It is said that the stars of the Dipper are hunters and that they pursue the bear endlessly through the night sky, chasing in a circle with no end. "Not so", say some tribes. Every year the hunters close with the bear and pierce it with arrows. The blood of the bear stains leaves red all over the northern world.
Bear is an incredible healer, though, and, without breaking stride, he first stems the flow of blood and then heals himself. His wound slows him and the world waits through winter for him to heal. When he has returned to health, spring may come. And the endless chase continues.
The tribes insist, however that their hunters are the best there are. Someday they will finally catch up with the bear and their spears and arrows will, at close range, be enough for them to overpower him. Proof, they say, may be seen in the last star of the Little Dipper's handle. The rest of the Dipper's stars are evenly spaced. But the last one trails much farther back. The hunters are so confident that this last one carries a huge pot to cook the bear in. It is so heavy that he lags behind.
(Protect us Ursaphiles from the day when the bear is no longer the central star in the heavens.)
