Callisto was a beautiful woman whom the god Jupiter admired.
The goddess Juno was very angry because Jupiter was kind to Callisto.
She decided to be revenged.
"I will take away her beauty, so that no one shall admire her," said
Juno.
Night and day she thought and planned, until she found a way to punish
Callisto.
One morning as the fair and gentle Callisto was gathering wild flowers
in a field, she was suddenly changed into a bear. Then she was driven
into a forest near by.
"You shall live in this forest forever! A cave under the rocks shall be
your home!" exclaimed Juno.
Although she had the form of a bear, Callisto was still a woman at
heart. She feared all the animals that she met.
The hunting dogs frightened her, and she would hide in terror from the
hunters.
One day a young man was hunting in the forest. Callisto recognized him
at once as her son Arcas.
She rushed toward her son to embrace him, but thinking the bear was
going to attack him, Arcas lifted his hunting spear.
As he was about to strike the bear, Jupiter appeared. The god snatched
away the spear just in time to save Callisto's life.
Jupiter took both Callisto and Arcas, and placed them in the sky.
Callisto became the Great Bear, and Arcas the Little Bear.
They have remained in the sky ever since. On pleasant nights you can see
them in the sky, as they move around the North Star.