Not unlike Ursa Major, Ursa Minor is also quite often overlooked, as most people assume that the Little Dipper--which is actually an astroism within the constellation--is the constellation. Ursa Major holds a very important section of the sky, however, as Polaris (the North Star) is located at the tip of the bear's tail. Ursa Minor shares the same story as Ursa Major.

 

Ursa Minor was once a young man called Arcas. Arcas was son to Callisto, who had been turned into a bear by Hera, queen of the gods, when she thought the mortal woman had given birth to Zeus's child. Arcas, adopted after his mother's transformation, was raised as a hunter. At the age of fifteen, he was out on a hunt when his mother saw him and ran to him, overjoyed at the sight of him. Arcas, however, saw this as a bear attack and shot an arrow at her. Fortunately, Zeus had been looking on and stopped the arrow. Then, to prevent future danger to either of them, he turned Arcas into a bear as well, took both bears by the tails, and tossed them into the heavens, where they became stars. This is why both Ursa Major and Ursa Minor have unusually long tails; because Zeus swung them from their tails with such force.