Sirius, his dog, follows him, and the Pleiads fly before him.
The Pleiads were daughters of Atlas, and nymphs of Diana's train.
One day Orion saw them and became enamoured and pursued them. In
their distress they prayed to the gods to change their form, and
Jupiter in pity turned them into pigeons, and then made them a
constellation in the sky. Though their number was seven, only six
stars are visible, for Electra, one of them, it is said left her
place that she might not behold the ruin of Troy, for that city
was founded by her son Dardanus. The sight had such an effect on
her sisters that they have looked pale ever since.
Mr. Longfellow has a poem on the "Occultation of Orion." The
following lines are those in which he alludes to the mythic story.
We must premise that on the celestial globe Orion is represented
as robed in a lion's skin and wielding a club. At the moment the
stars of the constellation, one by one, were quenched in the light
of the moon, the poet tells us
"Down fell the red skin of the lion
Into the river at his feet.
His mighty club no longer beat
The forehead of the bull; but he
Reeled as of yore beside the sea,
When blinded by Oenopion
He sought the blacksmith at his forge,
And climbing up the narrow gorge,
Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun.
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