The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl comes from Yanya Township, Yiyuan County, Shandong Province. There is a saying in Yiyuan County that "the Milky Way is in the sky and yi river is on the ground", and yi river is a river in Yiyuan County. There are Weaver Cave and Cowherd Temple on both sides of the river in Yanyan Township, Yiyuan County, which is a unique cultural landscape just like the Cowherd and Weaver Girl in the sky facing each other across the Milky Way. It is called "the birthplace of China's love culture".

The Cowherd Temple, located on the east bank of yi river, was built in the seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1579). It was originally a two-story attic building with blue bricks and blue tiles and painted arches. There were statues of Cowherd and his children in the temple, and a statue of Taurus was lying next to it. The existing buildings have been rebuilt in recent years. Next to the Niulang Temple, there is a village called Niulang Guanzhuang. Most people in the village have the surname "Sun", which is just the same as Niulang (Sun Shouyi). Sun Shi's ancestors moved into the official village of Niulang from the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the villagers claimed to be descendants of Niulang, and passed on the story of Niulang and Weaving Maid from generation to generation. The customs of sericulture, weaving, "begging for cleverness" and taking double seven waters have been inherited to this day.

Zhinv Cave was built in the Song Dynasty, located on the west bank of yi river, across the river from Niulang Temple, and built on a cliff more than 41 meters high at the northern foot of Daxian Mountain. The old "Records of Yishui County" records: "The county is 131 miles northwest, Yishui passes through its northeast cliff, and there is a Weaver Cave, which runs from the top to the foot of Gubai Senlie, winding for three or four miles. The old name is Phoenix Mountain. There is a Weaver Cave in the mountain, and the water in Linyi is so high and dangerous that you dare not overlook it. Turning to the north, a waterfall flies, and it looks like Youlong. ". The cave of the Weaver Girl is a two-story pavilion-like ancient building, with blue bricks and gray tiles, and green windows on the vermicelli door. It is ingenious and exquisite, and the word "Fairy Cave of the Weaver Girl" is engraved on the lintel, which looks like a castle in the air from a distance. There are historical stone tablets in the cave, the earliest being the Song Dynasty. On the second floor, there are colorful statues of the Weaver Girl and the Queen Mother sitting in the middle, and on the left is the Weaver Girl's bedroom. The window on the second floor faces the Cowherd Temple on the other side of the river, so that the Weaver Girl sitting here can see Cowherd every day.

There are two ginkgo trees in the south of Zhinv Cave, one of which is said to have a history of more than 1,411 years. It is extremely rare that 21% of the fruit of this ginkgo tree is on the leaves, and it is called "leaf-seed ginkgo", which is only one in China. Some experts think it is a plant atavism.

Scholars in past dynasties left many marks when they passed through the Weaver Girl Cave. On the inner wall of the gate house of the Weaver Girl Cave, there is a seven-character quatrain "Autumn Evening" written by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty:

Qiu Guang painted a cold screen with silver candles and fluttered a small fan to fly fireflies.

The night in Tianjie is as cool as water. Sit and watch Petunia and Weaver Girl.

On the cliff to the south of Zhinv Cave, the four characters "Zhong Ling Yuxiu" written by Bai Xiyuan in the 21st year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (AD 1895) are engraved.

On one side of Fairy Cave stands a poem inscribed by Wang Songting, a native of Yishui in the 21th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (AD 1815), and written by Meng Tianrong, Chu Shi of Yunxi. The poem says:

Climb the stone bench to Xianguan, and the cave is like staying in a row.

It's as if the Milky Way is hanging from the sky, and cows and girls are vaguely descended to the world.

even if you know that there are opportunities in the loom, you can't believe that you have leisure after crossing the bridge.

I want to take the bus, and the guest star will listen to the gurgling water.

Looking at the Fairy Tower on the Tiansun Platform, the dangerous threshold is flat and the scenery is quiet.

The mountain path turns with the forest foothills in the south, and yi river turns east into the past and the present.

the sound of springs is sharp and sunny, and it is suspicious of rain, while pines and cypresses are cold and summer and autumn.

But I have little fun here. Why do you ask Petunia?

