The Weaving Maiden is a story about a cowherd whose parents died at an early age, and who was often mistreated by his brother and sister-in-law, and who had only an old ox to keep him company. One day the old ox gave him a plan to teach him how to take the Weaving Maiden as his wife. On that day, the beautiful fairies really went to the Milky Way to bathe and play in the water. At that moment, the Cowherd, who was hiding among the reeds, suddenly ran out and took away the Weaving Maiden's clothes. The frightened nymphs rushed ashore, put on their clothes and flew away, leaving only the Weaving Maiden. At the Cowherd's request, the Weaving Maiden agreed to be his wife. After the marriage, the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden plowing and weaving, love each other, live a very happy and fulfilling life. The Weaving Maiden also gave the Cowherd a son and a daughter. Later, when the old ox was about to die, she urged the Cowherd to keep its skin and put it on in times of emergency to help. After the death of the old ox, the couple took the skin off and buried the ox on the hillside. When the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother knew about the marriage between the Weaving Maiden and the Cowherd, they were furious and ordered the heavenly gods to come down to the heaven to retrieve the Weaving Maiden. The gods took advantage of Cowherd's absence to capture the Weaving Maiden. When the Cowherd came home and did not see the Weaving Maiden, he hurriedly put on his cowhide and chased after her with two children. Seeing that it was about to catch up, the Queen Mother was in a hurry, and pulled down the golden hairpin on her head to the Milky Way, and the formerly shallow Milky Way became turbid in a flash, and the Cowherd could no longer pass through it. Since then, the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden can only tearful eyes, look at each other across the river, the sky is long, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother can not argue with the sincere feelings between them, they are allowed to meet once a year on the seventh day of July, legend has it that, on the seventh day of the seventh month, earthly magpies will be flying up to the sky in the Milky Way for the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden to take the magpie bridge to meet. In addition, when the night is quiet on the seventh day of the seventh month, people can hear the pulsating love words of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden in the sky under the grape arbor or other melons and fruits.

The Second Story

A long time ago, there was a family living in the mountains, the old people died, and there were two brothers left in the family. The oldest married a daughter-in-law who had a bad heart and always wanted to monopolize the family business left by the old man. One day, the second small lead the dog to cattle, to the field, he patted the back of the cattle, said: "cattle wow, cattle wow, I want to sleep a little sleep, you can never run around." The old yellow cow like to understand the human language, low head "moo, moo" a few times, flicked his tail in his side to eat grass. The second small lay down on the grass and fell asleep. Missing noon, his sister-in-law came to bring food to his brother-in-law with a can, and when she saw that Er Xiao was sleeping, she kicked him hard. When he woke up and saw his sister-in-law, he scrambled to his feet and stood on the ground like a frozen chicken. Sister-in-law put the rice can on the ground, said in a huff: "You're at ease, sleeping with the cow, I'll settle the score with you only if the cow is lost!" After saying this, she left with a twist of her butt. Two small stomach has long been hungry, hold up the jar just to eat, around the big yellow cow head to the jar hit, the jar fell a broken. The big black dog saw the rice on the ground, opened his mouth and ate, in a short time, the rice on the ground licked a clean. The second little man looked at the broken jar and got scared, and felt that it was no good to go home. He let out a long sigh; "Alas, why am I so miserable!" Just after the sound of his sigh, the big black dog fell to the ground with a thud, bled from his nose and mouth, and died in a while. He then realized that his sister-in-law had put poison in the rice. Two small thought: it seems that we can not live with this vermin, or sooner or later will have to die in her hands. When the sun was about to set, he drove the cattle back home. Once in the yard, turned his head to see his brother playing outside back, two small heart a sour, two eyes can not stop flowing tears. Brother see brother so sad, do not know what happened at home, busy asking: "Why are you so sad?" "I sent my sister-in-law's rice jar hit, the dog ate the rice on the ground and died." Brother heard, heart understand eight or nine, fight and