dipper, and like nothing else."

"Why, you silly boy! What would you think if I should tell you that ever
so many people call it the Great Bear?"

"Why, that is queerer yet. Can you see a bear up there in the sky? Maybe
when it thunders it is the Great Bear growling!" and Ralph jumped off
the porch and rolled on the grass, laughing at his discovery.

[Illustration: THE GREAT BEAR IN THE SKY]

In a moment a thought seemed to come to him, and springing up, he ran to
his mother's chair on the porch and said: "Mother, is there any story
about the Great Bear? How did it get up there among the stars? Is the
North Star the Bear's eye? Does his nose always point to the North Star,
the same as the two pointers in the Big Dipper?"

"Now, my boy, you will be surprised again when I tell you that there are
two bears in the sky, the Great Bear and the Little Bear. The wonderful
North Star is in the tip of the tail of the Little Bear."

"Now, I know there is a story about them, just as there was about those
three beautiful ones you showed me in Orion's belt. You told me about
Orion, now you will tell me about the two bears, won't you?"

"It is a sad story, Ralph, and you know you don't like sad stories. But
I will tell it to you, and sometime, in the years to come, you may read
it in a language that is as old as the story.

"Near a beautiful city on the other side of the world was a large