William Tyler Olcott

“ In the autumn one by one the hunters in the rear begin to lose their trail. First of all the Owl, heavier and clumsier of wing than the other birds, disappears from the chase, next the Bluejay and Pigeon also lose the trail and drop out. This leaves only the Robin, Chickadee, and Moose Bird. At last about mid-autumn they succeed in overtaking their prey. The Bear at bay rears up and prepares to defend herself, but the Robin pierces her with an arrow and she falls over on her back. The Robin, in haste to feed upon the Bear, leaps upon his victim and becomes covered with blood. ”

“ It is said to have been familiar to primitive man as a part of the constellation of Ursa Major, the portion popularly known as "the Dipper." The stars that trace the cross form the figure of a Dipper whichever way the cross is turned.
The Arabs imagined Ursa Major and Ursa Minor to be a gazelle and its young, and the three conspicuous pairs of stars in the feet of the Great Bear represented to them the footprints of several gazelles, which, according to a legend, sprang from that spot when the Lion lashed the sky with his tail. ”

“ The arrangement of the stars in Ursa Major in no way suggests a bear, or any other animal, and even if one nation should so picture it, there is no reason why the same imaginative creation should be universally identical. ”

“ The bier was distinctly an object familiar in the Orient, and foreign to the western savage, whereas the bear was foreign to the far east and familiar to the western Indian, whose life was bound up in the hunt. It therefore seems natural that in the east we should find the bier followed by the mourners represented by these prominent stars of the northern sky, and among the Indians we should see this same star group likened to a bear pursued by hunters. ”

“ The ancient Hindus believed that the seven bright stars of Ursa Major repressented the seven principal rich men or holy persons who were supposed to live beyond Saturn, but the inhabitants of northern Asia, the Phœnicians, Persians, and others, all saw in these bright stars of the north the likeness of a great bear. ”

“ It is probable that in no part of the world has the observation of the stars exerted a greater influence over religion and mythology than amongst the native civilised people of Central and South America. Throughout their mythology the most beautiful legends are those associated with the heavens, and the two stellar groups which seem to have played decidedly the most conspicuous parts in these legends are the Pleiades and the Great Bear. ”

“ Canst thou guide the Bear with her train?
The word from which Arcturus was derived was "`Ayish" or "`Ash," a word that does not differ importantly from the word "na'sh," the Hebrew word for assembly, the Arabic "bier," a title among the Arabs for the four stars forming the Dipper, from remote antiquity.
The three stars which form the tail of the Bear were called by the Arabs "Benāt-na'sh," the "daughters of the Bier." ”

“ Another legend respecting these famous stars relates that they represent a peasant's waggon. The peasant, so the story runs, met our Saviour near the shores of Galilee, and gave him a ride in his waggon. He was rewarded for his kindness by a place in the heavens, whither he and his conveyance were transported.
To the Eskimos, Ursa Major represented four men carrying a sick or dead man. The idea of a bier associated with the constellation in the east seems to be embodied in this notion of the Eskimos. The Eskimos also recognised the Great Dipper as a herd of reindeer. ”

“ Even in Homer's day Ursa Major was known as "the Wain," the name by which it is known in England today. This title was originally "Charlemagne's Wain," from the Scandinavian Karlsvagn, the Carle's Wain. Another title was Arthur's Wain, a name, says Smyth, derived from the Welsh "Arth," a bear. Smyth finds in the circling of this constellation about the Pole the possible origin of King Arthur's famous Round Table.
In all probability it is this group of stars and not Arcturus which is referred to in Job's question:
Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? ”

“ The seven lights were, it has been thought, the seven stars of the Great Dipper.
Mythology links together in one story the constellations of the Greater and Lesser Bears:
The legend relates that Callisto, a nymph, the beautiful daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia, incurred the jealous wrath of Juno. Jupiter, fearing that Callisto would suffer injury at Juno's hands, transformed her into a bear. Juno on perceiving this induced Diana to kill the bear in the chase, but Jupiter placed his favourite out of harm's way in the starry skies. ”

“ Glideth the lean white Bear.
Buchanan.
There is some little interest in Ursa Major on account of the possibility of its being used as a kind of celestial timekeeper. The northern sky is in reality a great clock dial, over which hands wrought of stars trace their way unceasingly. Moreover, it is a timepiece that is absolutely accurate, and which requires no winding or repairing. A line drawn through α and β Ursæ Majoris, or "the Pointers" as these stars are called, passes almost exactly through the pole of the heavens. Now this line revolves with the constellation once in twenty-four hours. ”

“ It was known as far north as Point Barrow, as far east as Nova Scotia, as far west as the Pacific coast, and as far south as the Pueblos. The best-known legend concerning this star group is common to the tribes of the Algonquin and Iroquois Indians, and beside Ursa Major it embraces the neighbouring constellations Boötes and Corona Borealis. It is in the form of a drama with the following Dramatis Personæ:
The Bear is thus represented by the four stars in the bowl of the Dipper, and behind are seven hunters pursuing her. ”

“ These four stars forming the bowl of the Dipper were called by the Arabs "the coach of the children of the litter." They form the hind quarters of the Bear, the frame of the Bier, the Plough, and the Wain.
ε Ursæ Majoris bears the name "Alioth." According to Gore, this is a corruption of an Arabic word meaning "the Gulf." Alioth is approaching us at the rate of nineteen miles a second, and very nearly marks the place of the radiant point of the Ursid meteor shower of Nov. ”

“ Allen tells us that the Bears have been frequently found on the old signboards of English inns, and in a more important way are emblazoned on the shields of the cities of Antwerp and Grôningen, in the Netherlands.
The well-known talisman of good luck, the Swastika Cross, is considered the oldest cross and symbol in the world. ”