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And it is also well known among the old Lithuanians-but this

knowledge they probably derived from the rabbins-that the huge,

long Dragon of the zodiac, which winds its starry coils over the

sky, and which astronomers erroneously christen a serpent, is not

a serpent, but a fish, and is named Leviathan. Long ago it dwelt

in the seas, but after the deluge it died for lack of water;

hence on the vault of heaven, both as a curiosity and as a

reminder, the angels hung up its dead remains. In the same way

the priest of Mir has hung up in his church the ribs and shanks

of giants that have been dug from the earth.143

Such stories of the stars, which he had conned from books or

learned from tradition, did the Seneschal relate. Though in the

evening the old Seneschal's sight was weak, and he could see

nothing in the sky through his spectacles, yet he knew by heart

the name and form of every constellation; with his finger he

indicated their places and their paths.