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 Areas 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.