Callisto

Juno’s Wrath

Jupiter, lord of the gods, espied Callisto, a beautiful young lady who loved hunting and was a friend of Diana. One day, Juno, Jupiter’s wife, found out Jupiter fancied Callisto and sought to destroy her rival. She proclaimed, “So, my husband admires your beauty. Let us see if he still likes you this way!” Angry, Juno transformed Callisto into a giant black bear. Unfortunately, the hunter became the hunted. Upset, Callisto crawled on all fours home to see her son Arcas, but when she arrived, her son, frightened, ran away in horror. Her appearance had changed, but her disposition had not. She was afraid to sleep in the woods alone, and when she saw other bears and dogs, she fled from them forgetting that she was an animal herself.
While out hunting, Arcas caught sight of Callisto coming towards him to greet him. Not knowing that this was his mother, he picked up his spear and was about to hurl it at her when Jupiter turned him into a bear. Jupiter grabbed both of them by the tail and hurled them into the heavens where they became constellations.
Juno was horrified when she realized Callisto was put in a place of honor in the heavens. She would have rather Callisto remained lovely in the mountains of Arcadia than a bear exalted in the sky. Juno traveled from the heavenly plains to the depths of the ocean to seek Tethys and Oceanus, the powers of the ocean. In agony she relayed her pitiful story. She asked them, “Why should any one hereafter tremble at the thought of offending Juno when a place in the heavens is the reward of my displeasure?” In supplication, Juno beseeched Tethys and Oceanus, if they felt for her and agreed she had been unfairly treated, to forbid Callisto and Arcas from entering their waters. They assented and the Great and Little Bear are the only two constellations that circle heavens yet never descend as the other stars do under the sea.

~Cole