Well, let me tell you somethin’ about them stars up yonder. Folks say they got stories, and I reckon some of ’em do. They call ’em constellations, fancy name for a bunch of stars bunched together like chickens in a coop.
Now, there’s this one they call Crater. They say it’s like a cup or somethin’. Story goes there was this bird, a crow or maybe a raven, workin’ for some big shot named Apollo. Apollo, he wanted some water, so he sent the bird to fetch it. But that bird, he got distracted by some figs, you know, them sweet fruits? Waited for ’em to get ripe, ate ’em all up, and then finally got around to gettin’ the water. Apollo, he got mad, tossed that bird and the cup up into the sky, and there they are, Crater and that bird star, Corvus. I tell ya, always do your work first, then eat your figs, that’s what I say!
Then there’s Pavo. That one’s a peacock, real fancy bird. They say some queen, Hera her name was, used to have peacocks pull her cart through the sky. Can you imagine? Peacocks flyin’ a cart! Anyway, her husband, Zeus, he was a bit of a rascal, always chasin’ after other women. One time, he turned one of his girlfriends, Io, into a cow so his wife wouldn’t catch ’em. Hera, she wasn’t fooled though, and she asked for the cow as a gift. Zeus had to give it to her. That’s how the story goes. Anyway, that peacock ended up in the sky, all them pretty feathers shinin’.
- Pavo is a pretty bird
- Crater looks like a cup
Another one, Lyra, looks like a little harp. They say it belonged to a fella named Orpheus. He played that harp so good, even rocks would listen. He went on some trip with Jason and them Argonauts, and he played his harp so the bad sirens couldn’t trick them. Them sirens, they sang pretty songs, but they led ya to trouble. Orpheus, he was a smart one, knew how to handle them. After he died his harp got thrown into the river and Zeus put it into the sky as Lyra.
Now, some of them star bunches, they don’t got no stories. Like Tucana, that’s just a toucan bird. No big story there, just a bird. Maybe folks just ran out of stories, or maybe that bird just minded its own business, didn’t get into no trouble like that crow with the figs.
Stars are like a dot to dot puzzle, you know? People look up and they connect the dots, make pictures of their gods and heroes, even birds and cups. It’s kinda like lookin’ at clouds, sometimes you see a dragon, sometimes you see a horse. It’s all in how you look at it. They tell all sorts of stories about them stars. Gods and heroes, animals and things, all up there shinin’ down on us. It’s somethin’ to think about when you’re lookin’ up at night, ain’t it?
Them old stories, they stick around. Passed down from one person to another, just like my grandma used to tell me stories. Maybe them stars ain’t really cups or birds or harps, but the stories, they make it more interestin’, don’t they? And these stories, they make you think of culture, history and what those people believed. It’s like lookin’ back in time, seein’ what them old folks were thinkin’ about. Just stars to some folks, stories to others, that’s just how it is.
So next time you’re out on a clear night, take a look up. See if you can find them constellations, them star pictures. And remember them stories, about the crow and the figs, the peacock and the queen, the harp player and the sirens. It’s a whole world up there, just waitin’ to be discovered, or maybe just remembered.
Tags: [Constellations, Mythology, Greek Mythology, Stars, Astronomy, Crater, Pavo, Lyra, Tucana, Corvus]
