Winter Norway, known as the rune of sevens, and of 

 Stars, which one of the invocatory lines is ' And by 

 da seven shiners.' All kinds of interpretation 

 have explained this, from the obvious ' seven 

 planets,' or else the Pleiades, to the Seven 

 Candlesticks of Revelation and I know not 

 what besides. I have again and again asked 

 fisher- folk or others from the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands, and in all but one or two instances 

 the answer has clearly indicated the Great 

 Bear, occasionally Polaris and the Ursine 

 Arcturus and their nearest brilliant ' shiners.' 

 Again, Crannarain, one of the Gaelic names 

 for the Pleiades, is, perhaps, as often applied 

 to the Great Bear : the curious legend of the 

 Baker's Shovel, implied in the Gaelic term, 

 fitting equally. 



Of the Great Bear, of the North Star, 

 however, I have already spoken. Of Polaris 

 itself, indeed, there is more than enough 

 to draw upon. Years ago I began an MS. 

 book called 'The Book of the North Star,' 

 and from my recollection of it (for at the 

 moment of writing I am far from my books) 

 I should say there is enough folklore 

 and legend and various interest connected 

 with this star wherefrom to evolve a volume 

 solely devoted to it. It is strange that 'the 

 Lamp of the North ' should have so fascinated 



310 



