Stars

I love star gazing. For a long time, I really wanted to be an astronomer. I absolutely love science right now. We are learning about the stars and the moons. I love playing my Nancy Drew game about astronomy. I love everything about stars.

Why do I love stars? When I look up into the sky, I feel like I can see forever, all around me. Stars are so bright and beautiful. I love just looking up into the sky.

I love looking up and trying to find consolations. I also love trying to find the brighted star in the sky. I love trying to find the North Star. It is really interesting that I learned in science that the North Star will be a different star than it is right now, in a few years.

I love how numerous the stars are in the sky.

I have a joke to tell. (Beware, it would make a good laffy taffy joke.)

What is the brightest star in the sky?

THE SUN!!!!!

Anyway, I wonder how people found the consolations in the sky. Did they just look into the sky and say "Wow, that looks like my water dipper, only it's really big. I shall name it the BIG DIPPER!"

Or were the legends and views of the stars passed on through generations of time?

I have a story of how the big dipper came to be.

The Legend of the Dipper
Retold by Labrigold

A long time ago, there was a land where there had not been rain for a very long time. There were no streams or rivers or lakes. Everything had dried up, so nothing could grow.

There was a little girl that had a very sick mother. She knew if she could just find her mother some water, her mom would get well. So, she set out with her tin cup to find the water her mother needed.

After a while, she finally found some water. The little spring was almost dried up, but she got just enough for her mother to drink.

As she was walking home, she was oh so careful not to spill a single drop of the precious water. Along the road that she was walking, there came a dog who was so thirsty that he was panting and hanging his tongue out.

She couldn't bear to see the dog so thirsty, so she gave the dog just a few drops to drink. The dog was immediately better and wagged his tail in thankfulness. While she was watching the dog, the dipper changed into a silver dipper and filled its self back up with water.

Once again she started home. When she got home, her mother told her to give some water to the woman who had taken care of her. The woman felt much better after that. Unnoticed, the cup turned into a gold cup and had just as much water as before!

She finally gave her mom the water, who drank and drank until she was full. When the little girl looked into the cup, there was still some water in it! So, she was about to lift it up to her own lips when, a knock came at the door.

Outside was a stranger who asked for some water. The girl gladly gave him some water. As she gave him the dipper, it changed into a diamond dipper. He turned it upside down, and all the watter fell out and sank into the ground.

Where the water had fallen, a fountain sprang up. Out of the fountain came enough water for all the animals and people in the whole land.

The stranger disappeared unnoticed and vanished into the sky. Right where he had vanished, a diamond dipper appeared in the sky. Now, whenever people look up into the night sky, they remember the unselfish little girl that saved the whole land.