The Weaver Cave and the Cowherd Temple are the only ancient architectural sites in China with the theme of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Yiyuan can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, while Chinese Valentine's Day in Yiyuan began in the Han Dynasty in 216 BC (according to Lin Yiwei's textual research). In August 2117, Yiyuan County was awarded the "Hometown of the Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl" by the Chinese Folklore Society. In June 2118, "The Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was officially listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

The Legend of Tiansunquan and Ginkgo biloba

The Queen Mother was furious because the weaver girl married the cowherd and decided not to have this daughter. But afterwards, I wanted to visit the Weaver Girl, so I couldn't help but quietly visit the Weaver Girl. I walked about 111 meters south of the Weaver Girl Cave and sat on a stone to rest. I watched my daughter shed tears, and the tears dripped on the rock and soon turned into a spring. The Queen Mother stroked a small tree around her and said, "This fairy spring is specially designed for the Weaver Girl. You are here to watch it and make it clear and sweet forever." This is Tiansunquan. The quality of spring water is pure and sweet, and it will not dry up after a long drought, and it will not overflow with heavy rain, and it will not be frozen in cold, clear and sweet. Tiansunquan was originally the site of Yingxian Temple in Taoist Dojo in Tang Dynasty.

The day after the Queen Mother left, the Weaver Girl found the Fairy Spring, and when she bowed her head to drink water, she accidentally dropped a orb on her head into the spring. The Weaver Girl searched carefully, but she couldn't find it. At this moment, there was a sudden gust of wind, and the leaves of that small tree near the spring were rustled. The Weaver Girl looked up and saw that the leaves were very strange, like a beautiful fan. After a closer look, I found that my lost orb was actually supported on the leaves. The Weaver Girl couldn't help but sigh: "Tree, tree, although you presented me with a orb, I live in two places with Brother Niulang. What's the point of wearing a beautiful orb?" You collect it for me first, and I'll wear it when I meet Brother Niulang on July 7th! " On July 7th, the Weaver Girl came to Tiansunquan's small tree to get a treasure bead, and found a fairy fruit like a treasure bead on each leaf. The Weaver Girl picked one and tasted it. It was delicious and fragrant, and she felt refreshed after eating it. The Weaver Girl picked some at random and took them to the Cowherd and their children. Year after year, the cowherd and the descendants of the Weaver Girl got married and had children, settled down beside the Cowherd Temple, and gradually developed into the Cowherd Village. The small trees beside Tiansunquan have also become towering trees, and countless fruits will be produced on the leaves of the trees every summer.

Legend of the origin of Niulang Temple

According to legend, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Xie family grave in the west of the current Xiangquan Beitang village. Next to the grave lived a family named Xie, and there was only a little boy named Xie Asan in the family. His life was very poor. He lost his parents since childhood and was lonely. When he was seven or eight years old, he went to herd cattle. Everyone in the village called Xie Asan.

Cowherd herded cattle for others, and he never talked about wages, but he never gave him anything, mainly to get a bite to eat. He was smart, honest and helpful since he was a child. Although he herded cattle for others and did other things for them when he came back from herding cattle, he was always willing to do what others told him to do, and he never did anything bad. Although he is poor himself, he usually scrimps and saves, often helps people in trouble and never asks for anything in return. One day, when the cucumber was missing from the owner's field, he suspected that the cowherd had stolen it for no reason, scolded him, and dismissed him from herding cattle. Although Cowherd was wronged, he defended himself, and the insider laughed at him as a "stupid ghost", but he did nothing.

Later, when something was missing in the village, everyone thought it was stolen by Cowherd. He always took responsibility and compensated for the losses.

One year, in summer and autumn, it didn't rain for a long time, and the fields were cracked and everything planted in the fields withered. Suddenly, one night, it thundered and rained heavily. Cowherd got up at night, wore hemp fiber and a cool hat, and went to the field in the rain to build all the gaps in the rice fields of local people. After dawn, the villagers went to the fields and saw that every field was full of water. They thought it was helped by the gods, but the cowherd was silent. Thinking of what the villagers have done, Cowherd is very sad and hates the injustice of the world. He is determined to cut his hair and become a monk in the local "Tongxing Temple", practice Buddhism and study Buddhism carefully.

On the 25th day of the first month of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Cowherd, who was a monk at that time, was old and well-cultivated, and put more than 111 reeds garlands around the nunnery. He burned incense and put candles on it, bathed behind him, sat in the middle of the nunnery, raised the fire ring, and immediately it was full of smoke. Men, women and children around him saw a crane pedaling Xiangyun, soaring, rising slowly into the air from the nunnery and flying to the west.

After the death of Cowherd, a child dug up a bronze figure on the ground, which was the golden body of Cowherd. When the villagers saw it, they were all surprised. The locals thought Cowherd had become an immortal. Later, Chen Yi and others raised funds to bury the Cowherd and repair the temple, and put the golden statue of the Cowherd in the south of the sacred cow Arahant, so the temple was renamed "Cowherd Temple".