Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/153

 In the hand of this "mighty man seated on the Milky Way," who is sometimes called the Charioteer or the Wagoner, are the two kids which were raised with their mother to the stars. These kids may be recognized by a small triangle of stars not far from Capella. They were often called the "frightened kids" by the ancients. No wonder they looked frightened—the long horns of the red-eyed Taurus are lowered in the sky below them, the gleaming blade of the hero Perseus is brandished among the stars not far to the side of them and the huge bulk of the Great Bear is shadowed in the darkness just beyond them. The ancient people also called them the "horrid, mad stars" and feared their influence on the weather, for it so happened that these timid little creatures were either near the eastern or the western horizon during the storm weather. Since this coincidence happened year after year without fail, it was felt that the Kids were in some way responsible for it.

Such severe storms were so common on the Mediterranean when they glittered in the eastern sky during their early rising in October, that their appearance was a signal for the closing of navigation. After the stars had made their final disappearance in the west, the people held a festival to celebrate their great relief and joy. The Kids were certainly not a popular star group with the ancient seaman's wife, for literature pictures her as clasping her hands and gazing fearfully out to sea as the winds and waves swirled and leaped under the influence of the "mad stars" and imperiled the safety of her dear ones.

The beautiful first magnitude star Capella may be seen any month of the year except July. It lies below and to the north of