
 not you rest the sky upon a mountain? " 
 
 *' None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, 
 shaking his head. * * But if you were to take your stand 
 on the summit of that nearest one, your head would be 
 pretty nearly on a level with mine. You seem to be a 
 fellow of some strength. What if you should take my 
 burden on your shoulders while I do your errand for 
 you? " 
 
 Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a 
 remarkably strong man; and, though it certainly re- 
 quires a great deal of muscular power to uphold the sky, 
 yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of such an 
 exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it seemed so dif- 
 ficult an undertaking that for the first time in his life 
 he hesitated. 
 
 Is the sky very heavy? " he inquired. 
 
 i i 
 
170 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 '* Why, not particularly so at first," answered the 
 giant, shrugging his shoulders, '' but it gets to be a 
 little burdensome after a thousand years." 
 
 *' And how long a time," asked the hero, '' will it take 
 you to get the golden apples ? ' ' 
 
 *' Oh, that will be done in a few moments," cried At- 
 las. '' I shall take ten or fifteen miles at a stride, and 
 be at the garden and back again before your shoulders 
 begin to ache." 
 
 *' Well, then," answered Hercules, '' I will climb the 
 mountain behind you there and relieve you of your 
 burden." 
 
 The truth is, Hercules had a kind heart of his own, 
 and considered that he should be doing the giant a 
 favor by allowing him this opportunity for a ramble. 
 And, besides, he thought that it would be still more 
 for his own glory if he could boast of upholding the sky 
 than merely to do so ordinary a thing as to conquer a 
 dragon with a hundred heads. Accordingly, without 
 more words, the sky was shifted from the shoulders of 
 Atlas and placed upon those of Hercules. 
 
 When this was safely accomplished, the first thing 
 that the giant did was to stretch himself; and you may 
 imagine what a prodigious spectacle he was then. Next, 
 he slowly lifted one of his feet out of the forest that 
 had grown up around it, then the other. Then all at 
 once he began to caper and leap and dance for joy at his 
 freedom, flinging himself nobody knows how high into 
 the air, and floundering down again with a shock that 
 made the earth tremble. Then he laughed — ^ho ! ho ! ho ! 
 ' — with a thunderous roar that was echoed from the 
 mountains far and near, as if they and the giant had 
 been so many rejoicing brothers. When his joy had a 
 
BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCtJLES 171 
 
 little subsided he stepped into the sea — ten miles at the 
 first stride, which brought him midleg deep ; and ten 
 miles at the second, when the water came just above his 
 knees ; and ten miles more at the third, by which he was 
 immersed nearly to his waist. This was the greatest 
 depth of the sea. 
 
 Hercules watched the giant as he still went onward, 
 for it was really a wonderful sight, this immense human 
 form more than thirty miles off, half -hidden in the ocean, 
 but with his upper half as tall and misty and blue as a 
 distant mountain. At last the gigantic shape faded en- 
 tirely out of view. And now Hercules began to con- 
 sider what he should do in case Atlas should be drowned 
 in the sea, or if he were to be stung to death by the 
 dragon with the hundred heads which guarded the 
 golden apples of the Hesperides. If any such mis- 
 fortune were to happen, how could he ever get rid of 
 the sky ? And, by the by, its weight began already to be 
 a little irksome to his head and shoulders. 
 
 I really pity the poor giant," thought Hercules. 
 
 If it wearies me so much in ten minutes, how must 
 it have wearied him in a thousand years ! ' ' 
 
 Oh, my sweet little people, you have no idea what a 
 weight there was in that same blue sky which looks so 
 soft and aerial above our heads! And there, too, was 
 the bluster of the wind, and the chill and watery clouds, 
 and the blazing sun, all taking their turns to make 
 Hercules uncomfortable. He began to be afraid that 
 the giant would never come back. He gazed wistfully 
 at the world beneath him and acknowledged to himself 
 that it was a far happier kind of life to be a shepherd 
 at the foot of a mountain than to stand on its dizzy 
 summit and bear up the firmament with his might and 
 
 
172 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 main. For, of course, as you will easily understand, 
 Hercules had an immense responsibility on his mind, as 
 well as a weight on his head and shoulders. Why, if he 
 did not stand perfectly still and keep the sky im- 
 movable, the sun would perhaps be put ajar! Or, after 
 nightfall, a great many of the stars might be loosened 
 from their places and shower down like fiery rain upon 
 the people's heads! And how ashamed would the hero 
 be if, owing to his unsteadiness beneath its weight, the 
 sky should crack and show a great fissure quite across it ! 
 
 I know not how long it was before, to his unspeakable 
 joy, he beheld the huge shape of the giant, like a cloud, 
 on the far-off edge of the sea. At his nearer approach 
 Atlas held up his hand, in which Hercules could per- 
 ceive three magnificent golden apples as big as pump- 
 kins, all hanging from one branch. 
 
 '* I am glad to see you again," shouted Hercules 
 when the giant was within hearing. '* So you have got 
 the golden apples? '' 
 
 ** Certainly, certainly,*' answered Atlas; *' and very 
 fair apples they are. I took the finest that grew on 
 the tree, I assure you. Ah, it is a beautiful spot, that 
 garden of the Hesperides ! Yes, and the dragon with a 
 hundred heads is a sight worth any man's seeing. After 
 all, you had better have gone for the apples yourself." 
 
 ** No matter," replied Hercules. *' You have had a 
 pleasant ramble and have done the business as well as I 
 could. I heartily thank you for your trouble. And 
 now, as I have a long way to go and am rather in haste, 
 and as the king my cousin is anxious to receive the 
 golden apples, will you be kind enough to take the sky 
 off my shoulders again? " 
 
 *' Why, as to that," said the giant, chucking the 
 
Hercules and the Golden Apples 
 
 (Illustration by Frank C. Pape from Storr's "Half a Hundred Hero Tales"') 
 
BOOTES— ARIADNE— HERCULES 173 
 
 golden apples into the air twenty miles high or there- 
 abouts, and catching them as they came down — ** as to 
 that, my good friend, I consider you a little unreason- 
 able. Cannot I carry the golden apples to the king your 
 cousin much quicker than you could? As his majesty is 
 in such a hurry to get them, I promise you to take my 
 longest strides. And, besides, I have no fancy for 
 burdening myself with the sky just now.'' 
 
 Here Hercules grew impatient and gave a great shrug 
 of his shoulders. It being now twilight, you might have 
 seen two or three stars tumble out of their places. 
 Everybody on earth looked upward in affright, thinking 
 that the sky might be going to fall next. 
 
 ** Oh, that will never do! '' cried Giant Atlas with a 
 great roar of laughter. '* I have not let fall so many 
 stars within the last ^ve centuries. By the time you 
 have stood there as long as I did you will begin to 
 learn patience." 
 
 ** What! " shouted Hercules, very wrathfully, *^ do 
 you intend to make me bear this burden forever? " 
 
 ^' We will see about that one of these days," an- 
 swered the giant. ** At all events, you ought not to 
 complain if you have to bear it the next hundred years, 
 or perhaps the next thousand. I bore it a good while 
 longer, in spite of the backache. Well, then, after a 
 thousand years, if I happen to feel in the mood, we may 
 possibly shift about again. You are certainly a very- 
 strong man and can never have a better opportunity to 
 prove it. Posterity will talk of you, I warrant it." 
 
 ' * Pish ! a fig for its talk ! ' ' cried Hercules, with an- 
 other hitch of his shoulders. '' Just take the sky upon 
 your head one instant, will you? I want to make a 
 cushion of my lion's skin for the weight to rest upon. 
 
174 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 It really chafes me and will cause unnecessary incon- 
 venience in so many centuries as I am to stand here. 
 
 *' That's no more than fair, and 111 do it/' quoth the 
 giant; for he had no unkind feeling toward Hercules, 
 and was merely acting with a too selfish consideration 
 of his own ease. '' For just five minutes, then, I'll 
 take back the sky. Only for five minutes, recollect. I 
 have no idea of spending another thousand years as I 
 spent the last. Variety is the spice of life, say I." 
 
 Ah, the thick-witted old rogue of a giant ! He threw 
 down the golden apples and received back the sky from 
 the head and shoulders of Hercules upon his own, where 
 it rightly belonged. And Hercules picked up the three 
 golden apples that were as big or bigger than pump- 
 kins, and straightway set out on his journey homeward 
 without paying the slightest heed to the thundering 
 tones of the giant, who bellowed after him to come back. 
 Ajiother forest sprang up around his feet and grew an- 
 cient there, and again might be seen oak trees of six or 
 seven centuries old that had waxed thus aged betwixt 
 his enormous toes. 
 
 And there stands the giant to this day; or, at any 
 rate, there stands a mountain as tall as he and whicli 
 bears his name ; and when the thunder rumbles about its 
 summit we may imagine it to be the voice of Giant At- 
 las bellowing after Hercules. 
 
 — Nathaniel Hawthorne. 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 
 
 Ariadne's Crown — also called the Northern Crown or 
 Corona Borealis — is a striking little group of stars in 
 the form of a crescent, lying between Bootes and Her- 
 cules. Alphecca, a star of the second magnitude, and 
 the brightest in the constellation, shines in the front 
 center of the crown, as the most precious star in the 
 diadem. The Greeks tell us that the God Bacchus loved 
 the beautiful Ariadne and married her. He gave her 
 a crown of seven stars, and after her death the crown 
 was placed in the sky to shine in her honor. 
 
THE CHAMPION OF ATHENS 
 
 Aethra, a daughter of the King of Troezene, was 
 the wife of a foreign prince, and the mother of an only 
 child, a boy, whom they named Theseus. While The- 
 seus was still an infant, his father said one day to 
 Aethra — 
 
 '* I am obliged to set off on a long and distant jour- 
 ney, through countries infested by wild beasts and 
 robbers. If I should never return, take care of our 
 child, bring him up like a king's son, and send him to 
 the city of Athens as soon as he grows strong enough 
 to lift that stone." 
 
 Aethra promised, and her husband left Troezene, never 
 to return. 
 
 Having given up all hope of seeing her husband again, 
 Aethra devoted herself to obeying his last commands. 
 She gave Theseus the education of a prince ; and every 
 day, from the time he left her arms, she made him 
 try to lift the stone. The child grew up to be the hand- 
 somest, strongest, and bravest youth in all the land, so 
 that he had not a rival of his own age in all manly sports 
 and feats of arms. But he could no more move the 
 stone than he could fly. 
 
 At last, however, the moment came when the stone 
 gave way a little. The next day he raised it a trifle 
 further, and so on until he lifted it bodily from the 
 ground, and rolled it away. Underneath it he found a 
 
 177 
 
178 THE STARS AOT) THEIR STORIES 
 
 splendid sword, with a curiously carved hilt, unlike any 
 he had ever seen. 
 
 The time had, therefore, come for him to set out for 
 Athens, according to his father's commands. His 
 mother implored him to go by sea, and not by those 
 perilous paths by which her husband had never re- 
 turned. But Theseus was only tempted by the dangers ; 
 and so, taking the sword with him, he set out for 
 Athens overland. 
 
 After a long journey through a wild and difficult 
 country, he reached a village, where he sought for sup- 
 per and a night's lodging. But the place seemed de- 
 serted, and it was only after a long search that he dis- 
 covered an old shepherd, of whom he asked where a 
 traveler might find food and shelter. 
 
 '* Alas! '' answered the shepherd, ** there is not a 
 scrap of food left in the place, not a house left un* 
 plundered. For Sciron has been here." 
 
 *' And who is Sciron? '' asked Theseus. 
 
 * * Ah, you must be a stranger, indeed ! Sciron is the 
 chief of all the robbers. Do you see yonder castle 
 among the mountains? That is where he lives, and 
 thence he issues forth, when he wants food for his glut- 
 tony, to plunder and lay waste all the country round. 
 And he is as cruel and savage as he is greedy. Not 
 content with carrying off our cattle and our stores of 
 corn and wine, he seizes men and women, and makes 
 them wait upon him while he feasts ; and when the feast 
 is over, he amuses himself by throwing them from a 
 high rock into the sea." 
 
 ** Thank you," said Theseus. ** Then I will sup with 
 Sciron." And off he started for the robber's castle, 
 leaving the amazed shepherd to think him a madman. 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 179 
 
 It was a long climb to the castle, which stood on the 
 peak of a high cliff looking down into the sea. Theseus 
 knocked upon the gate with the hilt of his sword, and, 
 when it was opened by a ferocious-looking brigand, an- 
 nounced himself as a stranger who requested hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 *^ You've come to the right place for that! " said 
 the brigand grimly. * * Come with me. ' ' 
 
 Theseus followed him into the hall, where broth was 
 being brewed in caldrons, and a fat ox was being roasted 
 whole. The robbers were all about, — some quarreling 
 over their plunder, some sprawling about the floor. In 
 the midst of all the steam and din sat the chief, a huge 
 and cruel-looking brute, who Theseus did not need to 
 be told was Sciron. 
 
 So you want hospitality, do you? " asked Sciron. 
 
 Very well, as you're a traveler, and don't know the 
 ways of the castle, you shall be let off easily. Of course, 
 you'll have to be thrown from the cliff after supper — 
 that's the rule. But instead of being tortured, you 
 shall only wash my feet for me and wait on me at table. 
 You look as if you understood washing and how things 
 ought to be served. Now, then, get some hot water and 
 begin," he said, thrusting out a pair of feet which 
 looked as if they had not been touched by water for 
 years. 
 
 A grinning robber brought a bowl of hot water. 
 Theseus took it and threw it in the face of Sciron. 
 
 * ' That wants washing, too, ' ' said he. 
 
 Sciron rushed at him ; but Theseus received him at the 
 point of his sword, and the two fought furiously, while 
 the robbers looked on, enjoying the game. Sciron was 
 twice the size and weight of Theseus; but Theseus was 
 
 
180 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 the best swordsman in aU Greece, and presently had him 
 down. 
 
 '* There," said he, pricking Sciron^s throat with his 
 sword, '* you have had a lesson in manners. You shall 
 wash my feet and wait on me before you go over the 
 cliff after your victims. For I am not going away to 
 leave a brigand like you alive behind me ! " 
 
 Sciron, like all such bullies, was a coward at heart, 
 and his own men had no longer any respect for him 
 now that he had been worsted by a stripling. Amid 
 the laughter of the robbers, he had to wash the feet of 
 Theseus, and to serve him humbly with meat and drink, 
 and was finally punished for his many cruel murders by 
 being thrown into the sea. 
 
 Having received the thanks of the country for rid- 
 ding it of such a scourge, Theseus traveled on till he 
 came to another village, where he thought he would rest 
 a little. 
 
 No sooner had he entered the place, however, than 
 he was surrounded by a number of armed men, who 
 gave him to understand that he was their prisoner. 
 
 ^' Is this the way you treat travelers in your coun- 
 try? " asked he. 
 
 '' Assuredly," answered the captain of the troop. 
 '* You are in the country of King Cercyon, and the 
 law is that no traveler may leave it until he has wrestled 
 with the king. ^ ' 
 
 '* I ask for nothing better," said Theseus. *' What 
 happens to the traveler if he conquers Cercyon? " 
 Then he may pass on." 
 But if Cercyon conquers him? " 
 
 ** Then he is tortured till he dies." 
 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 181 
 
 i( 
 
 It is strange/' said Theseus, *' that I never heard 
 of such a law, or even of King Cercyon." 
 
 ** Not at all strange," said the captain. *' I don't 
 see how you could have heard it, seeing that no traveler 
 has ever lived to tell the tale. Cercyon has conquered 
 and killed them all, as he will conquer and kill you. ' ' 
 
 And when he saw Cercyon, Theseus could well believe 
 it. The king was of immense height, with broad shoul- 
 ders, and muscles that stood out like globes of iron. 
 He smiled savagely when he saw Theseus, and stripped 
 without a word. Theseus stripped also, and the two 
 were soon clasping each other like a pair of fierce bears, 
 or, rather, like a bear and a man. 
 
 It was a tremendous struggle, with all the brute 
 strength on the side of Cercyon. But Theseus knew a 
 hundred turns and twists of which the savage chieftain 
 knew nothing ; and at last, to the amazement of all who 
 witnessed the struggle, Cercyon fell dead upon the 
 ground, with a broken spine. Thenceforth every trav- 
 eler might pass through that country safely and with- 
 out fear. 
 
 Theseus traveled on until he found himself benighted 
 in a wild country, through which he wandered about 
 until he reached a castle, where he craved a night's 
 shelter. Here he was kindly received, and told that the 
 lord of the castle and of the country round was one 
 Procrustes, who never turned a traveler from his door; 
 nay, even now there were two guests with him. And so 
 it proved. Procrustes entertained Theseus and the 
 other two travelers at supper pleasantly and generously, 
 and when it was time to retire for the night, himself con- 
 ducted them into a chamber, where a bed, with nothing 
 remarkable about it, stood ready in a comer. 
 
182 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 '* That is the guest-bed/' said Procrustes; '* and I 
 hope it will fit you.'' 
 
 ** Fit us? " asked Theseus, puzzled. 
 
 * ' Yes ; it is the law of the country that if the bed 
 does not fit the traveler, the traveler must be made to 
 fit the bed. Do you try the bed first,'' he said to one 
 of the guests, the tallest of the three. 
 
 The traveler lay down, but found the bed rather 
 3hort, and had to draw up his knees a little. *^ Be good 
 enough to lie straight, ' ' said Procrustes. He did so, his 
 feet appearing beyond the bottom. Instantly Procrustes, 
 with a sharp hatchet, chopped them off, one after an- 
 other. *' You'll fit nicely now," said he. *' It's your 
 turn next," he said to the second traveler. 
 
 This one thought himself safe; for, being short, his 
 toes did not reach the bed's end by a fuU two inches. 
 Procrustes gave a signal, and immediately two strong 
 attendants seized the unfortunate man, one by the shoul- 
 ders and the other by the legs, and proceeded to pull him 
 out to the proper length, despite his yells of pain. 
 
 ' * Stretch him on the rack, ' ' said Procrustes. * * Now, ' ' 
 he said to Theseus, ^* it is your turn in the game, and I 
 hope, for your sake, you will give less trouble than the 
 rest of them." 
 
 Theseus had been taken aback at first by these extraor- 
 dinary proceedings; but he now perceived that he had 
 fallen upon another of those brigand chiefs who in- 
 fested the country, and who resembled ogres rather than 
 mere cruel and bloodthirsty savages. 
 
 So he drew his sword and closed with Procrustes; 
 nor did he cease fighting till he had fitted the robber to 
 his own bed by making him a whole head shorter. The 
 robbers in the place, cowed by the death of their chief, 
 
ARIABNE^S CROWN 183 
 
 submitted to Theseus, who went round the castle, and set 
 at liberty hundreds of maimed victims of the slain mon- 
 ster's cruelty. 
 
