Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/503

be pasturing a herd of sheep. To this group belong two calves, three goats, four camels, and a foal. These animals are all in the neighbourhood of Cepheus. A single camel (represented by a star in Draco) has strayed away to pasture alone. Two jackals and several hyenas are prowling about with wicked intentions.

The four stars in the bowl of the Little Dipper serve as an excellent means of comparing stellar magnitudes. The stars are β, γ, ζ, and η, and are respectively of the second, third, fourth, and fifth magnitudes.

Names by which Ursa Minor has been known:
In the Euphratean Star List—		Circler of the Midst.
In Babylonia—		The Leopard.
In Egypt—		The Jackal of Set or Sati.
In Greece—		Cynosura.
In Arabia—		Hole bearing the earth's axle.
In India—	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Mount Meru.
		The Seat of the Gods.
		Dhruva.
In Scandinavia, Denmark, Iceland—	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Throne of Thor.
		The Smaller Chariot.
		The Little Waggon.
		The Milkmaids of the Sky.
Indians of North America—		A Bear.
The Gaels called it—Fire Tail.

It has also been called "the Little Wain" or "Chariot," "the Little Dipper," "the Little Bear," "St. Michael," and "the Waggon of Joseph."

Dr. Seiss regards it as a sheepfold, and the Arabs called the three stars in the tail of the Little Bear, "the Daughters of the Lesser Bier."

In conclusion the writer quotes in part from Bryant's beautiful "Hymn to the North Star":

The sad and solemn night
Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires;