ARCAS

Also known as ARKAS

The Little Bear.

Whisked away by his father, he lived in safety for a while. Then during a feast at the court of King Lycaon, he was seized, cut into pieces and served up as a mixed grill dinner. "If you're so clever," said Lycaon to ZEUS, "turn these pieces back into your son.

Horrified ZEUS went ballistic. He restored the child to life and then angrily turned King Lycaon into a werewolf — thus inventing Lycanthropy. ARCAS then became King of Arcadia and grew into a great hunter. Particularly of wolves.

What ARCAS didn't know was that his mum had been turned into a bear. Out hunting one day, he was just on the point of killing his mother when ZEUS arrived in the nick of time to bear them up to Heaven. CALLISTO became Ursa Major, the Great Bear (Big Dipper), and ARCAS became Ursa Minor, the Little Bear (Little Dipper).