 Having received such thanks as they could give him, 
 he journeyed on and on until at last he reached Athens. 
 What he was to do there he did not know ; but there was 
 no need for him to ask. Somehow the fame of his 
 deeds had flown before him, — ^how he had rid the coun- 
 try of Sciron and Cercyon and Procrustes, and other 
 wild beasts and brigands, and he was received as befitted 
 his valor. 
 
 Now the King of Athens at that time was Aegeus; 
 and the queen was no other than the great and dreadful 
 sorceress Medea, who had come to Athens after the 
 murder of her children, and had married the king. 
 Aegeus took a fancy to Theseus from the young 
 stranger's first appearance in Athens, gave him a high 
 place at court, and treated him as if he had been his 
 own son. But with Medea it was different. She had a 
 son of her own, and she was filled with jealousy lest 
 Aegeus should make Theseus the heir to his throne. 
 Moreover, she envied and hated him for his courage and 
 his fame, in which he far surpassed her own son Me- 
 dus ; and she feared him too, for she failed to bring him 
 under her spells. So she plotted to destroy him in 
 such a way that his death should never be brought home 
 to her, just as she had made the daughters of Pelias the 
 seeming murderesses of their own father. 
 
 She, therefore, pretended a great admiration for 
 Theseus, and got the king to hold a great festival in his 
 honor. It was arranged that Aegeus, during the feast, 
 should send him a golden cup filled with wine, in which 
 Medea secretly steeped one of her deadliest poisons. 
 
184 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 All went as she had planned. Aegeus sent the poi- 
 soned goblet by one of the cup-bearers to Theseus, who 
 stood up to drink the health of the king and queen. 
 But 
 
 *' Hold! " suddenly cried Aegeus, starting; '* what 
 sword is that at your side? *' 
 
 Theseus put down the cup to answer: 
 
 ** It is the sword with which I fought my way to 
 Athens. I wear it to-day as my sword of honor. ' ' 
 
 *^ But how comes it at your side? " 
 
 Then Theseus told the story of how it had been left 
 by his unknown father under a stone at Troezene, and 
 how his mother's name was Aethra. Scarcely had he 
 finished, when Aegeus, leaving his throne, fell upon his 
 neck, exclaiming: 
 
 ** I was that father! You are my first-born son, and 
 the heir to my crown! '' 
 
 The Athenians, who already looked upon Theseus as 
 their national hero, greeted their prince and future king 
 with shouts of joy; and when the first excitement was 
 over, Medea was seen no more. Enraged at the failure 
 of her plot, and fearing discovery and vengeance, she 
 vanished from Athens: some said they had seen her 
 borne by dragons through the air. And this is the last 
 of her. 
 
 Freed from her evil influence, the old love of Aegeus 
 for Aethra revived, and he could not make enough of 
 his and Aethra 's son. But Theseus did not become idle, 
 and became in all ways the champion and protector of 
 his father's people. It was he who caught alive the 
 famous wild bull of Marathon, which had ravaged the 
 country for years, and sacrificed it to Minerva. He 
 never spared himself, and he never failed. 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 185 
 
 At last, however, drew nigh that evil hour of Athens 
 — that day in every year when the seven youths and 
 seven maidens had to be sent to King Minos of Crete to 
 be devoured by the Minotaur. The rule was to choose 
 the victims by lot: so that none felt safe who had sons 
 and daughters young enough to suit the taste of the 
 monster. The seven girls were first chosen. But when 
 it came to drawing lots for the youths, Theseus said: 
 
 '* You need draw only six this year. I will myself 
 be the seventh. It may be that I shall find a way to 
 deliver Athens from this tribute; if not, it is for a 
 prince who cannot save his people to perish with them. ' ' 
 
 Aegeus was in despair. But no entreaties could turn 
 Theseus from his desperate resolve: neither the prayers 
 of his own father, nor those of all the fathers and 
 mothers in Athens, who would have drawn the seventh 
 lot rather than that he who was the pride and hope of 
 the city should go to certain destruction. The ship 
 which bore the yearly victims to Crete always carried 
 black sails in token of public mourning. Theseus, in 
 order to leave a little hope behind him, promised that, 
 if he came back alive, he would hoist a white sail while 
 returning, so that his safety might be seen from afar. 
 Then, in solemn procession, amid the weeping of the 
 crowd, the youths and maidens embarked in the black- 
 sailed ship, Theseus leading them with the calmness of 
 the only true courage — that which can, in cold blood, 
 face danger for the sake of duty. None would have 
 thought the worse of him had he stayed behind: and if 
 he perished it would be as a mere victim, and without 
 glory. Nor was it as if he were encouraged by any 
 oracles, or helped by gifts from the gods. He is the 
 first hero who was both a mere man and who never had 
 
186 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 any help but his own manf ulness. And for all these rea- 
 sons I think that his voyage to Crete is the finest story I 
 have yet told. 
 
 When the ship reached Crete, the fourteen victims 
 were conducted to the Labyrinth, there to be impris- 
 oned until they should be given to the Minotaur. As 
 they passed before Minos and his Court, the kiag's 
 youngest daughter, Ariadne, was filled with pity and 
 love for Theseus, and set her thoughts to work how she 
 might save him from his doom. But how in the world 
 was such a thing to be done? None without the clue 
 could either enter or escape from the maze: and even 
 were that possible, it was not likely that the Minotaur 
 would let himself be balked of his prey. 
 
 But she watched and waited: she hovered round the 
 Labyrinth night after night, examining every door : un- 
 til at last she was rewarded by finding just within one 
 of them, a little silken skeiu hidden away in a dark 
 corner. The next night, having procured a torch and 
 a sword, she bravely entered the door where the skein 
 was, and, by wiading up the silk, followed the clue. 
 Through one twisting passage after another she wan- 
 dered on and on, up and down long flight of steps, 
 jsometimes through great halls confused with columns, 
 and sometimes through tunnels in which it was scarcely 
 possible to stand. There seemed no end to the way. 
 At last, however, the end of the silken thread told 
 her that she had reached the inmost hall: and there 
 her torch showed a sight that froze her with fear. 
 
 The victims had been delivered over to the Minotaur. 
 Crowded together in a corner of the hall were six youths 
 and seven girls: stamping and tossing his horned head 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 187 
 
 was the horrible monster, furious with hunger and 
 the sight of human food. Between the Minotaur and 
 his despairing prey stood Theseus, facing the monster, 
 so that he, by being the first victim, might prolong the 
 lives of the others. He had no hope : he could not even 
 struggle, for his hands were bound behind him with 
 cords. 
 
 The sight of his courage gave back Ariadne hers. 
 She darted forward, and cut his bonds with her sword. 
 * ' Fly ! ' ' she cried : * * follow me — I have the clue ! ' * 
 But as soon as Theseus felt the touch of the steel, he 
 seized the sword from her hand, and, instead of flying, 
 set upon the Minotaur with such fury that the monster 
 bellowed with rage, amazement, and pain. 
 
 It was the hardest fight Theseus had ever fought : the 
 wild bull of Marathon had been nothing to the Minotaur, 
 who fought with a bull's strength and a man's skill and 
 cunning. But the champion of Athens prevailed at 
 last: and the monster fell dead with a groan which 
 echoed through the Labyrinth like the bellowing of 
 thunder. 
 
 ^ ' It will wake the whole city ! ' ' cried Ariadne : ' * fol- 
 low me ! ' ' Theseus and his companions, scarce know- 
 ing that they were saved, followed Ariadne, who wound 
 up the clue as she ran. When they reached the en- 
 trance-gate, the alarm of their escape had been given. 
 Making straight for the shore, they found their black- 
 sailed ship, sped on board, and, thanks to a kindly 
 wind, were out at sea before they could be pursued. 
 
 The wind carried them to the island of Naxos: and 
 here they remained — Theseus, Ariadne, and the rest — ^till 
 the breeze should blow towards Athens. Such a breeze 
 
188 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 came in time ; and then Theseus set sail for home with 
 his thirteen companions, leaving Ariadne behind, to her 
 great sorrow. Nor can anything make me believe that 
 he meant this for a real parting, or that she thought so. 
 One can think of many reasons why she should remain 
 in Naxos for a while : it is quite certain that her power- 
 ful father Minos, who had already conquered the Atheni- 
 ans, and shown, by a cruel vengeance, how he hated 
 them, would have attacked them again with all his fleets 
 and armies if he had heard that they were giving shel- 
 ter to a daughter who had betrayed him. So, leaving 
 Ariadne safe in Naxos, Theseus returned to Athens as the 
 savior of his city and the slayer of the Minotaur. 
 
 Meanwhile his father, Aegeus, had been every day 
 and all day long looking out to sea from the farthest 
 point of the shore for the return from Crete of the ship 
 of mourning. He had but little hope, but nobody can 
 help having a little : nor did he quite despair, until one 
 morning he saw on the horizon a vessel which he felt 
 sure was the one he was watching for in such agony of 
 mind. Nearer and nearer it came — alas! its sails were 
 still as black as when it was outward bound. Theseus 
 had forgotten to hoist the white sail which was to be the 
 sign of safety. 
 
 So Aegeus, giving up his son for lost, threw himself 
 into the sea and perished, just when Theseus was within 
 sight of home. And that sea is called the Aegean, or the 
 Sea of Aegeus, to this day. And thus Theseus, to the 
 joy of the people, but with sorrow in his own heart, 
 found himself king. 
 
 And the best of kings he made. The strength of his 
 rule was only equaled by its gentleness. He made wise 
 laws; he took care that all men received justice; he 
 
Theseus and the Minotaur 
 
 (rilustrafloQ hv Krank C. Pape from Sforr's "lUir a Hundred Hero Tales') 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 189 
 
 honored the gods ; he obtained the respect and friendship 
 of foreign nations ; he taught the Athenians to be free, 
 and to govern themselves, so that, when he died, they re- 
 mained as great a people as while he was alive. 
 
 He sent for his mother, Aethra, and kept her in all 
 love and honor. I wish I could tell you that he sent 
 for Ariadne also. But he never had any other wife: 
 and she was lost to him. There is a strange, mysterious 
 story of how, when she was left sorrowing in Naxos, the 
 god Bacchus — the god of the bounty of Nature and of 
 the joy that men and women find in her — comforted 
 Ariadne, and made her his bride, and raised her above 
 the earth, giving her a crown of seven stars, which is 
 still to be seen in the sky, and is called *' Ariadne's 
 Crown.'' 
 
 — R. E. Francillon: From Gods and Heroes. 
 By permission of William Blackwood and 
 Sons, Edinburgh. 
 
 ARIADNE'S CROWN 
 
 When Bacchus first beheld the desolate 
 And sleeping Ariadne, wonder straight 
 Was mixed with love in his great golden eyes; 
 He turned to his Bacchantes in surprise. 
 And said with guarded voice, — '' Hush! strike no more 
 Your brazen cymbals ; keep those voices still 
 Of voice and pipe; " — the miserable Fair 
 Awoke at last, sprang upward from the sands, 
 And gazing wild on that wild throng that stands 
 Around, around her, and no Theseus there ! — 
 Her voice went moaning over shore and sea. 
 Beside the halcyon's cry; she called her love; 
 
190 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 She named her hero, and raged maddeningly 
 
 Against the brine of waters; and above, 
 Sought the ship's track, and cursed the hours she slept; 
 Ajid still the chiefest execration swept 
 Against Queen Paphia, mother of the ocean ; 
 And cursed and prayed by times in her emotion 
 The winds all round . . . 
 Her grief did make her glorious ; her despair 
 Adorned her with its weight. Poor wailing child! 
 She looked like Venus when the goddess smiled 
 At liberty of godship, debonair; 
 Poor Ariadne! and her eyelids fair 
 Hid looks beneath them lent her by Persuasion 
 And every Grace, with tears of Love's own passion. 
 She wept long ; then she spake : — * * Sweet sleep did come 
 While sweetest Theseus went. Oh, glad and dumb, 
 I wish he had left me still ! for in my sleep 
 I saw his Athens, and did gladly keep 
 My new bride-state within my Theseus ' hall ; 
 And heard the pomp of Hymen, and the call 
 Of '' Ariadne, Ariadne," sung 
 In choral joy ; and there, with joy I hung 
 Spring-blossoms round love's altar! — ay, and wore 
 A wreath myself; and felt him evermore. 
 Oh, evermore beside me! with his mighty 
 Grave head bowed down in prayer to Aphrodite! 
 Why, what a sweet, sweet dream! He went with it, 
 And left me here un wedded where I sit ! 
 
 And while I dreamed of marriage, as I say. 
 And blest it well, my blessed Theseus left me: 
 And thus the sleep, I loved so, has bereft me. 
 Speak to me, rocks, and tell my grief to-day, 
 Who stole my love of Athens? "... 
 
ARIADNE'S CROWN 191 
 
 Then Bacchus' subtle speech her sorrow crossed: — 
 ** maiden, dost thou mourn for having lost 
 The false Athenian heart? and dost thou still 
 Take thought of Theseus, when thou mayest at will 
 Have Bacchus for a husband ? Bacchus bright ! 
 
 A god in place of mortal ! Yes, and though 
 The mortal youth be charming in thy sight, 
 
 That man of Athens cannot strive below, 
 In beauty and valor, with my deity! 
 
 Thou 'It tell me of the labyrinthine dweller, 
 The fierce man-bull he slew: I pray thee, be, 
 
 Fair Ariadne, the true deed's true teller. 
 And mention thy clue's help! because, forsooth, 
 
 Thine armed Athenian hero had not found 
 
 A power to fight on that prodigious ground, 
 Unless a lady in her rosy youth 
 Had lingered near him : not to speak the truth 
 Too definitely out till names be known — 
 Like Paphia's — Love's — and Ariadne's own. 
 Thou wilt not say that Athens can compare 
 
 With Aether, nor that Minos rules like Zeus, 
 Nor yet that Gnossus has such golden air 
 
 As high Olympus. Ha ! for noble use 
 We came to Naxos ! Love has well intended 
 To change thy bridegroom! Happy thou, defended 
 From entering in thy Theseus' earthly hall, 
 That thou mayst hear the laughters rise and fall 
 
 Instead, where Bacchus rules! Or wilt thou choose 
 A still-surpassing glory ? — take it all, — 
 A heavenly house, Kronion's self for kin, — 
 A place where Cassiopeia sits within 
 Inferior light, for all her daughter's sake, 
 Since Perseus, even amid the stars, must take 
 
192 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Andromeda in chains aethereal ! 
 
 But / will wreath thee, sweet, an astral crown, 
 
 And as my queen and spouse thou shalt be known — 
 
 Mine, the crown-lover's! '' Thus, at length, he proved 
 
 His comfort on her ; and the maid was moved ; 
 
 And casting Theseus' memory down the brine, 
 
 She straight received the troth of her divine 
 
 Fair Bacchus; Love stood by to close the rite; 
 
 The marriage-chorus struck up clear and light, 
 
 Flowers sprouted fast about the chamber green, 
 
 And with spring-garlands on their heads, I ween, 
 
 The Orchomenian dancers came along 
 
 And danced their rounds in Naxos to the song. 
 
 A Hamadryad sang a nuptial dit 
 
 Right shrilly: and a Naiad sat beside 
 A fountain, with her bare foot shelving it, 
 
 And hymned of Ariadne, beauteous bride. 
 
 Whom thus the god of grapes had deified. 
 Ortygia sang out, louder than her wont. 
 
 An ode which Phoebus gave her to be tried. 
 And leapt in chorus, with her steadfast front. 
 While prophet Love, the stars have called a brother, 
 Burnt in his crown, and twined in one another 
 His love-flower with the purple roses, given 
 In type of that new crown assigned in heaven. 
 
 — NoNNUS, translated by Mrs. Browning. 
 
CENTAURUS AND THE SOUTHERN 
 
 CROSS 
 
 These are the most interesting constellations of the far 
 south, but to most of the northern hemispheres they are in- 
 visible. 
 
Southern 
 Cross 
 
 Alpha Centauri 
 
ALPHA CENTAURI AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS 
 
 Far in the south, and near the southern Pole, are two 
 objects which we must not fail to mention ; one is Alpha 
 Centauri, our sun's nearest known neighbor sun, and the 
 other is the Southern Cross. Alpha Centauri and Beta 
 Centauri are the two first-magnitude stars in the constel- 
 lation Centaurus, and are sometimes called the '^ south- 
 ern pointers, ' ' because they point to the Southern Cross. 
 Alpha Centauri is the brighter, and is 4.3 light years 
 away from us. When we consider that light travels 
 186,400 miles a second, and recall the number of sec- 
 onds in a year, it makes us feel very much alone in 
 space to know that the light we see to-night started 
 from our nearest neighbor nearly four and a half years 
 ago. The Southern Cross is a tiny constellation of four 
 stars — one first magnitude, two second magnitudes, and 
 one third magnitude — that form almost a perfect cross; 
 and it is world-wide famous because of the beauty of 
 these four bright stars so close together in a figure with 
 so many romantic and religious associations. 
 
 195 
 
CONSTELLATIONS 
 
 CONSTELLATIONS of the early night, 
 That sparkled brighter as the twilight died, 
 And made the darkness glorious ! I have seen 
 Your rays grow dim upon the horizon's edge, 
 And sink behind the mountains. I have seen 
 The great Orion, with his jewelled belt, 
 That large-limbed warrior of the skies, go down 
 Into the gloom. Beside him sank a crowd 
 Of shining ones. I look in vain to find 
 The group of sister-stars, which mothers love 
 To show their wondering babes, the gentle Seven. 
 Along the desert space mine eyes in vain 
 Seek the resplendent cressets which the Twins 
 Uplifted in their ever-youthful hands. 
 The streaming tresses of the Egyptian Queen 
 Spangle the heavens no more. The Virgin trails 
 No more her glittering garments through the blue, 
 Gone! all are gone! and the forsaken Night, 
 With all her winds, in all her dreary wastes, 
 Sighs that they shine upon her face no more. 
 
 Now only here and there a little star 
 Looks forth alone. Ah me ! I know them not, 
 Those dim successors of the numberless host 
 That filled the heavenly fields, and flung to earth 
 Their quivering fires. And now the middle watch 
 Betwixt the eve and morn is past, and still 
 The darkness gains upon the sky, and still 
 It closes round my way. Shall, then, the Night 
 
 196 
 
CONSTELLATIONS 197 
 
 Grow starless in her later hours? Have these 
 No train of flaming watchers, that shall mark 
 Their coming and farewell ? Sons of Light ! 
 Have ye then left me ere the dawn of day 
 To grope along my journey sad and faint? 
 
