Last week I attempted to explain the tricks for finding Ursa Major, the Big Bear, and Ursa Minor, the Little Bear.

What complicates things a bit is that the Little Bear and the famous Little Dipper are one in the same pattern of stars. Also, the Big Dipper makes up the rear end and tail of the Big Bear and is the brightest part of the beast. Both bears are prominent in the north-northwestern Butler sky.

The story of how the bears got into the sky is my one of my favorite tales, (or tails).

Like all astronomical mythology, there are many different versions for each constellation and I know of at least a dozen stories about Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

My favorite is from Greek mythology and involves a beautiful young woman named Callisto and her son, Arcus. I have to warn mythology purists out there that I take poetic license with these stories and update and modernize them a bit, but hey, is there really such a thing as the "correct" mythology.

Callisto was a beautiful young woman in her late 20s who, tragically, became a window and single mom when her husband was killed in a war a few years back. Arcus was her wonderful, 10-year-old son who really helped out his mom around the house and made life for Callisto a little easier.

Callisto worked really hard being a single mom and fortunately she had a really good job but a mentally exhausting one. It was a good thing that Callisto was so good about helping around the house. He even fixed supper for his mom at least once a week.

When Callisto finally got a chance to relax, one of her favorite things to do was go down to a nearby park and feed stale bread to the ducks at a small pond there. She especially enjoyed her time with the duckies on Saturday mornings.

On one particularly sunny Saturday morn she was sitting on her favorite park bench by the shore making the duckies even fatter.

It just so happened that on that same morning Zeus, the king of the gods of Mount Olympus, was taking a stroll in the park. He was quite a hunk and quite a ladies man. Zeus was struck by Callisto's natural beauty and slid onto the park bench next to her.

Callisto was greatly taken aback by Zeus. It's not everyday you sit next to the king of the gods! Zeus gave her that million dollar smile and calmed Callisto down. He asked if he could help her feed the ducks. Callisto obliged and soon they were laughing and looking lovingly in each other's eyes.

After a little time, Zeus slid closer and closer to his new catch. His arm went around her shoulder and he knew how to say all the right things. He then talked her into a cup of coffee at a local bistro and sweet-talked her some more. A few days later they went to the movies and then they made plans to visit a local amusement park that coming Saturday.

All of this would have all been just fine, but Zeus was already engaged to marry the goddess Hera. And one thing you never do is tick off Hera. She was furious when she found out about Zeus' love adventures. After all, she already had the flowers ordered for her wedding day and had the American Legion hall reserved for the reception. Through her many spies Hera found out about Zeus' plans to visit the amusement park that Saturday and decided to give him a huge surprise.

Hera traveled to the park very early that morning and hid in the bushes next to the entrance to the killer roller-coaster. Later that morning, sure enough, Zeus and Callisto came along arm in arm. When they got close enough, Hera jumped out of the bushes, held up her magic finger, pointed it at Callisto, and turned her into a big bear.

This caused quite a commotion with security. She was chased all around but managed to find a hole in the fence and escape into some nearby woods to live the life of a bear. Hera then dragged Zeus away by his ear.

Tragically, this left Arcus without a mother as well as a father. He didn't know what happened to his mother other than the fact that she just disappeared. Well, life goes on and Arcus moves in with relatives and grows up to become of all things, a professional game hunter.

One day Arcus was out in the woods with his new bow and arrow when he sees a giant female bear saunter his way. Yes, it's the same bear that ran out of the amusement park. Arcus had no idea that the bear he wanted to send an arrow into was his mom.

Talk about Greek tragedy!

As luck would have it, Zeus is taking a stroll through the woods at that same time and runs into this scene. He recognizes that bear as Callisto from that ugly Saturday morning years earlier and also recognizes Arcus as a grown man.

He saw what was about to happen and he had to stop it! He tried to convince Arcus that the bear he was about to shoot was actually his mother. Arcus is having a hard time swallowing this and took aim again. Zeus couldn't let this happen, so out of desperation just before arrow flies, the king of the gods takes his magic finger, points it at Arcus and turns him into a little bear.

Once this happened, Arcus recognized his mother and they gave each other bear hugs.

While all this is going on, Hera is watching from afar and is still pretty ticked off. She charges to the scene and Zeus can see her coming with fire in her eyes.

He figures that she's so ticked off that she's probably going to kill him and the bears so he decides he'd better diffuse the situation a bit and get rid of his four legged friends.

Zeus reaches down and grabs both bears by the tail and, with all his godly strength, swings them around faster and faster.

With all his might, he then throws the bears toward the northern sky where to this day and night they're safe from Hera's temper.

So why are the Big and Little bears' tails so long as you gaze upon them at night? Hey, your tail would be stretched out like that, too, if someone threw you in the sky with it!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.