can not fight the woman at home, in order to difficult. Two small crying, "Brother, let's live separately." Brother saw his brother said to separate, more difficult to do, one brother is still small, two, he went out to do business; no help at home can not. If in a patch together, and afraid of the brother have a long and short. Seeing his brother's worry, he said, "Brother, I don't want anything at home, just the cow." The two brothers in the yard said the words of separation, daughter-in-law heard, heartily happy. She said to her husband with her hand on the doorframe, "Let's live our own lives from now on, I'll make the decision to follow my second brother!" My brother had tears in his eyes and could not say a word. The next day, the second small drove the oxcart away. The next day, he drove the oxcart away, walking farther and farther. The second small thought: always so walk, walk to how long is the end? Why don't we just stay here? He stopped the oxcart, cut down a lot of tree branches, and built a shed on the hillside. Once the shed was built, he settled here with the old bull. The cow was a golden calf star from the sky, and had been following Er Xiao for more than a year when it died one night. After the death of the old bull, a series of three dreams to the two small, dreaming to the two small: "to tomorrow at three o'clock in the afternoon, I want to go back to heaven. After I leave, you peel off my skin, wait until the seventh day of the seventh month, put it on the body, to ensure that you can go to heaven. The Queen Mother has seven daughters, and on that day they go to the Heavenly River to bathe. Remember, the fairy in green is your daughter-in-law. Don't let them see you. When they are in the water, run back with your clothes in your arms, and she will chase you. She will chase you. As long as you return home, she won't go away." The next day, two small see the old yellow cow died, do not eat or drink, hand touch it light cry. Later, he stripped the cowhide, left the cowhide to bury the cow, and knelt on the cow's grave and cried a lot. July 7, the day, the two small draped in cowhide, immediately feet off the ground, floating to the bank of the Tianhe River, he quietly hid in the woods and waited. A moment, the Queen Mother's seven nymphs came, one by one they took off their clothes, flopping flopping jumped into the water. The second small saw the green dress, scampered over and grabbed it and ran. The three fairies saw someone holding her clothes, hit the water and chased after her. She chased her to Er Xiao's house and asked her why she had taken the green dress. The three fairies asked Er Xiao why he had taken her clothes, but Er Xiao wanted her to be his daughter-in-law. The three fairies repeatedly said that the rules of heaven would not allow it, but Er Xiao repeatedly said that the earth was better than heaven. The three fairies see two small good-looking, but also moved to heart, so he should be. This, the three fairies fell to earth, she was at home every day to play flowers and weave cloth, people call her weaver. Two small daily outside selling cloth to earn money. The two of them lived a comfortable life. The three fairies and the two small lived for three to five years, gave him a man and a woman. One day, two small went to work in the field, the sky drums sounded, the Jade Emperor sent the heavenly soldiers and generals to capture the weaving girl. Two small home to see the two children crying, do not know where the daughter-in-law, anxious round and round. When he asked the children, the eldest child pointed his hand towards the sky, and the second child realized that the Weaving Maiden was gone. He hurriedly picked up the two children and put on the cowhide to catch up with the weaver. Two careful and anxious, chasing fast, see almost caught up with the weaving maiden, annoyed the Queen Mother: "good you two small, is it possible that you want to chase to the Palace of the Spirit Heaven to go?" She hit the head and pulled down the silver pipe, in the middle of the two small and the Weaving Maiden a cut, immediately cut into a river in the sky. There was no way for the second child to cross the river, so he stamped his feet, and the two children in the basket cried out for their mothers. The two children in the basket cried out for their mothers. The Weaving Maiden and the second child both cried, but it was useless to cry. Two small want to leave a miss to the weaving maiden, take out the cow buckle set to throw to the weaving maiden, the weaving maiden caught in the hand. The weaver thought, nothing to send, took out the weaving shuttle thrown at the two small, the weaver's hand strength is small, the weaving shuttle thrown crooked. Until now, on one side of the heavenly river, the weaving maiden has a button set of stars in her arms, and on the other side of the cowherd star next to a shuttle star.