 Thus I complained, and from the darkness round 
 A voice replied — was it indeed a voice, 
 Or seeming accents of a waking dream 
 Heard by the inner ear ? But thus it said : 
 Traveler of the Night ! thine eyes are dim 
 With watching ; and the mists, that chill the vale 
 Down which thy feet are passing, hide from view 
 The ever-burning stars. It is thy sight 
 That is so dark, and not the heavens. Thine eyes, 
 Were they but clear, would see a fiery host 
 Above thee; Hercules, with flashing mace, 
 The Lyre with silver chords, the Swan uppoised 
 On gleaming wings, the Dolphin gliding on 
 With glistening scales, and that poetic steed. 
 With beamy mane, whose hoof struck out from earth 
 The fount of Hippocrene, and many more, 
 Fair clustered splendors, with whose rays the Night 
 Shall close her march in glory, ere she yield 
 To the young Day, the great earth steeped in dew. 
 
 So spake the monitor, and I perceived 
 How vain were my repinings, and my thought 
 Went backward to the vanished years and all 
 The good and great who came and passed with them, 
 And knew that ever would the years to come 
 Bring with them, in their course, the good and great, 
 Lights of the world, though, to my clouded sight, 
 Their rays might seem but dim, or reach me not. 
 
 — William Cullen Bryant. 
 
OTHER STORIES OF THE STARS 
 
 Up to this point the myths I have told you are the ones 
 made famous by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, and 
 often repeated by the poets of Europe. They are not the 
 only stories of the stars, however. The people in other parts 
 of the world have told stories to suit themselves. I believe 
 you will be entertained by some of those. 
 
GENERAL MYTHS 
 
 The birth of myth was in the endeavor of primitive 
 man to interpret the meaning of his surroundings. 
 Myth, with its prolific offspring, legend and tradition, 
 was the necessary travailing through which the mind of 
 man had to pass in its slow progress toward certitude. 
 His sole measure of things was himself; consequently, 
 he thought that everything that moved, or that had 
 power of movement, did so because, like him, it was 
 alive. A personal life and will was attributed to sun, 
 moon, clouds, river, waterfall, ocean, and tree; and the 
 varying phenomena of the sky at dawn or noonday, at 
 gray eve or black-clouded night, were the manifestation 
 of the controlling life that dwelt in all. In a thousand 
 different forms this conception was expressed. The 
 thunder was the roar of a mighty beast ; the lightning a 
 serpent darting at his prey, an angry eye flashing, the 
 storm demon 's outshot tongue ; the rainbow a thirsty 
 monster; the waterspout a long-tailed dragon. This was 
 not a pretty or powerful figure of speech, not imagery, 
 but an explanation. The men who thus spoke of these 
 phenomena meant precisely what they said. What does 
 the savage know about heat, light, sound, electricity, and 
 other modes of motion? How many persons who have 
 enjoyed a ** liberal '' education can give correct an- 
 swers, if asked off-hand to explain how glaciers are born 
 of the sunshine, and why two sounds, traveling in op- 
 posite directions at equal velocities, ^* interfere " and 
 cause a silence? 
 
 201 
 
202 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Obviously, the richest and most suggestive material 
 for myths would be supplied by the striking phenomena 
 of the heavens, chiefly in sunrise and sunset, in moon, 
 star, star-group, and meteor, in cloud and storm; and, 
 next in importance, by the strange and terrible among 
 phenomena on earth, whether in the restless waters, the 
 unquiet trees, the grotesquely shaped rocks, or the fear 
 inspired in man by creatures more powerful than him- 
 self. Through the whole range of the lower culture, 
 sun, moon, and constellations are spoken of as living 
 creatures, often as ancestors, heroes, and benefactors 
 who have departed to the country above, to heaven, the 
 heaved, uplifted land. Among the Red Races, one tribe 
 thought the sun, moon, and stars were men and women 
 who went into the sea every night and swam out by the 
 east. The Bushmen say that the sun was once a man 
 who shed light from his body, but only for a short 
 distance, until some children threw him into the sky 
 while he slept, and thus he shines upon the wide earth. 
 The Australians say that all was darkness around them 
 till one of their many ancestors (who still shine from the 
 stars, shedding good and evil) threw, in pity for them, 
 an emu's egg into space, when it became the sun. Among 
 the Manacicas of Brazil, the sun was their culture-hero, 
 . . . and their jugglers, who claimed power to fly 
 through the air, said that his luminous figure, like that 
 of a man, could be seen by them, though too dazzling 
 for common mortals to see. 
 
 The sun has been stayed in his course in other places 
 than Gibeon, although by mechanical means, of which 
 Joshua appears to have been independent. Among the 
 many exploits of Maui, abounding in Polynesian myth, 
 are those of his capture of the sun. He had, like 
 
GENERAL MYTHS 203 
 
 Prometheus, snatched fire from heaven for mortals ; and 
 his task was to cure Ea, the sun-god, of his trick of 
 setting before the day's work was done. So Maui 
 plaited thick ropes of cocoa-nut fiber, and, taking them 
 to the opening through which Ra climbed up from the 
 nether world, he laid a slip-noose for him, placing the 
 other ropes at intervals along his path. Lying in wait 
 as Ra neared, he pulled the first rope, but the noose only 
 caught Ra's feet. Nor could Maui stop him until he 
 reached the sixth rope, when he was caught around the 
 neck and pulled so tightly by Maui that he had to come 
 to terms, and agree to slacken his pace for the future. 
 Maui, however, took the precaution to keep the ropes on 
 him, and they may still be seen hanging from the sun 
 at dawn and eve. In Tahitian myth, Maui is a priest, 
 who, in building a house which must be finished by day- 
 light, seizes the sun by its rays and binds it to a tree 
 till the house is built. In North American myth, a boy 
 snared the sun, and there was no light on the earth. 
 So the beasts held council who should undertake the 
 perilous task of cutting the cord, when the dormouse, 
 then the biggest among them, volunteered. And it suc- 
 ceeded, but so scorched was it by the heat that it was 
 shriveled to the smallest of creatures. 
 
 In Indian myth we read that the moon is the sun's 
 sister, an aged, pale-faced woman. In Australian myth, 
 the moon's motions are explained as due to the chase of 
 a jealous husband, one of the bright stars, who found his 
 wife in the act of eloping with the moon. Among the 
 Bushmen, the moon has incurred the sun's anger, and is 
 hacked smaller and smaller by him, till, begging for 
 mercy, a respite is given. But as soon as he grows 
 larger the sun hacks him again. In Slavonic myth the 
 
204 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 sun cleaves him through for loving the morning star. 
 The Indians of the far west say that, when the moon is 
 full, evil spirits begin nibbling at it, and eat a portion 
 every night till it is all gone ; then a great spirit makes 
 a new moon, and, weary with his toil, falls asleep, when 
 the bad spirits renew the attack. Another not uncom- 
 mon group of myths is that which speaks of sun and 
 moon as borne across the heavens on the backs of an- 
 cestors, as in the Greek myth Atlas supports the world. 
 
 But a still larger and more widespread body of myth 
 has its source in the patches on the moon's face. In 
 the Samoan Islands these are said to be a woman, a child, 
 and a mallet. A woman was once hammering out paper 
 cloth, and, seeing the moon rise, looking like a great 
 bread-fruit, she asked it to come down and let her child 
 eat a piece of it. But the moon was very angry at the 
 idea of being eaten, and gobbled up woman, child, and 
 mallet, and there they are to this day. The Selish In- 
 dians of Northwestern America say that the little wolf 
 was in love with the toad, and pursued her one moon- 
 light night, till, as a last chance, she made a desperate 
 spring onto the face of the moon, and there she is still. 
 In Greenland myth, the moon was in love with his sis- 
 ter, and stole in the dark to caress her. She, wishing 
 to find out who her lover was, blackened her hands so 
 that the marks might be left on him, which accounts for 
 the spots. The Khasias of the Himalayas say that the 
 moon falls in love every month with his mother-in-law, 
 who, like a well-conducted matron, throws ashes in his 
 face. 
 
 Comparing these with our familiar myths, we have our 
 own Man in the Moon, who is said to be the culprit 
 found by Moses gathering sticks on the Sabbath, al- 
 
GENERAL MYTHS 205 
 
 though his place of banishment is a popular addition to 
 the Scripture narrative. According to the German 
 legend, he was a scoffer who committed the same heinous 
 offense on a Sunday, and was given the alternative of 
 being scorched in the sun or frozen in the moon. The 
 Frisians say that he stole cabbages, the load of which 
 he still bears on his back. In Icelandic myth the two 
 children familiar to us as Jack and Jill were kidnaped 
 by the moon, and there they stand to this day, with 
 bucket on pole across their shoulders, falling away one 
 after the other as the moon wanes, a phase described 
 in the couplet : 
 
 Jack fell down and broke his crown, 
 And Jill came tumbling after. 
 
 Poetry has made the man in the moon its theme. 
 Dante calls him Cain: Chaucer describes him 
 
 Bearing a bush of thorns on his back, 
 
 Which for his theft might climb so near the heaven; 
 
 and Shakespeare refers to him in ** Midsummer Night's 
 Dream ' ' and the ' ' Tempest. ' ' 
 
 *' Eevenons a nos moutons, " as the impatient client 
 who had lost some sheep reminded his rambling ad- 
 vocate. 
 
 In the great body of nature-myth, the stars are prom- 
 inent members. In their multitude; their sublime re- 
 pose in upper calms above the turmoil of the elements; 
 their varying brilliancy, '* one star differing from an- 
 other star in glory"; their tremulous light; their scat- 
 tered positions, which lend themselves to every vagary 
 
206 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 of the constellation-maker; their slow procession, varied 
 only by sweeping comet and meteor, or falling showers 
 of shooting stars ; they lead the imagination into gentler 
 ways than do the vaster bodies of the most ancient 
 heavens. Nor, — although we may compute their num- 
 ber, weigh their volume, in a few instances reckon their 
 distance, and, capturing the light that has come beating 
 through space for unnumbered years, make it reveal the 
 secret of their structure, — is the imagination less moved 
 by the clear heavens at night, or the feeling of awe and 
 reverence blunted before that ** mighty sum of things 
 for ever speaking/' 
 
 In barbaric myth the stars are spoken of as the chil- 
 dren of the sun and the moon, but more often as men 
 who have lived on the earth, translated without seeing 
 death. The single stars are individual chiefs or heroes; 
 the constellations are groups of men or animals. To the 
 natives of Australia the brilliant Jupiter is a chief 
 among the others, and the stars in Orion's belt and 
 scabbard are young men dancing a corroboree, the 
 Pleiades being girls playing to them. The Kasirs of 
 Bengal say that the stars are the men who climbed to 
 the top of a tree, and were left in the branches when 
 the trunk was cut away. To the Eskimos the stars in 
 Orion are seal-hunters who have missed their way home ; 
 and in German folklore they are spoken of as the mowers, 
 because, as Grimm says, '' they stand in a row, like 
 mowers in a meadow. ' ' In North American myth two of 
 the bright stars are twins who have left a home where 
 they were harshly treated, and leapt into the sky, 
 whither their parents followed them, and ceaselessly 
 chase them. In Greek myth the faintest star of the 
 seven Pleiades is Merope, whose light was dimmed be- 
 
GENERAL MYTHS 207 
 
 cause she alone among her sisters married a mortal. 
 In German starlore, the small star just above the 
 middle one in the shaft of Charles's Wain, is a wagoner, 
 who, having given our Saviour a lift, was offered the 
 kingdom of heaven for his reward, but who said he 
 would sooner be driving from east to west to all eternity, 
 and whose desire was granted. 
 
 The Housatonie Indians say that the stars in Charles 's 
 Wain are men hunting a bear, and that the chase lasts 
 from spring to auturaji, when the bear is wounded, 
 and its dripping blood turns the leaves of the trees red. 
 With this may be cited the myth that the red clouds at 
 morn and eve are the blood of the slain in battle. In 
 the Northern Lights, the Greenlanders see the spirits of 
 the departed dancing, the brighter the flash of the 
 Aurora the greater the merriment; whilst the Dacotahs 
 say of the meteors that they are spirits flying through 
 the air. 
 
 Of the Milky Way, — so called because Hera, indig- 
 nant at the bantling Herakles's being put to her breast, 
 spilt her milk along the sky, — the Ottawas say that it 
 was caused by a turtle swimming along the bottom of the 
 sky, and stirring up the mud. According to the Pata- 
 gonians, it is the track along which the departed tribes- 
 men hunt ostriches; in African myth it is some wood- 
 ashes long ago thrown up into the sky by a girl, that 
 her people might be able to see their way home at night ; 
 in Eastern myth, it is chaff dropped by a thief in his 
 hurried flight. 
 
 But the idea of a land beyond the sky — be it the happy 
 hunting ground of the Indian, or the Paradise of Islam, 
 or the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse — would not 
 fail to be imagined, and in both the Milky Way and the 
 
208 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Rainbow barbaric fancy sees the ladders and bridges 
 whereby the departed pass from earth to heaven. So 
 we find in the lower and higher culture alike the beau- 
 tiful conceptions of the chemin des dmes, the Red Man's 
 road of the dead to their home in the sun; the ancient 
 Roman path of, or to, the gods; the road of the birds, 
 in Lithuanian myth, because the winged spirits flit 
 thither to the free and happy land. In prosaic contrast 
 to all this, it is curious to find among the people living 
 in England the Milky Way described as Watling Street ! 
 That famous road, which ran from Tichborough through 
 Canterbury and London to Chester, now gives its name 
 to a narrow, bustling city street. But who the Waet- 
 lings were and why their name was transferred from 
 Britain to the sky, we do not know, although the fact 
 is plainly enough set down in old writers, foremost 
 among whom is Chaucer. In his '^ House of Fame *' 
 (II, 427) he says:— 
 
 ' Now,^ quod he the, ' cast up thyn ye ; 
 See yonder, lo, the Galaxye, 
 The which men clepe the Milky Wey, 
 For hit is white: and somme, parfey, 
 Callen hit Watlynge strete.' 
 
 — Selected from Edward Clodd's " The Birth 
 and Growth of Myth," published in Knowledge, 
 
 DARKNESS 
 
 I HAD a dream, which was not all a dream. 
 The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars 
 Did wander darkling in the eternal space, 
 Rayless, and pathless, and the icy Earth 
 
DARKNESS 209 
 
 Swung blind and blackening in tlie moonless air; 
 
 Morn came and went — and came, and brought no day, 
 
 And men forgot their passions in the dread 
 
 Of this their desolation ; and all hearts 
 
 Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light : 
 
 And they did live by watchfires — and the thrones, 
 
 The palaces of crowned kings — the huts, 
 
 The habitations of all things which dwell, 
 
 Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed, 
 
 And men were gathered round their blazing homes 
 
 To look once more into each other's face; 
 
 Happy were those who dwelt within the eye 
 
 Of the volcanos and their mountain-torch : 
 
 A fearful hope was all the World contained ; 
 
 Forests were set on fire — but hour by hour 
 
 They fell and faded — and the crackling trunks 
 
 Extinguished with a crash — and all was black. 
 
 The brows of men by the despairing light 
 
 Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits 
 
 The flashes fell upon them ; some lay down 
 
 And hid their eyes and wept ; and some did rest 
 
 Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled; 
 
 And others hurried to and fro, and fed 
 
 Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up 
 
 With mad disquietude on the dull sky, 
 
 The pall of a past World ; and then again 
 
 With curses cast them down upon the dust, 
 
 And gnashed their teeth and howled; the wild birds 
 
 shrieked, 
 And, terrified, did flutter on the ground, 
 And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes 
 Came tame and tremulous ; and vipers crawled 
 And twined themselves among the multitude, 
 
210 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Hissing, but stingless — they were slain for food: 
 
 And War, which for a moment was no more, 
 
 Did glut himself again : — a meal was bought 
 
 With blood, and each sate sullenly apart 
 
 Gorging himself in gloom : no Love was left ; 
 
 All earth was but one thought — and that was Death, 
 
 Immediate and inglorious ; and the pang 
 
 Of famine fed upon all entrails — men 
 
 Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh ; 
 
 The meager by the meager were devoured. 
 
 Even dogs assailed their masters, all save one. 
 
 And he was faithful to a corse, and kept 
 
 The birds and beasts and famished men at bay, 
 
 Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead 
 
 Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food, 
 
 But with a piteous and perpetual moan. 
 
 And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand 
 
 Which answered not with a caress — ^he died. 
 
 The crowd was famished by degrees; but two 
 
 Of an enormous city did survive. 
 
 And they were enemies : they met beside 
 
 The dying embers of an altar-place 
 
 Where had been heaped a mass of holy things 
 
 For an unholy usage ; they raked up. 
 
 And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton hands 
 
 The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath 
 
 Blew for a little life, and made a flame 
 
 Which was a mockery ; then they lifted up 
 
 Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld 
 
 Each other's aspects — saw, and shrieked, and died— 
 
 Even of their mutual hideousness they died. 
 
 Unknowing who he was upon whose brow 
 
 Famine had written Fiend. The World was void, 
 
DEATH OF WORLDS 211 
 
 The populous and the powerful was a lump, 
 
 Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless — 
 
 A lump of death — a chaos of hard clay. 
 
 The rivers, lakes, and ocean all stood still, 
 
 And nothing stirred within their silent depths; 
 
 Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea. 
 
 And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropped 
 
 They slept on the abyss without a surge — 
 
 The waves were dead ; the tides were in their grave, 
 
 The Moon, their mistress, had expired before ; 
 
 The winds were withered in the stagnant air. 
 
 And the clouds perished; Darkness had no need 
 
 Of aid from them — She was the Universe. 
 
 — Lord Byron. 
 
