Ballad script In this popular account, the story opens with a herd boy named Niu Lang who is poor and has only one ox. One day the ox tells her master to go to a certain stream where he will see some heavenly fairies bathing. If he steals the clothes of one of them, the ox says, he will gain himself a bride, as she will be unable to fly away. One day the herd boy does as instructed. All of the maidens fly away except the one Chih-Nu, who was also called the weaver. Because she can?t do anything else, she follows the cowherd and becomes his wife. A few years went by, and the old cow, feeling it was about to die, said to its master, "When I am dead take off my skin and fill it with golden sand. Then take the ring from my nose and make it into a packet pouch. Carry it with you always and when you are in trouble it will help you." During the following years, the weaver bore the cowherd a son and a daughter. Often the weaver would ask her husband where he had hidden her fairy dress but he would never tell her. One night she pleaded so enchantingly that he told her--whereupon she quickly snatched the garment and flew up into the sky. The cowherd seized the children and flew up to heaven with the aid of the magic cowhide. The weaver's response was to take a golden hairpin and draw a long line to cut off the pursuit. This turned into a broad raging river. The cowherd poured the sand out of the hide into the river until if formed a big sandbank, which he was then able to cross. But the weaver again drew another long celestial river, which successfully impeded the cowherd who had used up all his sand. He then took the ring out of his packet and threw it at his wife; she threw her shuttle in return. Suddenly one of the lesser gods appeared and ordered them to make peace. They were to stay apart except for one night of the year. In this version the two stars that are visible behind the cowherd (Altair) and the weaver (Vega) are the ring and the shuttle. There are apparently so many versions of this story that you can pick and choose among the many subtexts and characters and just cut and paste and then spin them to your heart's content. However, the basic legend always concerns the weaving girl Chih-Nu and the herdboy Niu Lang, who fall in love and consequently neglect to do their work. The gods solve this problem by placing the River of Heaven (our Milky Way) between the two lovers with the provision that they will be able to see each other for at least one night of the year-the seventh day of the seventh month. On that day all the magpies on Earth fly up to heaven and form a bridge with their spread wings so that the lovers can cross the river to meet. Some variations of the legend say that the lovers were actually told that they could only meet once a month. This message is given to a magpie for delivery--but the magpie gets it wrong and tell them they can only meet once a year! (So it goes.)

The Fable of the Seventh day of the Seventh Month.

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