Chinese Myth: Cowherd and Weaver Girl

To the east of heaven lived the Weaver Girl (Chinese name: 织女, Pinyin: zhī nǚ), she is the youngest and prettiest among the seven sisters. Weaver Girl weaves the finest heavenly clothes which color can change according to seasons, whoever wears the heavenly cloth can travel between heaven and mortal world at will.

In the mortal realm lived the young Cowherd (Chinese name: 牛郎, Pinyin: niú láng), his mean brother took everything their parents had left for them and gave only him an old cattle. Cowherd and the old cattle were dependent on each other and lived a hard but happy life.

One day the old cattle spoke, it told Cowherd that Weaver Girl and her sisters would visit the mortal world and bath in the river before back to heaven, It also added that by taking away Weaver Girl's heavenly cloth he could make Weaver Girl stay and marry her.

With the help of old cattle, Cowherd successfully found the river and took the heavenly cloth on the shore while Weaver Girl and her sisters were playing in the river. Weaver Girl could not go back to the heaven with sisters without her heavenly cloth, she stayed and accepted Cowherd's marriage proposal. They soon had two children and lived happily.

It didn't take long for Tiandi (Supreme God, Chinese name: 天帝, Pinyin: tiān dì) to learn about this, he was very angry because love between immortals and mortals was forbidden by heaven rules, Tiandi immediately sent the heavenly guards to bring Weaver Girl back.

Cowherd was easily subdued as his strentgh could not match a group of heavenly guards', Weaver Girl was taken and there was nothing Cowherd could do. Seeing his two children crying for mother, Cowherd had never felt so hopeless. It was then the old cattle spoke again. The old friend of Cowherd told him that putting on its skin would grant him ability flying to the heaven and it was ready to sacrifice itself in order to get Weaver Girl back. Cowherd refused to do so because the old cattle was more like a brother to him. The old cattle knew his thoughts so it hit the wall hard and killed itself before Cowherd could respond.

Cowherd griefly put on the cowhide, he used bamboo basket to carry the kids and flew to the sky with them together. They soon caught up with the escort and Weager Girl was within touch. At the moment the two children were about to grab their mother a stream appeared out of nowhere and quickly grew into a tremondous river that seperated the family on shores. It turned out that this river was created by Xiwangmu (Chinese name: 西王母, Pinyin: xī wáng mǔ) in order to defend the heaven rules.

The panic children cupped their hands and scooped up water in a vain attempt to dry up the river. The helpless father joined them too as he didn't know what else he could do to defy such a powerful force. Witnessing all this broke Weaver Girl's heart, she cried hard and refused to leave with heavenly guards.

Tiandi was touched by their deep affection for each other, albeit he insisted abiding to heaven rules, he allowed the couple to meet in the middle of the river once a year. Therefore, every year on July 7 of the lunar calendar, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet on the bridge which formed by thousands of magpies over the river.