 DEATH OF WORLDS 
 
 I AM often asked, when I have shown how (so far as 
 science can judge) all the orbs in space seem to tend 
 towards death, whether there may not be some way in 
 which this seeming tendency may be counterbalanced by 
 some restorative forces. When one has to reply that 
 science does not at present recognize any such forces, 
 that the theories devised by Mattieu, Williams, Siemens, 
 and others to that end are not only not supported by 
 scientific evidence, but directly opposed to it, the idea 
 seems commonly entertained that science rejects the be- 
 lief in any restriction of the energies which seem pass- 
 ing continually away from suns and planets. Yet, in 
 reality, such a reply means nothing of the sort. On the 
 contrary, it is as certain that science has shown nothing 
 against the existence of any restorative forces, as it is 
 
212 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 that science has as yet shown nothing in favor of such a 
 process. Science simply knows nothing either one side 
 or the other. And I think if men rightly understood 
 the limitations of scientific research, they would see no 
 reason to wonder that science should be thus unable to 
 reply to a question so exceedingly difficult. Our knowl- 
 edge has grown more and more, and is ever growing 
 more and more, till it seems as though it would eventu- 
 ally extend over all time and all space; yet it is in 
 reality, and ever must be, extremely limited compared 
 with what actually is. In regard to the question of the 
 seeming wasting away, slowly, yet surely, of the life 
 of every sun and every planet, we are much in the posi- 
 tion of creatures whose whole lives, lasting but a few 
 days, perhaps, would be, if placed beside a running 
 river. They should learn, if , they had the power of 
 reasoning, that the waters of the river were passing 
 continually away in one direction; and they would be 
 apt to infer that unless the store of water were infinite, 
 the supply must at length be exhausted. If we imagine 
 them combining together information derived from 
 others of their kind, up stream and down stream within 
 limited distances, and also storing up, for what would 
 seem to them a long period of time, the information 
 gathered by generation after generation, they would 
 learn that the river was broader lower down and nar- 
 rower higher up, and that it had remained (on the 
 whole) without appreciable change. They might even, 
 we may imagine, learn how the river was fed by smaller 
 streams, how it flowed into a large river, that into yet 
 larger rivers, and so (possibly they might learn to guess) 
 into a sea of extent, to their minds, practically infinite. 
 Still their science could give no answer to the question 
 
DEATH OF WORLDS 213 
 
 how the river might not really waste away, as it seemed 
 to be wasting (though inappreciably in long periods of 
 their time). The actual process of restoration, which, 
 to us, seems so simple a matter, could not possibly sug- 
 gest itself to creatures having their limited knowledge 
 and experience. That the air in which they lived con- 
 tained the stores from which the river, unlike them in all 
 respects, was constantly nourished, would seem in- 
 credible if suggested to them; but, as a matter of fact, 
 the idea would be to them utterly inconceivable. It 
 would not occur to their minds at all. By parity of rea- 
 soning, we may well believe that the way in which the 
 energies of suns and planets are continually restored, if 
 (as I believe myself must be the case) they are restored 
 at all, is utterly outside the range of our knowledge 
 and experience. Thus understood as suggesting the 
 kind of way, not the way itself, in which such restoration 
 may be effected, the following strictly unscientific ideas 
 may be regarded as admissible. Men were long de- 
 ceived in regard to space, — they thought this world all- 
 important in space, whereas now they know it to be the 
 merest point compared with the solar system, this sys- 
 tem the merest point compared with the distances sep- 
 arating star from star, and the whole of the system 
 of stars utterly lost in unfathomable depths of space. 
 Men were deceived with regard to time, — they thought 
 the duration of this earth represented all time; was, at 
 least, central in time ; they know it now to be the merest 
 second compared with the duration of the solar system, 
 the duration of this a mere moment compared with the 
 uncounted aeons of whose progress the star-depths tell 
 us, and even these as nothing compared with the 
 eternities of past and future time amid which they are 
 
214 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 lost. May it not well be, then, that, as men have de- 
 ceived themselves with regard to both space and time, so 
 also have they deceived themselves with regard to the 
 very structure of the universe itself ? May it not well be 
 that the solid, liquid, and vaporous forms of matter with 
 which alone we are acquainted are not the only forms 
 of matter which exist ? May there not be a higher order 
 of universe, of which the suns and planets of the uni- 
 verse we know of are but as the atoms and molecules? 
 May there not be a lower, or, rather, a rarer, order of 
 universe, as much finer in texture, so to speak, as that 
 imagined higher order is in a sense grosser? But we 
 know that there is a rarer order of universe — the ether 
 of space — which permeates our universe, flowing through 
 the densest solids as the breeze passes through the forest 
 trees. The waste energies of stars and planets are ex- 
 pended in the ether of space. May they not subserve 
 within it important purposes, though we may not be 
 able to conceive how? May they not continually re- 
 vivify that universe, while, in turn, our universe is con- 
 tinually refreshed and restored by receiving supplies of 
 energies passed on to us from a higher order of universe ? 
 And thus, from higher and higher orders of universe, 
 absolutely without end on one side, to lower and lower 
 orders as absolutely without end on the other side, there 
 may be constant interchange of energy, instead of the 
 dying out of any one among these various orders of 
 material universe. 
 
 All this, as I have said, is outside science. For science 
 deals with what we know of, what we can observe, 
 analyze, and investigate, while these interchanges of life 
 and energy we can never analyze or test. But thus it is 
 in whatever direction we investigate the universe. On 
 
DEATH OF WORLDS 215 
 
 all sides we reach the unknown, the unknowable. "We 
 approach in every case the threshold of infinity — infinite 
 space and infinite time, infinite power and infinite vari- 
 ety. In dealing with infinity we are dealing with what 
 is for us absolutely inconceivable, though its existence 
 is absolutely certain. 
 
 — ^Richard A. Proctor. 
 
 AN ODE 
 
 The spacious firmament on high. 
 
 With all the blue ethereal sky, 
 
 And spangled Heavens, a shining frame, 
 
 Their great Original proclaim. 
 
 Th' un weary 'd Sun from day to day 
 
 Does his Creator's power display; 
 
 And publishes, to every land, 
 
 The work of an immortal hand. 
 
 Soon as the evening shades prevail, 
 
 The Moon takes up the wondrous tale; 
 
 And nightly, to the listening Earth, 
 
 Repeats the story of her birth : 
 
 Whilst all the stars that round her burn, 
 
 And all the planets, in their turn. 
 
 Confirm the tidings as they roll, 
 
 And spread the truth from pole to pole. 
 
 What though, in solemn silence, all 
 Move round the dark terrestrial ball; 
 What though no real voice, nor sound 
 Amidst their radiant orbs be found: 
 
216 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
 And utter forth a glorious voice; 
 Forever singing as they shine : 
 ** The hand that made us is divine." 
 
 —Joseph Addison. 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 
 
 The ** perfect Science," as astronomy is sometimes 
 called, is the oldest of the sciences, and its course has 
 been as turbulent as long. In no other science have 
 what appeared to be facts so stubbornly contested every 
 inch of ground with real facts. The earth looked flat. 
 The sun seemed to rise and set. All the hosts of stars 
 sank into the sea at evening, and swam out in the east 
 in the morning. All evidence to disprove these illusions 
 was held in abhorrence until almost our own age was 
 reached. 
 
 The primitive man believed that all creation had life, 
 and a will to do good and evil. It was out of this belief 
 that the myths grew up. Then the constellations were 
 marked off, and named after the heroes of the stories, 
 and were incorporated into the literature of the times. 
 Homer, in the Iliad, probably one thousand years be- 
 fore Christ, tells us about a wonderful shield that one of 
 the gods made for the hero Achilles, on which he placed 
 some of the constellations, which may have been about 
 all known to him at that time : 
 
 " First fashioned he a shield great and strong, adorning it 
 all over, and set thereto a shining rim, triple, bright-glancing, 
 and therefrom a silver baldrick. Five were the folds of the 
 shield itself; and therein fashioned he much cunning work 
 from his wise heart. 
 
 " There wrought he the earth, and the heavens, and the sea, 
 
 217 
 
218 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 and the unwearying sun, and the moon waxing to the full, and 
 the signs every one wherewith the heavens are crowned, 
 Pleiads and Hyads and Orion's might, and the Bear that men 
 call also the Wain, her that turneth in her place and watcheth 
 Orion, and alone hath no part in the baths of Ocean." 
 
 About four centuries before Christ, Eudoxus brought 
 from Egypt to Athens an improved celestial sphere, and 
 a century and a half later the poet Aratus, who was 
 then the court poet at Macedonia, sang of the stories of 
 the stars and of their positions in the heavens. A few 
 years after Christ, between 125 and 150 a.d., Ptolemy- 
 made the first accurate star charts, and propounded his 
 philosophy that our little world was the center of the 
 universe, and that all creation was for our edification. 
 This explanation of the universe had been the regular 
 belief of men long before Ptolemy, and continued to be 
 so long after him. As late as the seventeenth century 
 it was adopted by Milton (there is reason to think he 
 did not really believe in it) as the basis for *^ Paradise 
 Lost, ' ' although a century before his time Copernicus had 
 conceived the simple truth that the world turned on its 
 axis. At the time of Milton the wonderful Galileo had 
 made his name immortal by the invention of the tele- 
 scope, an instrument which has made our greatly ad- 
 vanced astronomy of to-day possible. 
 
 At last truth came into her own, and the past two 
 centuries have seen stupendous strides in astronomy. 
 Observatories have been established all over the world. 
 Brilliant and skilled men work in them; and by their 
 labors benefit beyond all estimate has been rendered to 
 the men of the sea and of the land. The great saving 
 of life at sea can never be known. And it is highly 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES* 219 
 
 probable that the advanced astronomy of to-day saves 
 more money in the transactions of business than it costs 
 to run all our observatories. 
 
 Telescopes were made larger and larger, with bet- 
 ter and better lenses, until they reached almost the 
 acme of perfection. It began to look as if the limits of 
 progress had been nearly reached : there was no way to 
 learn those secrets of the stars that the telescope failed 
 to penetrate. But human ingenuity, not to be balked, 
 goes on finding new instruments to supplement the tele- 
 scope or the eye. The photographer has given us a sort 
 of new eye. A photographic apparatus attached to a 
 telescope records many things that escape the eye, be- 
 cause the plate can be exposed for hours and hours, 
 while the eye becomes tired and dull in a very short time. 
 To mention but a single example, the vast nebula sur- 
 rounding the Pleiades has been shown to us. At Harvard 
 Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., Professor Pickering is 
 having the whole sky photographed on long time ex- 
 posures. Very careful records are kept of all the plates, 
 and they are examined with minute care in the search for 
 new stars. These pictures of the sky will make by far 
 the most perfect star charts that the world has ever 
 known, and will be a wonderful gift to pass on to the 
 generations who will follow us. 
 
 Another discovery which we will mention will be a 
 little harder to understand, but more interesting. And 
 while you cannot understand the principles perfectly 
 until you have studied physics and chemistry, you can 
 still enjoy the revelations. You, perhaps, know that our 
 light comes to us in waves like the water waves on the 
 seashore, or the little waves that come rolling in when 
 you cast a stone into a brook. The length of the tiny 
 
220 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 light waves is so extremely small that we can scarcely 
 conceive of them. Yet an instrument has been made 
 that can measure them. It is called the spectroscope, 
 and the fundamental part of it is a prism. It may be 
 that you have looked through prisms. *' I shall never 
 forget the pleasure I had with them when I was a small 
 child. My grandmother had a swinging lamp hung 
 from the parlor ceiling; its shade was decorated with 
 dozens of prisms dangling from the edges. If one slipped 
 from its chain, I secured it with glee ; and when I looked 
 at things through it, every object seemed to be laced 
 about with a rainbow. '^ The picture of colored bands 
 that the light makes when passing through the spectro- 
 scope is called the spectrum of the object from which the 
 light comes. This picture is like our rainbow, which is 
 a genuine spectrum. Now, different solids and gases, 
 at white heat, have different spectra; so, by examining 
 the spectrum of the light from a certain star, the scien- 
 tist can tell of what material the star is composed. 
 
 Nor is this all that the spectroscope tells us. While 
 these many-banded pictures were being examined, it was 
 detected that the spectra of some stars seemed com- 
 pressed, as if the light waves were beating down upon 
 them ; of other stars the spectra seemed to be dispersed, 
 as if something was retarding the light waves. Analysis 
 of this condition revealed that the spectrum seemed to 
 be compressed when the star was moving towards us, 
 and that the spectrum seemed to be dispersed when the 
 star was moving away from us. So at last science had, 
 in a sense, compassed the vast inconceivable distances 
 of space, and was able almost directly to measure the 
 motion of the stars as they approach us and leave us. 
 By comparing the spectrum of a star with the spectrum 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 221 
 
 of an object at rest, and making some mathematical 
 calculations, it can be determined with what speed the 
 star which gives the compressed spectrum is approach- 
 ing us, and with what speed the star which gives the 
 dispersed spectrum is leaving us. 
 
 In the last four or five years of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, it was found that the Pole Star is approaching us 
 at a great speed that changes every four days. These 
 changes show that Polaris is whirling around some dark 
 object — dark, else we could see it — as our moon goes 
 around the earth, but at a tremendous speed, making 
 its circuit in four days. But all the while this system is 
 coming on through space at a still greater speed. When 
 Polaris is on her backward voyage around this dark 
 companion, her motion towards us is the difference be- 
 tween her motion around it, and the motion of the system 
 towards us, just as if you were running backwards 
 through a swiftly moving train. But when Polaris is 
 coming on around, her speed towards us is the sum of 
 the motion of the system towards us and her motion 
 around her companion, just as if you were running for- 
 ward in a swiftly moving train. 
 
 The distance of a star from the earth makes no differ- 
 ence in its treatment with a spectroscope. The light 
 from Polaris that reaches us to-night started on its jour- 
 ney over fifty years ago, and has been traveling 186,400 
 miles a second during all these years. Yet it comes 
 with all its inherent qualities, and tells us the secrets 
 
 of its creator. 
 
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN 1856 
 
 The object of an observatory, erected and supplied 
 with instruments of admirable construction, and at pro- 
 portionate expense, is, as I have already intimated, to 
 provide for an accurate and systematic survey of the 
 heavenly bodies, with a view to a more correct and 
 extensive acquaintance with those already known, and, 
 as instrumental power and skill in using it increase, to 
 the discovery of bodies hitherto invisible, and in both 
 classes to the determination of their distances, their re- 
 lations to each other, and the laws which govern their 
 movements. 
 
 Why should we wish to obtain this knowledge ? What 
 inducement is there to expend large sums of money in 
 the erection of observatories, and in furnishing them 
 with costly instruments, and in the support of the men 
 of science employed in making, discussing, and record- 
 ing, for successive generations, these minute observa- 
 tions of the heavenly bodies? 
 
 What is the use of an observatory, and what benefit 
 may be expected from the operations of such an estab- 
 lishment in a community like ours? 
 
 In the first place, then, we derive from the observa- 
 tions of the heavenly bodies which are made at an ob- 
 servatory, our only adequate measures of time, and our 
 only means of comparing the time of one place with the 
 time of another. Our artificial time-keepers — clocks, 
 
 222 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 223 
 
 watches, and chronometers — ^however ingeniously con- 
 trived and admirably fabricated, are but a transcript, so 
 to say, of the celestial motions, and would be of no value 
 without the means of regulating them by observation. 
 It is impossible for them, under any circumstances, to 
 escape the imperfection of all machinery the work of 
 human hands; and the moment we remove with our 
 time-keeper east or west, it fails us. It will keep home 
 time alone, like the fond traveler who leaves his heart 
 behind him. The artificial instrument is of incalculable 
 utility, but must itself be regulated by the eternal clock- 
 work of the skies. 
 
 This single consideration is sufficient to show how com- 
 pletely the daily business of life is affected and con- 
 trolled by the heavenly bodies. It is they — and not our 
 main-springs, our expansion balances, and our com- 
 pensating pendulums — ^which give us our time. To re- 
 verse the line of Pope : 
 
 "'Tis with our watches as our judgments; — ^none 
 Go just alike, but each beheves his own." 
 
 But for all the kindreds and tribes and tongues of 
 men — each upon their own meridian — from the Arctic 
 pole to the equator, from the equator to the Antarctic 
 pole, the eternal sun strikes twelve at noon, and the 
 glorious constellations, far up in the everlasting belfries 
 of the skies, chime twelve at midnight ; — ^twelve for the 
 pale student over his flickering lamp; twelve amid the 
 flaming glories of Orion 's belt, if he crosses the meridian 
 at that fated hour; twelve by the weary couch of lan- 
 guishing humanity; twelve in the star-paved courts of 
 the Empyrean; twelve for the heaving tides of the 
 ocean; twelve for the weary arm of labor; twelve for 
 
224 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 the toiling brain; twelve for the watching, waldng, 
 broken heart; twelve for the meteor which blazes for a 
 moment and expires ; twelve for the comet whose period 
 is measured by the centuries; twelve for every sub- 
 stantial, for every imaginary thing, which exists in the 
 sense, the intellect, or the fancy, and which the speech 
 or thought of man, at the given meridian, refers to the 
 lapse of time. 
 
 Not only do we resort to the observation of the heav- 
 enly bodies for the means of regulating and rectifying 
 our clocks, but the great divisions of day and month 
 and year are derived from the same source. By the con- 
 stitution of our nature, the elements of our existence are 
 closely connected with celestial times. Partly by his 
 physical organization, partly by the experience of the 
 race from the dawn of creation, man, as he is, and the 
 times and seasons of the heavenly bodies, are part and 
 parcel of one system. The first great division of time, 
 the day -night, for which we have no precise synonym in 
 our language, with its primal alteration of waking and 
 sleeping, of labor and rest, is a vital condition of the 
 existence of such a creature as man. The revolution of 
 the year, with its various incidents of summer and win- 
 ter, and seed-time and harvest, is not less involved in 
 our social, material, and moral progress. It is true 
 that, at the poles and on the equator, the effects of 
 these revolutions are variously modified or wholly dis- 
 appear; but as the necessary consequence, human life is 
 extinguished at the poles, and on the equator attains 
 only a languid or feverish development. Those lati- 
 tudes only in which the great motions and cardinal posi- 
 tions of the earth exert a mean influence, exhibit man 
 in the harmonious expansion of his powers. The lunar 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 225 
 
 period, which lies at the foundation of the month, is 
 less vitally connected with human existence and de- 
 velopment ; but is proved by the experience of every age 
 and race to be eminently conducive to the progress of 
 civilization and culture. 
 
 But indispensable as are these heavenly measures of 
 time to our life and progress, and obvious as are the 
 phenomena on which they rest, yet owing to the cir- 
 cumstances that, in the economy of nature, the day, the 
 month, and the year are not exactly commensurable, 
 some of the most difficult questions in practical astron- 
 omy are those by which an accurate division of time, ap- 
 plicable to the various uses of life, is derived from the 
 observation of the heavenly bodies. I have no doubt 
 that, to the Supreme Intelligence which created and 
 rules the universe, there is a harmony hidden to us in the 
 numerical relation to each other of days, months, and 
 years ; but in our ignorance of that harmony, their prac- 
 tical adjustment to each other is a work of difficulty. 
 The great embarrassment which attended the reforma- 
 tion of the calendar, after the error of the Julian period 
 had, in the lapse of centuries, reached ten (or rather 
 twelve) days, sufficiently illustrates this remark. It is 
 most true that scientific difficulties did not form the chief 
 obstacle. Having been proposed under the auspices of 
 the Roman pontiff, the Protestant world, for a century 
 and more, rejected the new style. It was in various 
 places the subject of controversy, collision, and blood- 
 shed. It was not adopted in England till nearly two 
 centuries after its introduction at Rome; and in the 
 country of Struve and the Pulkova equatorial, they per- 
 sist at the present day in adding eleven minutes and 
 twelve seconds to the length of the tropical year. 
 