The third

Legend has it that a long time ago, west of Nanyang City, there is a cow family, there is a smart, loyal, hard-working children called Ling'er. Because of the early death of his parents, he had to follow his brother to live, and his sister-in-law, Ma, was cruel and often abusive to Ling'er. One fall, just after the harvest, Ma's forced Ling'er to go to the mountains to herd cattle, and said to him: "Give you these nine cows to go to herd, to wait until there are ten cows you can not come back!" When Ling'er heard this; there was nothing he could do but drive the oxen away from the ox family home. The people in the village heard the news and came to sympathize with Ling'er. Some sent food, some sent clothes, Ling'er thanked them all and then drove the oxen alone toward the mountains. When he came to the grass deep forested mountain ridge stopped to rest, sitting under a tree sadly weeping. He thought to himself, "How long will it be until there are ten cows? At this time, an old man with white hair suddenly appeared in front of him, and the old man patted his shoulder and asked kindly, "My son, why did you come alone to this remote place to graze cows? Why things you so sad?" Ling'er told the story of his sister-in-law abusing and forcing him to herd cows. The old man smiled and said, "So that's what happened! Don't be sad, there's a sick old cow in that Fuxiu Mountain, you feed it well, and when the cow gets well you can drive it home." After saying that, the old man disappeared. Ling'er felt as if she was dreaming. She followed the old man's instructions and went to Mount Furniu. Ling'er walked and walked and walked, over a mountain, wading through a stream, and finally found the sick cow, which was lying on a big flat stone. Ling'er immediately fell down, kowtowed three times in a row, and shouted "Uncle Ox". The old ox opened his tired eyes, and then closed them again. Ling'er looked at the old cow's listless appearance, thought in her heart, may be hungry, so she hurriedly went to give the old cow gathered bundles and bundles of grass. After feeding it for three days and three nights, the old ox was finally full. Suddenly lifted up his head and spoke to him: "Good boy, I was originally a gray ox in the sky, but because of secretly withdrawing the seeds of grains to the earth and violated the rules of heaven, was kicked down by the Jade Emperor to the heavenly court, and broke his leg, so he couldn't move. If you can scrub me with the dew of a hundred flowers for a month I will be well." Hearing this, the little Ling'er stayed at Mount Furniu, ate some wild fruits when she was hungry, drank some spring water when she was thirsty, and snuggled up next to the ox at night. Every morning she went to pick a hundred flowers, and used the dew on the flowers to wash the old ox's wound. After a whole month, the old ox's wound was really healed, and it followed Ling'er home. When Ling'er returned home, his sister-in-law saw that he had really driven ten cows back, and said that one of them was stolen from someone else, and beat him up, but only after the townspeople persuaded him to stop. After that, Ling'er herded cows during the day and slept beside them at night, and the people on the farm called him "Cowherd". The old cow that was saved by Cowherd was very close to Cowherd. Once, when his sister-in-law put poison in a dish, the old cow told Cowherd not to eat it. When his sister-in-law became angry and wanted to separate the family with Cowherd, Cowherd did not want the house nor the field, but only the old cow, two broken carts and a rotten suitcase, so he left the house and built a hut under a mulberry tree and stayed there. The old cow spit out a tea bean from his mouth, the cowboy planted the tea bean in front of the door of the hut, and the next day it broke through the ground, and on the third day it grew leaves, and the cowboy was busy setting up a shelf, and in a few days the bean vines were climbing all over the shelf. The old ox then said: "child, you hide under the tea bean shelf at night, you can see the fairy in the sky, the fairy can also see you, whoever peeps at you for seven consecutive nights, she is looking forward to be your wife, then I will use the cart to pull you up to the sky, and pick her up to come down to earth, and be married to you." Having heard the old ox's instructions, the cowherd drilled under the tea-bean frame at night and looked toward heaven, only to see a group of nymphs bathing in the jade pool, and as he was leaving, one of the nymphs peeped downward at him. On the second night, the fairy came to the jade pool alone and boldly looked at Cowherd. On the third night, she