The Cowherd and Weaver Girl

In the timeless mists of ancient China, beneath the boundless celestial tapestry, lived a humble young cowherd named Niulang. Orphaned and alone, his only companion was a venerable old ox, who was secretly a divine being under celestial punishment. One day, the ox spoke, revealing a secret that would forever alter Niulang's destiny. He guided the astounded youth to a hidden crystalline lake where the seven beautiful daughters of the Queen Mother of the West descended from the heavens to bathe. Among them was Zhinü, the Weaver Maid, whose skilled hands wove the dazzling clouds and radiant sunsets that adorned the sky. Following the ox's advice, Niulang took away Zhinü's feathered robe of immortality as she swam, leaving her stranded on earth. When they met, however, it was not trickery but profound destiny that united them. Struck by each other's sincerity and kindness—his gentle heart and her graceful spirit—they fell into a deep, authentic love. They married, built a simple home, and were blessed with two cherished children. Niulang tilled the land while Zhinü, with her magical loom, wove exquisite fabrics to sell, their lives brimming with simple, earthly joy and profound devotion, a perfect harmony between the mortal and the divine.

This blissful interlude, however, could not escape the notice of the heavens. The Queen Mother of the West, a formidable deity of supreme authority and order, was enraged. The sacred laws of the cosmos had been breached; a celestial goddess had wed a mortal man. The harmony of the spheres was disrupted by this transgression. With a face like cold jade and eyes burning with stern judgment, she descended to the mortal realm in a whirl of divine fury. Just as Zhinü was outside, gazing wistfully at the sky and thinking of her sisters, the Queen Mother appeared. There was no mercy in her decree. Zhinü's abandoned feathered robe was summoned, and as she donned it, her earthly form began to ascend. Despite Niulang's desperate cries and the heartbreaking wails of their children, the cosmic law was immutable. Zhinü was forcibly taken back to the heavens, her tears falling like rain upon the land she had grown to love. The heartbroken Niulang, remembering the dying words of his magical ox, used its hide to carry his children and give chase, ascending into the sky in a desperate, loving pursuit.

Just as Niulang was about to reach his beloved wife, the Queen Mother, witnessing his mortal defiance, acted with finality. With a swift, sharp motion, she withdrew a hairpin of pure jade from her intricate coiffure and drew a single, devastating line across the starry firmament. Where the pin passed, a raging, luminous river of silvery stars erupted, dividing the sky in two. This was the Heavenly River, the Milky Way, an impassable barrier of swirling astral light that forever separated the despairing lovers. Niulang could only stand on one bank, cradling his children, while Zhinü stood weeping on the other, their anguish echoing through the cosmos. Yet, such pure and steadfast love could move even the coldest of hearts. The relentless sorrow of the couple and the pitiful cries of their children stirred a rare compassion within the Queen Mother, and perhaps even within the Jade Emperor himself. They decreed that once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month, the lovers would be granted a reprieve. On this night, all the magpies of the world, touched by this eternal love, would fly up into the heavens and, with their own bodies and outstretched wings, form a living bridge across the vast Milky Way. Upon this bridge of hope and feathers, Niulang and Zhinü could finally meet, holding each other close for one precious night, their tears of joy becoming the gentle rain that often falls on the Qixi Festival.