226 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 The second great practical use of an Astronomical Ob- 
 servatory is connected with the science of geography. 
 The jSirst page of the history of our Continent declares 
 this truth. Profound meditation on the sphericity of 
 the earth was one of the main reasons which led Co- 
 lumbus to undertake his momentous voyage; and his 
 thorough acquaintance with the astronomical science of 
 that day was, in his own judgment, what enabled him to 
 overcome the almost innumerable obstacles which at- 
 tended its prosecution. In return, I find that Coper- 
 nicus, in the very commencement of his immortal work, 
 De Bevolutionihus Orhium Coelestiumy fol. 2, appeals to 
 the discovery of America as completing the demonstra- 
 tion of the sphericity of the earth. Much of our knowl- 
 edge of the figure, size, density, and position of the 
 earth, as a member of the solar system, is derived from 
 this science ; and it furnishes us the means of perform- 
 ing the most important operations of practical geog- 
 raphy. Latitude and longitude, which lie at the basis 
 of all descriptive geography, are determined by observa- 
 tion. No map deserves the name on which the position 
 of important points has not been astronomically deter- 
 mined. Some even of our most important political and 
 administrative arrangements depend upon the coopera- 
 tion of this science. Among these I may mention the 
 land system of the United States, and the determination 
 of the boundaries of the country. I believe that till it 
 was done by the Federal Government, a uniform system 
 of mathematical survey had never in any country been 
 applied to an extensive territory. Large grants and 
 sales of public land took place before the Revolution, 
 and in the interval between the peace and the adoption 
 of the Constitution; but the limits of these grants and 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 227 
 
 sales were ascertained by sensible objects, by trees, 
 streams, rocks, hills, and by reference to adjacent por- 
 tions of territory previously surveyed. The uncertainty 
 of boundaries thus defined was a never-failing source of 
 litigation. Large tracts of land in the Western coun- 
 try, granted by Virginia under this old system of special 
 and local survey, were covered with conflicting claims; 
 and the controversies to which they gave rise formed no 
 small part of the business of the Federal Court after its 
 organization. But the adoption of the present land- 
 system brought order out of chaos. The entire public 
 domain is now scientifically surveyed before it is of- 
 fered for sale ; it is laid off into ranges, townships, sec- 
 tions, and smaller divisions, with unerring accuracy, 
 resting on the foundation of base and meridian lines; 
 and I have been informed that under this system, scarce 
 a case of contested location and boundary has ever pre- 
 sented itself in court. The General Land Office contains 
 maps and plans, in which every quarter-section of the 
 public land is laid down with mathematical precision. 
 The superficies of half a continent is thus transferred 
 in miniature to the bureaus of Washington; while the 
 local Land Offices contain transcripts of these plans, 
 copies of which are furnished to the individual pur- 
 chaser. When we consider the tide of population an- 
 nually flowing into the public domain, and the immense 
 importance of its efficient and economical administration, 
 the utility of this application of astronomy will be duly 
 estimated. 
 
 I will here venture to repeat an anecdote, which I 
 heard lately from a son of the late Hon. Timothy Pick- 
 ering. Mr. Octavius Pickering, on behalf of his father, 
 had applied to Mr. David Putnam of Marietta to act as 
 
228 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 his legal adviser, with respect to certain land claims in 
 the Virginia Military district, in the State of Ohio. Mr. 
 Putnam declined the agency. He had had much to do 
 with business of that kind, and found it beset with end- 
 less litigation. *' I have never,'* he added, '* succeeded 
 but in a single case, and that was a location and survey 
 made by General Washington before the Revolution ; and 
 I am not acquainted with any surveys, except those 
 made by him, but what have been litigated. ' ' 
 
 At this moment a most important survey of the coast 
 of the United States is in progress, an operation of the 
 utmost consequence, in reference to the commerce, nav- 
 igation, and hydrography of the country. The entire 
 work, I need scarce say, is one of practical astronomy. 
 
 Astronomical observation furnishes by far the best 
 means of defining the boundaries of States, especially 
 when the lines are of great length and run through un- 
 settled countries. Natural indications, like rivers and 
 mountains, however distinct in appearance, are in prac- 
 tice subject to unavoidable error. By the treaty of 1783, 
 a boundary was established between the United States 
 and Great Britain, depending chiefly on the course of 
 rivers and highlands dividing the waters which flow into 
 the Atlantic Ocean from those which flow into the St. 
 Lawrence. It took twenty years to find out which river 
 was the true St. Croix, that being the starting point. 
 England then having made the extraordinary discov- 
 ery that the Bay of Fundy is not a part of the At- 
 lantic Ocean, forty years more were passed in the unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to re-create the highlands which this 
 strange theory had annihilated; and just as the two 
 countries were on the verge of a war, the controversy was 
 settled by compromise. Had the boundary been ac- 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 229 
 
 curately described by lines of latitude and longitude, no 
 dispute could have arisen. No dispute arose as to the 
 boundary between the United States and Spain, and 
 her successor, Mexico, where it runs through untrodden 
 deserts and over pathless mountains along the forty- 
 second degree of latitude. The identity of rivers may 
 be disputed, as in the case of the St. Croix; the course 
 of mountain chains is too broad for a dividing line ; the 
 division of streams, as experience has shown, is uncer- 
 tain; but a degree of latitude is written on the heav- 
 enly sphere, and nothing but an observation is required 
 to read the record. 
 
 But scientific elements, like sharp instruments, must 
 be handled with scientific accuracy. A part of our 
 boundary between the British Provinces ran upon the 
 forty -fifth degree of latitude ; and about forty years ago 
 an expensive fortress was commenced by the government 
 of the United States, at Rouse's Point, on Lake 
 Champlain, on a spot intended to be just within our 
 limits. When a line came to be more carefully sur- 
 veyed, the fortress turned out to be on the wrong side 
 of the line ; we had been building an expensive fortifica- 
 tion for our neighbor. But in the general compromises 
 of the Treaty of Washington by the Webster and Ash- 
 burton Treaty in 1842, the fortification was left within 
 our limits. 
 
 Errors still more serious had nearly resulted, a few 
 years since, in a war with Mexico. By the treaty of 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, the boundary line between 
 the United States and that country was in part de- 
 scribed by reference to the town of El Paso, as laid 
 down on a specified map of the United States, of which 
 a copy was appended to the treaty. This boundary was 
 
230 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 to be surveyed and run by a joint commission of men of 
 science. It soon appeared that errors of two or three 
 degrees existed in the projection of the map. Its lines 
 of latitude and longitude did not conform to the topog- 
 raphy of the region ; so that it became impossible to ex- 
 ecute the text of the treaty. The famous Mesilla Val- 
 ley was a part of the debatable ground ; and the sum of 
 ten million dollars, paid to the Mexican Government for 
 that and for an additional strip of territory on the 
 southwest, was the smart-money which expiated the in- 
 accuracy of the map — the necessary result, perhaps, of 
 the want of good materials for its construction. . . . 
 
 It would be easy to multiply illustrations in proof of 
 the great practical importance of accurate scientific 
 designations, drawn from astronomical observations, in 
 various relations connected with boundaries, surveys, 
 and other geographical purposes; but I must hasten on. 
 
 A third important department, in which the services 
 rendered by astronomy are equally conspicuous. I refer 
 to commerce and navigation. It is mainly owing to the 
 results of astronomical observation, that modern com- 
 merce has attained such a vast expansion, compared with 
 that of the ancient world. I have already reminded 
 you that accurate ideas in this respect contributed 
 materially to the conception in the mind of Columbus of 
 his immortal enterprise, and to the practical success with 
 which it was conducted. It was mainly his skill in the 
 use of astronomical instruments — imperfect as they 
 were — ^which enabled him, in spite of the bewildering 
 variations of the compass, to find his way across the 
 ocean. 
 
 With the progress of the true system of the universe 
 toward general adoption, the problem of finding the 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 231 
 
 longitude at sea presented itself. This was the avowed 
 object of the foundation of the observatory at Green- 
 wich; and no one subject has received more of the at- 
 tention of astronomers, than those investigations of the 
 lunar theory on which the requisite tables of the nav- 
 igator are founded. The pathways of the ocean are 
 marked out in the sky above. The eternal lights of the 
 heavens are the only Pharos whose beams never fail, 
 which no tempest can shake from its foundation. 
 Within my recollection, it was deemed a necessary qual- 
 ification for the master and the mate of a merchant-ship, 
 and even for a prime hand, to be able to *' work a 
 lunar," as it was called. The improvements in the 
 chronometer have in practice, to a great extent, super- 
 seded this laborious operation; but observation remains, 
 and unquestionably will forever remain, the only de- 
 pendence for ascertaining the ship's time and deducing 
 the longitude from the comparison of that time with the 
 chronometer. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be thought that astronomical science 
 is brought already to such a state of perfection that 
 nothing more is to be desired, or, at least, that nothing 
 more is attainable, in reference to such practicable ap- 
 plications as I have described. This, however, is an 
 idea which generous minds will reject, in this, as in every 
 other department of human knowledge. In astronomy, 
 as in everything else, the discoveries already made, 
 theoretical or practical, instead of exhausting the science, 
 or putting a limit to its advancement, do but furnish 
 the means and instruments of further progress. I have 
 no doubt we live on the verge of discoveries and in- 
 ventions, in every department, as brilliant as any that 
 have ever been made; that there are new truths, new 
 
232 THE STAES AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 facts, ready to start into recognition on every side ; and 
 it seems to me there never was an age, since the dawn of 
 time, when men ought to be less disposed to rest satis- 
 fied with the progress already made, than the age in 
 which we live ; for there never was an age more distin- 
 guished for ingenious research, for novel result, and 
 bold generalization. 
 
 That no further improvement is desirable in the 
 means and methods of ascertaining the ship's place at 
 sea, no one, I think, will from experience be disposed 
 to assert. The last time I crossed the Atlantic, I 
 walked the quarterdeck with the officer in charge of the 
 noble vessel, on one occasion, when we were driving 
 along before a leading breeze and under a head of steam, 
 beneath a starless sky at midnight, at the rate certainly 
 of ten or eleven miles an hour. There is something 
 sublime, but approaching the terrible, in such a scene ; — 
 the rayless gloom, the midnight chill, — the awful sweU 
 of the deep, — the dismal moan of the wind through the 
 rigging, the all but volcanic fires within the hold of the 
 ship. I scarce know an occasion in ordinary life in 
 which a reflecting mind feels more keenly its hopeless 
 dependence on irrational forces beyond its own control. 
 I asked my companion how nearly he could determine his 
 ship's place at sea under favorable circumstances. 
 *' Theoretically," he answered, *' I think, within a 
 mile; — practically and usually within three or four." 
 My next question was, ^ ' How near do you think we may 
 be to Cape Race? " (that dangerous headland which 
 pushes its ironbound unlighted bastions from the shore 
 of Newfoundland far into the Atlantic, — ^first landfall 
 to the homeward-bound American vessel). ** We 
 must," said he, '* by our last observations and reckon- 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 233 
 
 ing, be within three or four miles of Cape Race." A 
 comparison of the two remarks, under the circum- 
 stances in which we were placed at the moment, brought 
 my mind to the conclusion, that it is greatly to be 
 wished that the means should be discovered of finding 
 the ship's place more accurately, or that navigators 
 would give Cape Race a little wider berth. But I do 
 not remember that one of the steam packets between 
 England and America was ever lost on that formidable 
 point. 
 
 It appears to me by no means unlikely that, with 
 the improvement of instrumental power, and of the 
 means of ascertaining the ship's time with exactness, as 
 great an advance beyond the present state of art and 
 science in finding a ship's place at sea may take place, 
 as was effected by the invention of the reflecting 
 quadrant, the calculation of lunar tables, and the im- 
 proved construction of chronometers. . . . 
 
 "Whatever advances may be made in astronomical sci- 
 ence, theoretical or applied, I am strongly inclined to 
 think that they will be made in connection with an in- 
 creased command of instrumental power. The natural 
 order in which the human mind proceeds in the acquisi- 
 tion of astronomical knowledge is minute and accurate 
 observation of the phenomena of the heavens, the skilful 
 discussion and analysis of these observations, and sound 
 philosophy in generalizing the results. 
 
 In pursuing this course, however, a difficulty pre- 
 sents itself, which for ages proved insuperable — and 
 which, to the same extent, has existed in no other science, 
 viz. : that all the leading phenomena are in their ap- 
 pearance delusive. It is, indeed, true that in all sciences 
 superficial observation can only lead, except by chance, 
 
234 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 to superficial knowledge; but I kaow of no branch in 
 which, to the same degree as in astronomy, the great 
 leading phenomena are the reverse of true; while they 
 yet appeal so strongly to the senses, that men who could 
 foretell eclipses, and who discovered the procession of 
 the equinoxes, still believed that the earth was at rest 
 in the center of the universe, and that all the host of 
 heaven performed a daily revolution about it as a center. 
 
 It usually happens in scientific progress, that, when a 
 great fact is at length discovered, it approves itself at 
 once to all competent judges. It furnishes a solution 
 to so many problems, and harmonizes with so many other 
 facts, — that all the other data, as it were, crystallize at 
 once about it. In modern times, we have often witnessed 
 such an impatience, so to say, of great truths, to be dis- 
 covered, that it has frequently happened that they have 
 been found out simultaneously by more than one in- 
 dividual; and a disputed question of priority is an 
 event of very common occurrence. Not so with the true 
 theory of the heavens. So complete is the deception 
 practised on the senses, that it failed more than once to 
 yield to the suggestion of the truth; and it was only 
 when the visual organs were armed with an almost 
 preternatural instrumental power, that the great fact 
 found admission to the human mind. 
 
 It is supposed that in the very dawn of the science, 
 Pythagoras or his disciples explained the apparent mo- 
 tion of the heavenly bodies about the earth by the diurnal 
 revolution of the earth on its axis. But this theory, 
 though bearing so deeply impressed upon it the great seal 
 of truth, simplicity, was in such glaring contrast with 
 the evidence of the senses that it failed of acceptance in 
 antiquity or the Middle Ages. It found no favor with 
 
Interior of the 90-Foot Dome of Yerkes Observatory 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 235 
 
 minds like those of Aristotle, Archimedes, Hipparchus, 
 Ptolemy, or any of the acute and learned Arabians or 
 mediaeval astronomers. All their ingenuity and all 
 their mathematical skill were exhausted in the develop- 
 ment of a wonderfully complicated and ingenious, but 
 erroneous history. The great master truth, rejected for 
 its simplicity, lay disregarded at their feet. 
 
 At the second dawn of science, the great fact again 
 beamed into the mind of Copernicus. Now, at least, in 
 that glorious age which witnessed the invention of print- 
 ing, the great mechanical engine of intellectual progress, 
 and the discovery of America, we may expect that this 
 long-hidden revelation, a second time proclaimed, will 
 command the assent of mankind. But the sensible 
 phenomena were still too strong for the theory; the 
 glorious delusion of the rising and the setting sun could 
 not be overcome. Tycho Brahe furnished his Ob- 
 servatory with instruments superior in number and 
 quality to all that had been collected before; but the 
 great instrument of discovery which, by augmenting the 
 optic power of the eye, enables it to penetrate beyond 
 the apparent phenomena, and to discern the true con- 
 stitution of the heavenly bodies, was wanting at Uranien- 
 burg. The observations of Tycho as discussed by Kep- 
 ler, conducted that most fervid, powerful, and sagacious 
 mind to the discovery of some of the most important 
 laws of the celestial motions ; but it was not till Galileo, 
 at Florence, had pointed his telescope to the sky, that 
 the Copemican system could be said to be firmly estab- 
 lished in the scientific world. 
 
 On this great name, my friends, assembled as we are to 
 dedicate a temple to instrumental astronomy, we may 
 well pause for a moment. 
 
236 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 There is much in every way, in the city of Florence, 
 to excite the curiosity, to kindle the imagination, and to 
 gratify the taste. Sheltered on the north by the vine- 
 clad hiUs of Fiesole, whose cyclopean walls carry back 
 the antiquary to ages before the Roman, before the 
 Etruscan power, the flowery city (Fiorenza) covers the 
 sunny banks of the Amo with its stately palaces. Dark 
 and frowning piles of mediaeval structure; a majestic 
 dome, the prototype of St. Peter's; basilicas which en- 
 shrine the ashes of some of the mightiest of the dead ; the 
 stone where Dante stood to gaze on the Campanile ; the 
 house of Michael Angelo, still occupied by a descendant 
 of his lineage and name, his hammer, his chisel, his di- 
 viders, his manuscript poems, all as if he had left them 
 but yesterday; airy bridges, which seem not so much to 
 rest on the earth as to hover over the waters they span ; 
 the loveliest creations of ancient art, rescued from the 
 grave of ages again to enchant the world ; the breathing 
 marbles of Michael Angelo, the glowing canvases of 
 Raphael and Titian, museums filled with medals and 
 coins of every age, from Cyrus the Younger, and gems 
 and amulets and vases from the sepulchers of Egyptian 
 Pharaohs coeval with Joseph, and Etruscan Lucumons 
 that swayed Italy before the Romans, — libraries stored 
 with the choicest texts of ancient literature, — gardens 
 of rose, and orange, and pomegranate, and myrtle, — the 
 very air you breathe languid with music and perfume ; — 
 such is Florence. But among all its fascinations, ad- 
 dressed to the sense, the memory, and the heart, there 
 was none to which I more frequently gave a meditative 
 hour during a year's residence, than to the spot where 
 Galileo Galilei sleeps beneath the marble floor of Santa 
 Croce; no building on which I gazed with greater rev- 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 237 
 
 erence, than I did upon the modest mansion at Arcetri, 
 villa at once and prison, in which that venerable sage, 
 by command of the Inquisition, passed the sad closing 
 years of his life. The beloved daughter on whom he had 
 depended to smooth his passage to the grave, laid there 
 before him; the eyes with which he had discovered 
 worlds before unknown, quenched in blindness. That 
 was the house, *' where," says Milton (another of those 
 of whom the world was not worthy), '* I found and vis- 
 ited the famous Galileo, grown old — a prisoner to the 
 Inquisition, for thinking on astronomy otherwise than 
 as the Dominican and Franciscan licensers thought. '^ 
 Great heavens ! what a tribunal, what a culprit, what a 
 crime! Let us thank God, my friends, that we live in 
 the nineteenth century. Of all the wonders of the an- 
 cient and modern art, statues and paintings, and jewels 
 and manuscripts, — the admiration and the delight of 
 ages, — there was nothing which I beheld with more af- 
 fectionate awe than that poor, rough tube, a few feet in 
 length, — the work of his own hands, — ^that very ** optic 
 glass," through which the 
 
 " Tuscan Artist viewed the moon, 
 At eveniQg, from the top of Fiesole 
 Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, 
 Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe " ; 
 
 that poor little spy-glass (for it is scarcely more) 
 through which the human eye first distinctly beheld the 
 surface of the moon — first discovered the phases of 
 Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, and the seeming handles 
 of Saturn — first penetrated the dusky depths of the 
 heavens — first pierced the clouds of visual error, which, 
 
238 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 from the creation of the world, involved the system of 
 the Universe. 
 