looked at the cowherd and smiled faintly, on the fourth night she nodded to the cowherd, on the fifth night she brought out a basket of silkworms, on the sixth night she stole a loom, and on the seventh night she took a weaving shuttle and beckoned to the cowherd. Cowherd and Weaving Maiden, one in the sky, one in the ground, eye to eye, the Cowherd is looking forward to the Weaving Maiden down to earth, the Weaving Maiden is looking forward to the Cowherd to reunite. On July 7, a magpie flew from the sky and landed on the head of the old ox, chirping: "The Weaving Maiden sent me to tell you to get together quickly. Go and get together, go and get together." The old ox smiled and nodded, the cowherd set on the car, sit on it. The old cow four hooves in the air, a moment to the jade pool, the cowherd off, and the weaving woman to the loom lifted to the car, the weaving woman sat on the silk basket on the car, the cowherd also jumped on the car with the weaving woman sitting together. The old oxen rode on clouds and mist, and arrived home in a while. When the townspeople learned that the Cowherd had become a family man, they all rushed to congratulate him. The Weaving Maiden gave her sisters the silkworms she had brought from heaven and taught them how to raise silkworms, make silk and weave silk. Thus, the whole village knew that Cowherd had married a good wife, can raise silkworms, will draw silk, but also can weave light and bright satin, all said the weaving maiden's loom is brought from the sky, weaving out of the satin made of clothes, warm in winter and cool in summer. This news spread, attracted the silk merchants from all over the world, all scrambling to come to compete for the purchase of Nanyang silk. This is a sensation on both sides of the White River, the Fuyao Mountain area of thousands of households, all send their own girls to learn to weave. Weaver is kind-hearted, willing to teach people, less than two years, families have learned to raise silkworms and silk weaving silk. To the third year of July 7, the weaving woman a fetus gave birth to a boy and a girl, the male called Jin brother, the female jade sister. The Cowherd plowed the fields and the Weaving Maiden wove the cloth, and lived in harmony. A few years later, Cowherd was plowing the field when a thunderstorm suddenly broke out in the clear sky. The old cow looked at Cowherd and shed tears, and said to Cowherd, "My son, I have violated the laws of heaven by pulling the Weaving Maiden down to the sky, so it seems that I can't live anymore. After my death, the Queen Mother will not let you go, at that time, you can eat my meat and become immortal, and use my skin to make shoes to wear to ascend to the sky." After saying this, the old ox fell down in response; and the cowherd, after crying for a while, did as the old ox commanded. On the seventh day of the seventh month, while Cowherd was hoeing the ground, Jin and Yu ran up to him in tears, and told him that an old woman had come and dragged his mother away from the loom. Cowherd rushed home and wore shoes made of old cowhide, pulling Jin with one hand and Yu with the other, and chased after her. Seeing that it is about to catch up, the Queen Mother pulled down the head of the gold for the feet of a painting, a big rough river appeared, the Cowherd pulling the gold brother and sister Yu stood by the river and cried straight, crying shocked the Jade Emperor, the Jade Emperor looked at a pair of children, the strange and poor, and so, it was decided to let the family meet every July 7 - times. People suddenly realized that Cowherd's family had disappeared, and felt strange. They went to the bottom of the tea-bean shelf at night and looked up to the sky, and saw a big, turbulent river; the Weaving Maiden on the other side of the river was crying, and on the other side of the river, the Cowherd was pulling his brother and sister Jin and Yu, who were also crying. People found an extra silver band in the starry sky and called it the River of Heaven. There was one more star on one side of the river, and this star was called the Weaving Maiden Star. On one side there were three more stars, called the Altair Star. People missed the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, and every night they would always go under the tea-bean shelf to look up at the sky. On the night of July 7, they suddenly saw magpies swooping towards the river in the sky, biting each other's tails and building a magpie bridge. Cowherd pulled Jin with one hand, the other hand pulled the jade sister on the bridge, the weaving girl also came from the other side of the bridge, walked to the center of the magpie bridge family meeting.