牛郎织女

Long ago, there was a boy, clever, diligent¹ and honest. Orphaned² at an early age, he was very poor. However, he adopted an abandoned old buffalo³, which proved to be very loyal and relieved him a lot from the hard labor⁴ in the fields. The two enjoyed a very good relationship, being seen together all the time. Villagers from far and near came to know him by the name of the Cowherd.

 

At the same time, the youngest of the seven celestial⁵（天上的） princesses had grown tired of the privileged but secluded⁶ life in the heavenly palace. She longed for a mundane⁸（世俗的） life she often saw down beneath her. That was a very pervert⁹ idea to cherish in heaven. Yet, determined¹⁰ to pursue what she deemed to be her own happiness, she sneaked¹¹ out and descended¹² onto the earth and to the sudden happiness of the Cowherd with whom she had secretly fallen in love all along in heaven.

 

They married and had a lovely boy and a girl. While the Cowherd worked in the fields with his old pal⁷ the buffalo, the heavenly princess weaved at home to help support the family. Villagers all admired her excellent weaving skill and started learning from her. She was now well-known as the Weaving Girl.

 

The family lived moderately but peacefully and happily until the girl's celestial royal family found her missing and traced her to the village. By the way, it is popularly believed that a day in heaven accounts for years on the earth. The years she had spent with the Cowherd was but a day or so by the celestial calendar.

 

The Celestial Empress was in such a wrath¹³ that she gave her daughter only two choices: to go back home or see her husband and children destroyed. She had but to leave.

 

The old buffalo suddenly began to speak to the bereaved¹⁴（丧失亲人的人） and now astonished young man, saying that he was dying in no time and asking him to use his hide（兽皮） as a vehicle to catch up with his wife. And off he sailed to heaven taking his young son and daughter in two baskets carried by a shoulder pole.

 

Fearing that the young man would catch up, the empress took out her hair spin and drew a big river across the sky, known to the Chinese as the Silvery River (the Milky¹⁵ Way in the West). She wanted to separate the family forever.

 

However, all the magpies¹⁶（喜鹊） in the world, deeply touched by the story, came to their rescue. Each year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, they would flock together to form a bridge so that the family may enjoy a brief reunion.

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