 There are occasions in life in which a great mind lives 
 years of rapt enjoyment in a moment. I can fancy the 
 emotions of Galileo, when, jfirst raising the newly-con- 
 structed telescope to the heavens, he saw fulfilled the 
 grand prophecy of Copernicus, and beheld the planet 
 Venus, crescent like the moon. It was such another 
 moment as that when the immortal printers of Mentz 
 and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible into 
 their hands, the work of their divine art ; like that when 
 Columbus, through the gray dawn of the 12th of Oc- 
 tober, 1492 (Copernicus, at the age of eighteen, was then 
 a student at Cracow), beheld the shores of San Sal- 
 vador; like that when the law of gravitation first re- 
 vealed itself to the intellect of Newton; like that when 
 Franklin saw by the stiffening fibers of the hempen cord 
 of his kite, that he held the lightning in his grasp ; like 
 that when Leverrier received back from Berlin the 
 tidings that the predicted planet was found. 
 
 Yes, noble Galileo, thou art right, '' It does move." 
 Bigots may make thee recant it ; but it moves, neverthe- 
 less. Yes, the earth moves, and the planets move, and 
 the mighty waters move, and the great sweeping tides of 
 air move, and the empires of men move, and the world of 
 thought moves, ever onward and upward to higher 
 facts and bolder theories. The Inquisition may seal thy 
 lips, but they can no more stop the progress of the great 
 truth propounded by Copernicus, and demonstrated by 
 thee, than they can stop the revolving earth. 
 
 Close now, venerable sage, that sightless, tearful eye; 
 it has seen what man never saw before — it has seen 
 enough. Hang up that poor little spy-glass — it has 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 239 
 
 done its work. Not Herschel nor Rosse have, com- 
 paratively, done more. Franciscans and Dominicans 
 deride thy discoveries now ; but the time will come when, 
 from two hundred observatories in Europe and America, 
 the glorious artillery of science shall nightly assault the 
 skies, but they shall gain no conquest in those glittering 
 fields before which thine shall be forgotten. Rest in 
 peace, great Columbus of the heavens — ^like him scorned ; 
 persecuted, broken-hearted! — in other ages, in distant 
 hemispheres, when the votaries of science, with solemn 
 acts of consecration, shall dedicate their stately edifices 
 to the cause of knowledge and truth, thy name shall be 
 mentioned with honor. 
 
 — Edward Everett (Adapted). 
 
 " MARCHING ON A STAR " 
 
 I HAPPENED some time ago to lecture to a number of 
 army officers on '^ The Use of the Stars in Night- 
 Marches.'' They appeared to find my notes of interest 
 and service, and this suggested to me that perhaps a 
 small pocketbook devoted to a practical consideration of 
 the matter might be found useful by soldiers; possibly, 
 too, by other landsmen who are interested in the stars, 
 or may have occasion to walk or ride by night through 
 unfamiliar country. Furthermore, the fact that the 
 results arrived at are obtained rather by observation and 
 practice than by mathematical calculation should render 
 the work well adapted to the needs and tastes of the 
 Boy Scouts. 
 
 The first question, naturally, is : * ' What can a lands- 
 man get by the use of the stars? " To the seaman, of 
 course, they may be of great assistance ; and a good ob- 
 
240 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 server under favorable conditions is able by tlieir aid 
 to convert his general idea of the position of his ship 
 into one that is not more than a mile or so incorrect. 
 But it by no means follows that the traveler by night 
 on land will be able to, or indeed wants to, make the 
 same use of the stars. For consider; the navigator has 
 at his command, to assist him, chronometer, charts, sex- 
 tant, nautical almanacs, and figure tables: the night- 
 marcher may have all these, and an artificial horizon 
 as well, but except on a scientific expedition he is very 
 unlikely to. Again, the former takes and works out his 
 observations without any waste of time to the ship and 
 with light and comfort; the latter may have to stop to 
 do so and thus lose time, and the conditions under which 
 he is likely to be working tend to introduce errors. 
 
 Position, then, to the landsman, is (even if desirable) 
 quite unfeasible; what the stars give him is direction. 
 And first let us be quite clear what we mean when we 
 speak of the stars giving '' direction.'' Not of course 
 that they act as a kind of wayside finger-post pointing 
 ** X — 12 miles," and so forth; this is more than can 
 reasonably be expected; and if a wanderer is so com- 
 pletely lost that he has no notion whether his home lies 
 north or south or east or west, all the star-lore in the 
 world will do no more for him than enable him to choose 
 some direction and hold to it. But this it will do. It 
 will, in the simplest and best case, give us the N. and S. 
 points, and we must make what use we can of that 
 knowledge. Perhaps it has been possible to work out 
 the bearing of destination from starting-point to be (say) 
 N. 65 W. We lay off this angle on a piece of paper or 
 cardboard, and pointing the one line at the ascertained 
 N. point proceed to march along the other. 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 241 
 
 The best direction to be obtained is this N. and S. 
 line, but it is not the only possible one. It may be 
 possible and convenient to do what is known as * * march- 
 ing on a star. " That is to say, a certain star is selected 
 beforehand, and its bearings at given intervals, say of 
 half an hour, are worked out in advance and noted down. 
 If then the bearing of our destination is known, we have 
 only to keep the right direction angles with the star at 
 the right times to be following the line we require. The 
 ways in which the necessary data can be obtained are 
 clearly set forth in Major Tilney's '' Rapid Night 
 Marching Made Easy,'' and for a predetermined and 
 properly planned and equipped night march this plan 
 is satisfactory enough. 
 
 — Bj. Weatherhead : The Star Pocket-Book. 
 
 THE FIRST TELESCOPE 
 
 In the present treatise I set forth some matters of 
 great interest for all observers of natural phenomena to 
 look at and consider. They are of great interest, I think, 
 first, from their intrinsic excellence ; secondly, from their 
 absolute novelty; and lastly, also on account of the 
 instrument by the aid of which they have been presented 
 to my apprehension. 
 
 The number of the Fixed Stars which observers have 
 been able to see without artificial powers of sight up 
 to this day can be counted. It is, therefore, decidedly 
 a great feat to add to their number, and to set distinctly 
 before the eyes other stars in myriads, which have never 
 been seen before, and which surpass the old, previously 
 known, stars in number more than ten times. 
 
242 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Again, it is a most beautiful and delightful sight 
 to behold the body of the Moon, which is distant from 
 us nearly sixty 56mi-diameters of the Earth, as near as 
 if it was at a distance of only two of the same meas- 
 ures; so that the diameter of this same Moon appears 
 about thirty times larger, its surface about nine hun- 
 dred times, and its solid mass nearly twenty-seven thou- 
 sand times larger than when it is viewed only with the 
 naked eye; and consequently any one may know with 
 the certainty that is due to the use of our senses, that 
 the Moon certainly does not possess a smooth and pol- 
 ished surface, but one rough and uneven, and, just like 
 the face of the Earth itself, is everywhere full of vast 
 protuberances, deep chasms, and sinuosities. 
 
 Then, to have got rid of disputes about the Galaxy 
 or Milky Way, and to have made its nature clear to the 
 very senses, not to say to the understanding, seems by 
 no means a matter which ought to be considered of 
 slight importance. In addition to this, to point out, as 
 with one's finger, the nature of these stars which every 
 one of the astronomers up to this time has called 
 nebulous, and to demonstrate that it is very different 
 from what has hitherto been believed, will be pleasant, 
 and very fine. But that which will excite the greatest 
 astonishment by far, and which, indeed, especially 
 moved me to call the attention of all astronomers and 
 philosophers, is this, namely, that I have discovered 
 four planets, neither known nor observed by any one 
 of the astronomers before my time, which have their 
 orbits round a certain bright star, one of those previ- 
 ously known, like Venus and Mercury round the Sun, 
 and are sometimes in front of it, sometimes behind it, 
 though they never depart from it beyond certain limits. 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 243 
 
 All which facts were discovered and observed a few 
 days ago by the help of a telescope devised by me, 
 through God's grace first enlightening my mind. 
 
 Perhaps other discoveries still more excellent will be 
 made from time to time by me or by other observers, 
 with the assistance of a similar instrument, so I will 
 first briefly record its shape and preparation, as well as 
 the occasion of its being devised, and then I will give 
 an account of the observations made by me. 
 
 About ten months ago a report reached my ears that 
 a Dutchman had constructed a telescope, by the aid of 
 which visible objects, although at a great distance from 
 the eye of the observer, were seen distinctly as if near; 
 and some proofs of its most wonderful performances 
 were reported, which some gave credence to, but others 
 contradicted. A few days after, I received confirma- 
 tion of the report in a letter written from Paris by a 
 noble Frenchman, Jaques Badovere, which finally deter- 
 mined me to give myself up first to inquire into the 
 principle of the telescope, and then to consider the 
 means by which I might compass the invention of a 
 similar instrument, which a little while after I suc- 
 ceeded in doing, through deep study of the theory of 
 Refraction ; and I prepared a tube, at first of lead, in the 
 ends of which I fitted two glass lenses, both plane on 
 one side, but on the other side one spherically convex, 
 and the other concave. Then bringing my eye to the 
 concave lens I saw objects satisfactorily large and near, 
 for they appeared one-third of the distance off, and nine 
 times larger than when they are seen with the natural 
 eye alone. I shortly afterwards constructed another 
 telescope with more nicety, which magnified objects more 
 than sixty times. At length, by sparing neither labor 
 
244 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 nor expense, I succeeded in constructing for myself an 
 instrument so superior that objects seen through it 
 appear magnified nearly a thousand times, and more 
 than thirty times nearer than if viewed by the natural 
 powers of sight alone. 
 
 It would be altogether a waste of time to enumerate 
 the number and importance of the benefits which this 
 instrument may be expected to confer, when used by 
 land or sea. But without paying attention to its use 
 for terrestrial objects, I betook myself to observations 
 of the heavenly bodies; and first of all, I viewed the 
 Moon as near as if it was scarcely two semi-diameters 
 of the Earth distant. After the Moon, I frequently ob- 
 served other heavenly bodies, both fixed stars and 
 planets, with incredible delight. . . . 
 
 Let me speak first of the surface of the Moon, which 
 is turned towards us. For the sake of being understood 
 more easily, I distinguish two parts in it, which I call 
 respectively the brighter and darker. The brighter part 
 seems to surround and pervade the whole hemisphere; 
 but the darker part, like a sort of cloud, discolors the 
 Moon's surface and makes it appear covered with spots. 
 Now these spots, as they are somewhat dark and of 
 considerable size, are plain to every one, and every age 
 has seen them, wherefore I shall call them great or 
 ancient spots, to distinguish them from other spots, 
 smaller in size, but so thickly scattered that they sprinkle 
 the whole surface of the Moon, but especially the 
 brighter portion of it. These spots have never been ob- 
 served by any one before me; and from my observa- 
 tions of them, often repeated, I have been led to that 
 opinion which I have expressed, namely, that I feel sure 
 that the surface of the Moon is not perfectly smooth, free 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 245" 
 
 from inequalities and exactly spherical, as a large school 
 of philosophers considers with regard to the Moon and 
 the other heavenly bodies, but that, on the contrary, it is 
 full of inequalities, uneven, full of hollows and pro- 
 tuberances, just like the surface of the Earth itself, 
 which is varied everywhere by lofty mountains and deep 
 valleys. . . . 
 
 There is one other point which I must on no account 
 forget, which I have noticed and rather wondered at. 
 It is this : — The middle of the Moon, as it seems, is oc- 
 cupied by a certain cavity larger than all the rest, and in 
 shape perfectly round. I have looked at this depression 
 near both the first and third quarters. ... It produces 
 the same appearance as to effects of light and shade as 
 a tract like Bohemia would produce on the Earth, if it 
 were shut in on all sides by very lofty mountains ar- 
 ranged on the circumference of a perfect circle ; for the 
 tract in the Moon is walled in with peaks of such 
 enormous height that the furthest side adjacent to the 
 dark portion of the Moon is seen bathed in sunlight be- 
 fore the boundary between light and shade reaches half- 
 way across the circular space. But, according to the 
 characteristic property of the rest of the spots, the 
 shaded portion of this, too, faces the Sun, and the bright 
 part is towards the dark side of the Moon, which for 
 the third time I advise to be carefully noticed as a 
 most solid proof of the ruggednesses and unevennesses 
 spread over the whole of the bright region of the Moon. 
 Of these spots, moreover, the darkest are always those 
 which are near to the boundary-line between the light 
 and the shadow, but those further off appear both 
 smaller in size and less decidedly dark ; so that at length, 
 when the Moon at opposition becomes full, the darkness 
 
246 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 of the cavities differs from the brightness of the prom- 
 inences with a subdued and very slight difference. . . . 
 Hitherto I have spoken of the observations which I 
 have made concerning the Moon's body; now I will 
 briefly announce the phenomena which have been, as yet, 
 seen by me with reference to the Fixed Stars. And first 
 of all, the following fact is worthy of consideration: 
 the stars, fixed as well as erratic, when seen with a tele- 
 scope, by no means appear to be increased in magnitude 
 in the same proportion as other objects, and the Moon 
 herself, gain increase of size; but in the case of the 
 stars such increase appears much less, so that you may 
 consider that a telescope, which (for the sake of il- 
 lustration) is powerful enough to magnify other objects 
 a hundred times, will scarcely render the stars magnified 
 four or five times. But the reason of this is as follows : 
 when stars are viewed with our natural eyesight they 
 do not present themselves to us of their bare, real size, 
 but beaming with a certain vividness, and fringed with 
 sparkling rays, especially when the night is far ad- 
 vanced; and from this circumstance they appear much 
 larger than they would if they were stripped of those 
 adventitious fringes, for the angle which they subtend 
 at the eye is determined not by the primary disk of the 
 star, but by the brightness which so widely surrounds it. 
 Perhaps you will understand this most clearly from the 
 well-known circumstance that when stars rise just at 
 sunset, in the beginning of twilight, they appear very 
 small, although they may be stars of the first magnitude ; 
 and even the planet Venus itself, on any occasion when 
 it may present itself to view in broad daylight, is so 
 small to see that it scarcely seems to equal a star of the 
 last magnitude. It is different in the case of other ob- 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 247 
 
 jects, and even of the Moon, which, whether viewed in 
 the light of midday or in the depth of night, always ap- 
 pear of the same size. We conclude therefore that the 
 stars are seen at midnight in uncurtailed glory, but their 
 fringes are of such a nature that the daylight can cut 
 them off, and not only daylight, but any slight cloud 
 which may be interposed between a star and the eye of 
 the observer. A dark veil or colored glass has the same 
 effect, for, upon placing them before the eye between 
 it and the stars, all the blaze that surrounds them leaves 
 them at once. A telescope also accomplishes the same 
 result, for it removes from the stars their adventitious 
 and accidental splendors before it enlarges their true 
 disks (if, indeed, they are of that shape), and so they 
 seem less magnified than other objects, for a star of the 
 fifth or sixth magnitude seen through a telescope is 
 shown as of the first magnitude only. 
 
 The difference between the appearance of the planets 
 and the fixed stars seems also deserving of notice. The 
 planets present their disks perfectly roimd, just as if 
 described with a pair of compasses, and appear as so 
 many little moons, completely illuminated and of a 
 globular shape; but the fixed stars do not look to the 
 naked eye bounded by a circular circumference, but 
 rather like blazes of light, shooting out beams on all 
 sides and very sparkling, and with a telescope they 
 appear of the same shape as when they are viewed by 
 simply looking at them, but so much larger that a star 
 of the fifth or sixth magnitude seems to equal Sirius, 
 the largest of all the fixed stars. 
 
 But beyond the stars of the sixth magnitude you 
 will behold through the telescope a host of other stars, 
 which escape the unassisted sight, so numerous as to be 
 
24S THE STAKS AND THEIK STORIES 
 
 almost beyond belief, for you may see more than six 
 other differences of magnitude, and the largest of these, 
 which I may call stars of the seventh magnitude, or of 
 the first magnitude of invisible stars, appear with the 
 aid of the telescope larger and brighter than stars 
 of the second magnitude seen with the unassisted 
 sight. . . . 
 
 The next object which I have observed is the essence 
 or substance of the Milky Way. By the aid of a tele- 
 scope any one may behold this in a manner which so 
 distinctly appeals to the senses that all the disputes 
 which have tormented philosophers through so many 
 ages are exploded at once by the irrefragable evidence 
 of our eyes, and we are freed from wordy disputes upon 
 this subject, for the Galaxy is nothing else but a mass 
 of ianumerable stars planted together in clusters. Upon 
 whatever part of it you direct the telescope, straightway 
 a vast crowd of stars presents itself to view; many of 
 them are tolerably large and extremely bright, but the 
 number of small ones is quite beyond determina- 
 tion. 
 
 And whereas that milky brightness, like the brightness 
 of a white cloud, is not only to be seen in the Milky Way, 
 but several spots of a similar color shine faintly here and 
 there in the heavens, if you turn the telescope upon 
 any of them you will find a cluster of stars packed close 
 together. Further, — and you will be more surprised at 
 this, — the stars which have been called by every one of 
 the astronomers up to this day nebulous, are groups of 
 small stars set thick together in a wonderful way, and 
 although each one of them, on account of its smallness, 
 or its immense distance from us, escapes our sight, from 
 the commingling of their rays there arises that bright- 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 249 
 
 ness which has hitherto been believed to be the denser 
 part of the heavens, able to reflect the rays of the stars 
 or the Sun. . . . 
 
 I have now finished my brief account of the observations 
 which I have thus far made with regard to the Moon, the 
 Fixed Stars, and the Galaxy. There remains the matter, 
 which seems to me to deserve to be considered the most 
 important in this work, namely, that I should disclose and 
 publish to the world the occasion of discovering and ob- 
 serving four PLANETS, never seen from the very be- 
 ginning of the world up to our own times, their positions, 
 and the observations made during the last two months 
 about their movements and their changes of magnitude ; 
 and I summon all astronomers to apply themselves to 
 examine and determine their periodic times, which it has 
 not been permitted me to achieve up to this day, owing 
 to the restriction of my time. I give them warning, 
 however, again, so that they may not approach such an 
 inquiry to no purpose, that they will want a very ac- 
 curate telescope, and such as I have described in the 
 beginning of this account. 
 
 On the 7th day of January in the present year, 
 1610, in the first hour of the following night, when I was 
 viewing the constellations of the heavens through a tele- 
 scope, the planet Jupiter presented itself to my view, 
 and as I had prepared for myself a very excellent instru- 
 ment, I noticed a circumstance which I had never been 
 able to notice before, owing to want of power in my 
 other telescope, namely, that three little stars, small but 
 very bright, were near the planet; and although I be- 
 lieved them to belong to the number of fixed stars, yet 
 they made me somewhat wonder, because they seemed 
 to be arranged exactly in a straight line, parallel to the 
 
250 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 ecliptic, and to be brighter than the rest of the stars, 
 equal to them in magnitude. 
 
 On the east side there were two stars, and a single one 
 on the west. The star which was furthest towards the 
 east, and the western star, appeared rather larger than 
 the third. 
 
 I scarcely troubled at all about the distance between 
 them and Jupiter, for, as I have already said, at first I 
 believed them to be fixed stars; but when, on January 
 8th, led by some fatality, I turned again to look at the 
 same part of the heavens, I found a very different state 
 of things, for there were three little stars all west of 
 Jupiter, and nearer together than on the previous night, 
 and they were separated from one another by equal in- 
 tervals. 
 
 At this point, although I had not turned my thoughts 
 at all upon the approximation of the stars to one an- 
 other, yet my surprise began to be excited, how Jupiter 
 could one day be found to the east of all the aforesaid 
 fixed stars, when the day before it had been west of two 
 of them ; and forthwith I became afraid lest the planet 
 might have moved differently from the calculation of 
 astronomers, and so had passed those stars by its own 
 proper motion. I, therefore, waited for the next night 
 with the most intense longing, but I was disappointed of 
 my hope, for the sky was covered with clouds in every 
 direction. 
 
 But on January 10th the stars appeared in the follow- 
 ing position with regard to Jupiter; there were two 
 only, and both on the east side of Jupiter, the third, as I 
 thought, being hidden by the planet. They were situ- 
 ated just as before, exactly in the same straight line with 
 Jupiter, and along the Zodiac. 
 
ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES 251 
 
 When I had seen these phenomena, as I knew that 
 corresponding changes of position could not by any 
 means belong to Jupiter, and as, moreover, I perceived 
 that the stars which I saw had always been the same, 
 for there were no others either in front or behind, within 
 a great distance, along the Zodiac, — at length changing 
 from doubt into surprise, I discovered that the inter- 
 change of position which I saw belonged not to Jupiter, 
 but to the stars to which my attention had been drawn, 
 and I thought, therefore, that they ought to be observed 
 henceforward with more attention and precision. 
 
 — Galileo Galilei: The Astronomical Messen- 
 ger, translated by E. S. Carlos. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THE MAGNITUDES 
 
 By the magnitude of a star we mean its apparent bright- 
 ness, and not its size or its nearness to the earth. Alpha 
 Centauri, the fixed star nearest to us, is surpassed in bright- 
 ness by several stars. When the stars were first classed into 
 magnitudes, our fine astronomical instruments had not been 
 invented, and all the visible stars, from the brilliant Sirius 
 to the tiniest sixth-magnitude stars, were arranged in six 
 magnitudes. It was not possible with the naked eye to make 
 finer distinctions. Now we can make much more accurate 
 classifications. Each magnitude has only f as much light 
 as the magnitude above it — that is, a star of standard third 
 magnitude sends us only -| as much light as one of standard 
 second magnitude. The gradation of light between the differ- 
 ent magnitudes is expressed by the tenth of decimal fractions. 
 The stars within ^^ of a magnitude are included within this 
 magnitude. Aldebaran is 1.0, a standard first-magnitude star. 
 Deneb is 1.4, still a first-magnitude star. All stars from 1.6 
 to 2.5 are second-magnitude stars. This is the case with all 
 the magnitudes excepting the first. It was found that nine 
 of the twenty first-magnitude stars were brighter than 1.0, 
 reaching through nearly two magnitudes of brightness. So, 
 although we speak of all of them as first-magnitude stars, 
 those from 1.5 to 0.6 are first magnitude, those 0.5 to — 0.5 are 
 designated zero magnitudes, and all brighter are called stars 
 brighter than zero magnitude. By making a list of the magni- 
 tude numbers and the decimals between them, you can easily 
 draw lines at the points where one magnitude merges into 
 another, and this will help you to understand. 
 
 253 
 
254 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 There are only two stars brighter than zero magnitude, 
 Canopus — 0.8 and Sirius — 1.4. Thus Sirius is half a mag- 
 nitude brighter than any other star, and is nearly two mag- 
 nitudes brighter than Capella, one of the three brightest stars 
 in the northern hemisphere. Four of the first stars — Canopus, 
 Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, and Alpha Crucis — are too 
 far to the south to be seen from our northern latitudes, and 
 are not on our northern charts. 
 
 The following list will give you the magnitudes of the first- 
 magnitude stars as compiled by the journal Popular Astron- 
 omy in its star charts. 
 
 STARS OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE 
 
 A, Stars brighter than C. Stars of 1st Magnitude 
 
 Magnitude 
 
 Name Magni- Name Magni- 
 
 tude TUDE 
 
 a Canis Ma j oris (Sirius) — 1.4 a Tauri (Aldeharan) 1.0 
 
 ^ Argi (Canopus) — 0.8 a Orionis (Betelgeuse) 0.9 
 
 ^ ,, /3 Geminorum (Pollux) 1.2 
 
 B. Stars of Magnitude ^ t • /^d v \ -i o 
 
 oi Leonis [Kegulus) 1.3 
 
 OL Eridani (Achernar) 0.4 ol Crucis 1.0 
 
 a Aurigae (Capella) 0.1 oc Virginis (Spica) 1.1 
 
 /? Orionis (Rigel) 0.3 /3 Centauri 0.7 
 
 <x Canis Minoris a Scorpii (Antares) 1.2 
 
 (Procyon) 0.5 a Aquilae (Altair) 0.9 
 
 a Bootis (Areturus) 0.2 or Cygni (Deneb or Arided)! A 
 
 a Centauri 0.2 a Piscis Australis 
 
 a Lyrae (Vega) 0.2 (Fomalhaut) 1.3 
 
 STAE NAMES 
 
 The people of ancient times gave names to almost all the 
 brighter stars. There is no first magnitude star in the northern 
 
APPENDIX 255 
 
 hemisphere that does not have an individual name. There 
 are three first-magnitude stars far south that do not have 
 individual names, but they were probably not known to the 
 ancients. Each name is supposed to have had in the begin- 
 ning a special significance, and some of them still retain their 
 meaning; Denebola, for example, means the tail of the Lion. 
 
 Early in the seventeenth century a plan was adopted of 
 designating the stars in each constellation by using the Genitive 
 form of the Latin name of the constellation as a family name, 
 and the letters of the Greek alphabet for the individual names. 
 Thus Vega in Lyra is Alpha Lyrae. The Greek letters are 
 assigned to the stars almost always according to the relative 
 magnitudes of the stars in a constellation. One of the few 
 exceptions to this rule is in Gemini. The Twin Pollux is 
 brighter than Castor, yet Castor is called Alpha Geminorum, 
 and Pollux Beta Geminorum. The brightness of Castor is 
 diminishing as it recedes from us; it is possible that when 
 they were given their Greek letter " Christian names," Castor 
 may have been the brighter. 
 
 Sometimes clusters of stars inside a constellation have 
 names; as the Pleiades and Hyades in Taurus, and the 
 Praesepe in Cancer. 
 
 The following list gives the names of about thirty of the 
 best-known stars and the astronomical designation of each. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL STAR NAMES 
 Name Other Designation 
 
 Albireo 
 
 Alcor 
 
 Aldebaran 
 
 ft Cygni 
 
 g Ursae Ma j oris 
 
 a Tauri 
 
 Algenib 
 
 Algol 
 
 Alpheratz 
 
 y Pegasi 
 ^ Persei 
 ot Andromedae 
 
256 
 
 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 Altair 
 
 a 
 
 Aquilae 
 
 Antares 
 
 a 
 
 Scorpii 
 
 Arcturus 
 
 a 
 
 Bootis 
 
 Bellatrix 
 
 y 
 
 Orionis 
 
 Betelgeuse 
 
 a 
 
 Orionis 
 
 Canopus 
 
 a 
 
 Argi 
 
 Capella 
 
 a 
 
 Aurigae 
 
 Castor 
 
 a 
 
 GeTninorum 
 
 Cynosura 
 
 a 
 
 Ursae Minoris 
 
 Deneb 
 
 a 
 
 Cygni 
 
 Denebola 
 
 /3 
 
 Leonis 
 
 Dubhe 
 
 a 
 
 Ursae Majoris 
 
 Fomalhaut 
 
 a 
 
 Piscis Australis 
 
 Hyades 
 
 
 Group in Taurus 
 
 Markab 
 
 a 
 
 Pegasi 
 
 Mizar 
 
 i 
 
 Ursae Majoris 
 
 El Nath 
 
 /S 
 
 Tauri 
 
 Pleiades 
 
 
 Group in Taurus 
 
 Alcyone 
 
 V 
 
 Tauri 
 
 Polaris 
 
 a 
 
 Ursae Minoris 
 
 Pollux 
 
 /3 
 
 Geminorum 
 
 Praesepe 
 
 9 
 
 Cluster in Cancer 
 
 Procyon 
 
 OL 
 
 Canis Minoris 
 
 Regiilus 
 
 a 
 
 Leonis 
 
 Rigel 
 
 13 
 
 Orionis 
 
 Sirius 
 
 r 
 
 a 
 
 Canis Majoris 
 
 Spica 
 
 a 
 
 Virginis 
 
 Vega 
 
 a 
 
 Lyrae 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 257 
 
 GREEK ALPHABET 
 
 Letters 
 
 3 Names 
 
 Letteri 
 
 3 Names 
 
 Letters 
 
 Names 
 
 A a 
 
 Alpha 
 
 I I 
 
 Iota 
 
 Pp 
 
 Rho 
 
 B^ 
 
 Beta 
 
 K K 
 
 Kappa 
 
 ^ a^ 
 
 Sigma 
 
 ry 
 
 GaTTiTna 
 
 A X 
 
 Lambda 
 
 Tr 
 
 Tau 
 
 A d 
 
 Delta 
 
 M fi 
 
 Mu 
 
 Tv 
 
 Upsilon 
 
 E e 
 
 Epsilon 
 
 N V 
 
 Nu 
 
 ^ (p 
 
 Phi 
 
 z t 
 
 Zeta 
 
 HS 
 
 Xi 
 
 Xx 
 
 Chi 
 
 H ri 
 
 Eta 
 
 
 
 Omicron 
 
 Wtb 
 
 Psi 
 
 Q 
 
 Theta 
 
 Htz 
 
 Pi 
 
 1 
 
 £1 GO 
 
 Omega 
 
COMPOUND REFERENCE CHART 
 
 / 
 
 vn t 
 
 Crow^ 
 
 BootesN^ 
 
 Arcturus 
 
 • Spica 
 
MAPS OF THE STARS 
 
 259 
 
 MAPI. 
 North. 
 
 South. 
 
 Fig. 214. 
 
 The sky on November 22, at 12 o'clock P.M. 
 December 6, at 11 o'clock p.m. 
 December 21, at 10 o'clock p.m. 
 January 5, at 9 o'clock p.m. 
 January 20, at 8 o'clock p.m. 
 
260 
 
 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 MAPn. 
 
 North. 
 
 Bouth. 
 
 Fig. 215. 
 
 The sky on January 20, at 12 o'clock p.m. 
 February 4, at 11 o'clock p m. 
 February 19, at 10 o'clock p.m. 
 March 6, at 9 o'clock p.m. 
 March 21, at 8 o'clock p.m. 
 
MAPS OF THE STARS 
 
 261 
 
 MAP m. 
 
 North, 
 
 South. 
 
 Fig. 216. 
 
 The Bky on March 21, at 12 o'clock p.m. 
 April 5, at 11 o'clock p.m. 
 April 20, at 10 o'clock p.m. 
 May 6, at 9 o'clock p.m. 
 May 21, at 8 o'clock p.m. 
 
262 
 
 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 MAP IV. 
 
 North. 
 
 S 
 » 
 
 I 
 
 Soutli. 
 
 Fig. 217. 
 
 The sty on May 21. at 12 o^clock p.m. 
 June 5, at 11 o'clock p.m. 
 June 31, at 10 o'clock p.m. 
 July 7, at 9 o'clock p.m. 
 July 22, at 8 o'clock p.m. 
 
MAPS OF THE STARS 
 
 263 
 
 MAP V. 
 
 North. 
 
 South. 
 
 Fig. 218. 
 
 The Sky on July 22, at 12 o'clock p.m. 
 
 August 7, at 11 o'clock p m. 
 August 23, at 10 o'clock p.m 
 September 8, at 9 o'clock p.m. 
 September 33, at 8 o'clock pm 
 
 m 
 
264 
 
 THE STARS AND THEIR STORIES 
 
 MAP VL 
 
 North. 
 
 Bouth. 
 
 Fig. 219. 
 
 The Bky on September 23, at 12 o'clock p.m. 
 * ^ October 8, at 11 o'clock P.M. 
 
 October 23, at 10 o'clock P.M. 
 
 November 7, at 9 o'clock p.m. 
 
 November 22, at 8 o'clock p.m. 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
268 
 
 INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 Argo, 83-107 
 
 Argos, 63, 74, 78 
 
 Ariadne (ar-i-ad'-ne), 175-192 
 
 Ariadne's Crown, 151, 153-156, 
 175-192 
 
 Arided (ar'-i-ded), a Cygni, see 
 Deneb 
 
 Arion (a-ri'-on), 49 
 
 Aristotle, 234 
 
 Arnold, M., 12 
 
 Arrow, 41-56 (esp. 48) 
 
 Arsinoe (ar-sin'-o-e), 151 
 
 Asia, 3 
 
 Asphodel ( aa'-f o-del ) , a myth- 
 ical flower covering the 
 meadows of Hades, 81 
 
 Asterope (as-ter'-o-pe), 99 
 
 Astraea (as-tre'-a), 161 
 
 Astraeus ( as-tre'-us ) , 161 
 
 Astrology, 100-101 
 
 Athen6 (a-the'-ne) or Pallas, 
 see Minerva 
 
 Athenian, 188 
 
 Athens, 177, 178, 183-191, 
 218 
 
 Athos, 151 
 
 Atlas the Pleiad, 99 
 
 Atlas the Giant, 71, 72, 91, 98, 
 160, 166-174, 204 
 
 Aufidus (a'-fi-dus), 126 
 
 Augean (a'-je-an), 159 
 
 Aulus (a'-lus), 118 ff 
 
 Auriga (a-ri'-ga), 108-137 
 
 Auster (as'-ter), 126 
 
 Australian, 202, 203 
 
 Babylonian, 100, 106 
 
 Bacchantes (ba-kan'-tez), wom- 
 en who celebrated the festi- 
 vals of Bacchus, 189 
 
 Bacchus (bak'-us), 98, 175, 
 189-192 
 
 Baldrick (bal'-drik), a belt, 
 217 
 
 Basilica (ba-sil'-i-ka), a 
 
 ^hu^ch, 236 
 
 Bears, Great and Little, 7-18, 
 47, 61, 62, 143, 144, 149, 157, 
 158, 161, 207, 218 
 
 Beehive, see Manger 
 
 Bellatrix (bel'-a-triks), 97 
 
 Bellerophon ( be-ler'-o-f on ) , 23- 
 38 
 
 Benetnasch (be-net'-nash), 149 
 
 Berenice's Hair (ber-e-ni'-sez), 
 147-152, 196 
 
 Beta Centauri, 254 
 
 Beta Geminorum, 255 
 
 Betelgeuze ( bet-el-gerz' ) , 97, 
 113 
 
 Bohemia, a province in Austria- 
 Hungary, 210 miles long by 
 170 miles wide, containing 
 20,600 sq. miles, 245 
 
 Bootes (bo-o'-tez), 152, 153- 
 175 
 
 Bull of Marathon, 184, 187 
 
 Bushman, a South African ab- 
 original tribe of low intelli- 
 gence, 202, 203 
 
 Caeso (se'-so), 122 
 
 Cain, 205 
 
 Caius Cossus (ka'-yus kos'- 
 
 sus), 124 
 Callisto (ka-lis'-to), 11-14, 152 
 Calypso (ka-lip'-so), 157 
 Campanile (kam-pa-ne'-le), a 
 
 detached bell-tower, 236 
 Cancer or the Crab, 139-145, 
 
 255 
 Canes Venatici (ka'-nez ve-nat'- 
 
 i-si), see Hounds 
 Canopus ( ka-no'-pus ) , 99, 105- 
 
 107, 254 
 Capella (ka-pel'-a), 113, 158, 254 
 Capuan (kap'-u-an), 130 
 Capricorn, 102 
 Cassiopeia (kas"-i-o-pe'-ya), 57- 
 
 82, 191 
 Castor (kas'-tor), 113-137, 255 
 Caucasus (ka'-ka-sus), 160 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 269 
 
 Cedalion (se-da'-li-on), 95 
 
 Celaeno (se-le'-no), 99 
 
 Celtic, 132 
 
 Centaurus (sen-ta'-rus), 193- 
 197, 253 
 
 Cepheus (se'-ftis), 57-82 
 
 Cerberus (ser'-be-rus), 160 
 
 Cercyon (ser'-si-on), 180, 181, 
 183 
 
 Cetus (se'-tus), 76 
 
 Chaldeans (kal-de'-ans), 100 
 
 Chalyb (kaF-ib), 151 
 
 Charioteer, see Auriga 
 
 Charles II, 157 
 
 Charles's Wain, see Bears 
 
 Chaucer, 205 
 
 Chemin des Ames, Souls' High- 
 way, 208 
 
 Chimaera ( ki-me'-ra ) , 24-38 
 
 Chinese, 100, 101, 158 
 
 Chios (ki'-os), an island, 92 
 
 Columbus, 226, 230, 238, 239 
 
 Coma Berenices (ko'-ma ber-e- 
 ni'-sez), see Berenice's Hair 
 
 Conon (ko'-non), 150 
 
 Constellation, definition, 4 
 
 Copernicus (ko-per'-ni-kus), as- 
 tronomer, 1473-1543 A.D., 
 143, 218, 226, 235, 238 
 
 Cor Caroli (k6r kar'-o-li), 157- 
 159 
 
 Corona Borealis (ko-ro'-na bo- 
 re-a'-lis), see Ariadne's 
 Crown 
 
 Corroboree (ko-rob-o-re'), an 
 Australian war-dance, 206 
 
 Cracow (kra'-ko), a city in 
 Austria-Hungary, 238 
 
 Crete (kret), 185, 188 
 
 Croft, a small piece of inclosed 
 ground, 105 
 
 Cross, see Northern Cross and 
 Southern Cross 
 
 Cyclops (si'-klops), 95 
 
 Cygnus (sig'-nus), see Swan 
 
 Cyrene (si-re' -ne), 131 
 
 Dacotah, 207 
 
 Danae (dan'-a-e), 63-75 
 
 Dante (dan'-te), 205, 236 
 
 David's Chariot, see Bears 
 
 December's Nones (n5nz), De- 
 cember the fifth, 116 
 
 Delphinus ( del-fi'-nus ) , see 
 Dolphin 
 
 Demon Star, see Algol 
 
 Deneb (den'-eb) or Arided, 41, 
 48, 253 
 
 Denebola (de-neb'-o-la), 143, 
 149, 158, 255 
 
 Diana (di-an'-a), 96 
 
 Dipper, Big and Little, see 
 Bears 
 
 Dog Star, see Sirius 
 
 Dolphin, 41-56 (esp. 48-49), 
 197 
 
 Dorian, 136 
 
 Dormouse (dOr'-mous), an ani- 
 mal of squirrel-like appear- 
 ance about the size of the 
 common house-mouse, 203 
 
 Eagle, 41-56 
 
 Earth (planet), 3, 208, 215, 
 217, 218, 242, 244, 245 
 
 Eastern, Asiatic, 207 
 
 Ecliptic (e-klip'-tik), the ap- 
 parent path of the sun 
 among the stars, see frontis- 
 piece, 143 
 
 Egypt, 3, 98, 151, 164, 218 
 
 Egyptian, 100, 149, 199 
 
 Electra (e-lek'-tra), 99 
 
 El Nath, 113 
 
 Empyrean (em-pi-re'-an), the 
 highest heaven, where the 
 pure element of fire was sup- 
 posed by the ancients to ex- 
 ist, 223 
 
 Eridanus (e-rid'-a-nus), a river, 
 48 
 
 Eskimo, 206 
 
270 
 
 INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 Ether, the upper air, the blue 
 heavens, or a substance more 
 refined than air, 82, 191, 
 214 
 Ethiop Memnon, 151 
 Eudoxus (ti-dok'-sus), 218 
 Europa (u-ro'-pa), 102 
 Eurotas (u-ro'-tas), 131 
 Eurydice (ti-rid'-i-se) , 45-56 
 Eurystheus (u-rls'-thus), 143, 
 144, 159 
 
 Falchion (fal'-chon), a sword, 
 77 
 
 Fiesole (fe-a'-so-le), a town in 
 Italy, 236, 237 
 
 Florence, a city in Italy, 235, 
 236 
 
 Fomalhaut ( f o'-mal-o ) , 143 
 
 Forum (fo'-rum), the market- 
 place or chief public square 
 of a Roman city, 115 
 
 Franklin, B., 238 
 
 Frisian, Frisia is a northern 
 province in Holland, 205 
 
 Galaxy, 208, 242, 248, 249 
 
 Galileo (gal-i-le'-o), astron- 
 omer, 1564-1642 A.D., 144, 
 145, 218, 235-239 
 
 Galley, a sea-going boat pro- 
 pelled by oars, 79 
 
 Ganymede (gan'-i-med), 47 
 
 Gaza (ga'-za), 103 
 
 Gemini (jem'-i-ni), Latin for 
 Twins, 108-138, 144, 196, 
 255 
 
 German, 205-207 
 
 Gibeon, 202 
 
 Gnossus (nos'-us), 191 
 
 Goat, see Capella 
 
 Golden Fleece, 99 
 
 Gorgons, 66, 70, 71 (and see 
 Medusa ) 
 
 Graeae (gre'-e), 68-71 
 
 Greece, 100 
 
 Greek, 11, 23, 94, 114, 175, 199, 
 
 204, 206 
 Greek alphabet, 257 
 Greenland, 204, 207 
 Grimm, 206 
 Guardians of Heaven (Four), 
 
 143 
 
 Hades (ha'-dez), the realm of 
 the dead, also sometimes 
 called hell, 46, 54, 55, 114, 
 160 
 
 Halcyon (hal'-si-on), a bird fa- 
 bled to lay its eggs in a nest 
 that floated on the sea about 
 the time of the winter sol- 
 stice, and to have power to 
 bring calm weather, 189 
 
 Halley, astronomer, 1656-1742 
 A.D., 157 
 
 Hamadryad (ham"-a-dri'-ad), 
 192 
 
 Hare, see Lepus 
 
 Hawthorne, N., 25 
 
 Hebe (he'-be), 47 
 
 Helicon (hel'-i-kon), a moun- 
 tain, 26, 29 
 
 Hera (he'-ra), see Juno 
 
 Heraclidean ( her-a-kli'-de-an ) , 
 pertaining to the descendants 
 of Hercules, 103 
 
 Herakles (her'-a-klez) or Her- 
 cules (her'-ku-lez), 143-145, 
 153-175, 197, 207 
 
 Hermes (her'-mez), see Mer- 
 cury 
 
 Herminia, 129 
 
 Herminius, 125 
 
 Herschel (her'-shel), two as- 
 tronomers, Sir VV., 1738- 
 1822, and his son, Sir J. F. 
 W., 1792-1871 A.D., 238 
 
 Hesperides (hes-per'-i-dez), 160, 
 163-174 
 
 Himalayas, 204 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 271 
 
 Hipparchus (hi-par'-kus), as- 
 tronomer, about 160-125 B.C., 
 234 
 
 Hippocrene (hip'-o-kren), 31, 
 197 
 
 Homer, 11, 114, 144, 157, 217 
 
 Hounds or Canes Venatici, 102, 
 157 
 
 Housatonic Indians, 207 
 
 Hyades (hi'-a-dez), 98, 218, 
 255 
 
 Hydra, 103, 145, 166 
 
 Hymen, 190 
 
 Icelandic, 205 
 
 Ida, Idalian (adj.)» a mountain 
 
 range in Asia Minor, 79, 82 
 Ides of Quintilis (idz), July 
 
 fifteenth, 116 
 Hiad, 217 
 Indian, American, 203, 204, 
 
 207, 208 
 lobates (i-o'-ba-tez), 30, 36 
 Iphitus (if'-i-tus), 159 
 Ishmaelitish, see 21st and 25th 
 
 chapters of Genesis, 105 
 Islam, Mohammedanism, 207 
 Italy, 49, 98 
 
 Jack and Jill, 205 
 
 Jarls (yiirls), Scandinavian 
 
 for noblemen, 102 
 Jason, 99 
 
 Jerusalem ( New ) , 207 
 Job's Coffin, see Dolphin 
 Joshua, see 10th chapter of 
 
 Joshua, 202 
 Jove, see Jupiter 
 Julian, 225 
 Juno or Hera, 11, 122, 145, 159, 
 
 207 
 Jupiter or Jove or Zeus, 11, 24, 
 
 45, 47, 88, 89, 98, 102, 114, 
 
 150, 151, 162, 191 
 Jupiter the planet, 3, 100, 145, 
 
 206, 214, 215, 237 
 
 Kasir, 206 
 
 Kepler ( kep'-ler ) , astronomer, 
 
 157M630 A.D., 235 
 Khasias, 204 
 
 Labyrinth, a maze, 186, 187 
 Latmos, a mountain range in 
 
 Asia Minor, 150 
 Laurentum, 133 
 Lemnos, an island, 95 
 Leo (le'-5) Major and Leo 
 Minor, the Greater and Lesser 
 
 Lions, 4, 102, 139-145, 147, 
 
 149, 152, 153, 162 
 Lepus (le'-pus) or Hare, 83-107 
 Lesbos, an island, 49 
 Lernaean marshes (ler-ne'-an), 
 
 near Argolis in Greece, 103, 
 
 145, 159 
 Leverrier ( le-va-rya' ) , a French 
 
 scientist, 1811-1877 a.d., 238 
 Libya (lib'-ia), 71 
 Light, velocity of, 195 
 Lions, see Leo 
 Lithuanian, 208 
 Little Dipper, see Bears 
 Lotus, a plant fabled to make 
 
 one who eats it forgetful of 
 
 his past and unwilling to 
 
 travel farther, 52 
 Lucumon, a prince or priest, 
 
 236 
 Lycaon (li-ka'-on), 152 
 Lycia (lis'-i-a), 24, 31, 32 
 Lydian (lid'-i-an), 160 
 Lyra (li'-ra) or Lyre, 41-56, 
 
 159, 197 
 
 Macedonia (mas'-e-do-ni-a), 218 
 
 Magnitude, definition of, 253 
 
 Maia (ma'-ya), 99 
 
 Maiden, see Virgo 
 
 Mamilius, 125 
 
 Manacicas (ma-na-se'-kas), an 
 Indian tribe of Bolivia in the 
 seventeenth century, 202 
 
272 
 
 INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 Manger or Praesepe, 142-145 
 
 Marathon, 184, 187 
 
 Mars the God, 106, 115, 137 
 
 Mars the planet, 3 
 
 Martian kalends, March the 
 
 first, 116 
 Medea (me-de'-a), 183, 184 
 Medus (me'-dus), 183 
 Medusa ( me-do'-sa ) , 23, 62, 
 
 65-74 
 Memnon, 151 
 Mentz, Mainz, in Germany, 
 
 238 
 Mercury or Hermes, 45, 50, 66- 
 
 68 
 Mercury the planet, 100, 242 
 Merope (mer'-o-pe), 92-96, 99, 
 
 206 
 Michael Angelo, 236 
 Milky Way or Galaxy, 207, 208, 
 
 248 
 Milton, 218, 237 
 Minerva or Athene or Pallas, 
 
 24, 69, 70, 77, 81, 184 
 Minos (mi'-nos), 185-188, 191 
 Minotaur (min'-o-tar), 185- 
 
 188, 191 
 Mira (mi'-ra), 76 
 Mizar (mi'-zar), 14 
 Moly (mo'-li), a fabulous herb, 
 
 mentioned by Homer, 52 
 Moon, 202-204, 206, 211, 215, 
 
 237, 241, 242, 244-247, 249 
 Moses, see the 15th chapter of 
 
 Numbers, 204 
 
 Najad (na'-yad), 192 
 
 Names of stars, how given, 254- 
 
 257 
 Naxos (nak'-sos), an island, 
 
 187-189, 191, 192 
 Nebula (neb'-u-la), a luminous 
 
 patch in the heavens, 98 
 Nemaean (ne-me'-an) Lion, 143- 
 
 144, 159 
 Neptune, 13, 23, 71 
 
 Nereid (ne'-re-id), a sea-nymph, 
 
 81 
 Newcomb, S., astronomer, 1837- 
 
 1909 A.D., 99, 113 
 Newton, scientist, 1642-1727 
 
 A.D., 238 
 North Star or Polaris, 15-17, 
 
 23, 61, 83, 113, 159 
 Northern Cross, see Cygnus 
 Northern Crown, see Ariadne's 
 
 Crown 
 
 Odyssey (od'-i-si), 157 
 Oenopion (e-no'-pi-on), 92-95 
 Ogre (o'-ger), a giant or hid- 
 eous monster supposed to live 
 on human flesh, 182 
 Old Man of the Sea, 163, 164 
 Olympus, 11, 24, 45, 81, 82, 
 
 191 
 Orchomenian ( 6r-ko-me'-ni-an ) , 
 
 192 
 Orion (o-ri'-on), 83-108, 113, 
 
 152, 196, 206, 218, 223 
 Orion Group, 83-107 
 Orpheus (or'-fus), 45-56 
 Ortygia (6r-tij'-i-a), 192 
 Ottawa, 207 
 
 Pallas, see Minerva 
 
 Paphia (pa'-fi-a) or Venus, 
 
 190, 191 
 Patagonian, 207 
 Pegasus (peg'-a-sus) or the 
 
 Winged Horse, 18-40, 48, 57, 
 
 61, 71, 197 
 Peking, 101 
 Pelias (pe'-li-as), 183 
 Perseus (per'-sus), 23, 57-83, 
 
 97, 159, 191 
 Persian, 100, 205 
 Phaethon ( f a'-e-thon ) , 47, 48 
 Pharos (fa'-ros), a lighthouse 
 
 on the island of Pharos, and 
 
 one of the seven wonders of 
 
 the world, 231 
 
INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 273 
 
 Phoebus (fe'-bus), see Apollo 
 Pickering, Prof., 1846 — a.d., 
 
 219 
 Pirene (pi-re'-ne), 25, 26 
 Pleiades ( pll'-a-dez ) , 83, 86, 90- 
 92, 97-99, 113, 157, 196, 206, 
 218, 219, 255 
 Pleione (pli'-o-ne), 99 
 Plowshare or Great Bear, 14 
 Pluto, 46, 48, 160 
 Po, a river in Italy, 126, 132 
 Pointers, 15, 23, 113 
 Polaris (po-la'-ris) or Pole 
 
 Star, see North Star 
 Pollux, 113-137, 255 
 Polydectes (pol-i-dek'-tez), 65- 
 
 75 
 Polynesian, 202 
 Pontiff, a chief priest, or the 
 
 Pope, 134, 225 
 Pope, A., 223 
 
 Praesepe (pre-se'-pe) or Man- 
 ger, 144, 145, 255 
 Procrustes (pro-krus'-tez), 181- 
 
 183 
 Proetus (pre'-tus), 23, 24 
 Prometheus ( pro-me'-thus ) , 
 
 160, 203 
 Ptolemy (tol'-e-mi), astrono- 
 mer, 100-150 (?) A.D., 145, 
 
 158, 218, 234 
 Ptolemy, Euergetes, Egyptian 
 
 king, died 222 B.C., 149 
 Pulkova (pol'-ko-va), a city in 
 
 Russia, 225 
 Pythagoras ( pi-thag'-o-ras ) , 
 
 about 582-500 B.C., 234 
 Pythian (pith'-i-an) snake, 
 
 from Pythius, a surname of 
 
 Apollo, 52 
 
 Quirinus (kwi-ri'-nus) , 133 
 Quoit, a flattish ring of iron to 
 be thrown in a game, 74 
 
 Ra, 203 
 
 Rainbow, 208 
 Raphael, 236 
 Regillus (re-jil'-us), a lake 
 
 near Rome, 115-137 
 Regulus ( reg'-u-lus ) , 143 
 Rhamnusian ( ram-no'-zhan ) ,152 
 Rigel (re'-jel), 97, 113, 159 
 Roman, 100, 114, 199, 208 
 Rosse, astronomer, 1800-1867 
 
 A.D., 238 
 Royal Family, a group of stars, 
 
 57-82 
 Royal Stars, the Four, 143 
 
 Sabeans (sa-be'-anz), a people 
 
 mentioned in the Bible, 106 
 Sagitta (sa-jit'-a), see Arrow 
 Samian (sa'-mi-an), a native 
 
 of Samos or pertaining to 
 
 Samos, 46 
 Samoan, 204 
 Samothracia (sam-o-thras'-ia), 
 
 131 
 Santa Croce (san-ta kro'-che), 
 
 236 
 Saturn, a planet, 2, 100, 237 
 Sciron (si'-ron), 178, 180, 183 
 Scorpion, 101 
 Selish Indians, 204 
 Sempronius Atratinus (sem- 
 
 pro'-ni-us at-ra-ti'-nus) , 120 ff 
 Seriphus (se-ri'-fus), an island, 
 
 64, 74 
 Seven Oxen, 14 
 Seven Sisters or Pleiades, 98 
 Shakspere, 205 
 Sicilian, 102 
 Siren (si'-ren), one of the 
 
 sister sea -nymphs who sang 
 
 with magic power, 81 
 Sirius (sir'-i-us) or Orion's 
 
 Dog or the Dog Star, 83-107 
 
 (esp. 97), 113, 143, 159, 247, 
 
 253, 254 
 Slavonic, 203, 204 
 Southern Cross, 193-197 
 
274 
 
 INDEX AND GLOSSARY 
 
 Spectroscope, 220 
 
 Spectrum, 220 
 
 Spica (spi'-ka), 158 
 
 St. Paul, 114 
 
 Struve (stro'-ve), German-Rus- 
 sian astronomer, 1793-1864 
 A.D., 225 
 
 Summer Triangle Group, 41-56 
 
 Sun, 202-204, 206, 215, 217, 242, 
 245, 249 
 
 Swan or Cygnus, 4, 41-56, 197 
 
 Syracuse, 131 
 
 Tahitian, 203 
 
 Tarentum, 131 
 
 Taurus (ta'-rus), 83-107, 113, 
 255 
 
 Taygeta (ta-ij'-e-ta) , 99 
 
 Telescope, the first, 219 
 
 Tempe (tem'-pe), 90 
 
 Ttithys (te'-this), a sea-god- 
 dess, 152 
 
 Theseus (the'-sus), 177-192 
 
 Thia (thi'-a), 151 
 
 Titian, 236 
 
 Triton (tri'-ton), a sea-god, 
 81 
 
 Troezene (tre'-zen), 177, 184 
 
 Troy, 47 
 
 Twelve Labors of Hercules, 159 
 
 Twins, see Gemini 
 
 Tycho Brahe (ti'-ko bra'-e), 
 
 Danish astronomer, 1546-1601 
 A.D., 235 
 
 Ursa Major (er'-sa ma'-jor), 
 
 see Bears 
 Ursa Minor ( mi'-nor ) , see Bears 
 
 Valerius ( va-le'-ri-us ) , 121 
 Vega (ve'-ga), 41, 46, 47, 158, 
 
 159, 255 
 Velocity of light, 195 
 Venus or Aphrodite, 79-81, 90, 
 
 106, 149, 151, 152, 190 
 Venus the planet, 75, 76, 237, 
 
 238, 242, 246 
 Vesta, 132, 136 
 Virgo or Virgin or Maiden, 152, 
 
 157-174 (esp. 158, 159), 196 
 Vulcan, 95 
 
 Washington, G., 228 
 Watling Street, 208 
 Winged Horse, see Pegasus 
 
 Yeoman (yo'-man), a retainer, 
 guard, or servant, 123 
 
 Zodiac (z6'-di-ak), a belt of 
 twelve constellations, extend- 
 ing about 8 degrees on each 
 side of the ecliptic;- see 
 frontispiece, 103, 250, 251