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THE centuries-old Four Great Chinese Folktales — “the Butterfly Lovers,” “Legend of the White Snake,” “Lady Meng Jiang’s Bitter Weeping Brings Down the Great Wall” and the “Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl,” remain deeply popular in China today.

Especially the “Cowherd and the Weaver Girl” — now an annual festival on Lover’s Day, China’s Valentine’s Day.

This folktale tells how the Milky Way was created.

The tale dates back to more than 2,600 years ago, when a cowherd, embodying the star Altair, and a weaver girl, representing the star Vega, fell in love.

But such a romantic relationship among stars and deities was forbidden in Heaven.

So, when the weaver girl’s grandmother, the Heavenly Empress, learned of the “unethical” conduct, she immediately banished the cowherd to the mortal world and confined her granddaughter to a house in Heaven and ordered her to weave day and night, without stopping.

The weaver girl used ethereal silk threads and a magical loom to weave all the clouds in the sky. During different seasons and at different times of the day, she used threads of different colors to create colorful clouds.

Meanwhile, in the mortal world, the cowherd was reincarnated into a farmer’s family. He began to work in the fields when he was only a little boy.

Unfortunately, his parents passed away when he was young and he had to stay with his brother and sister-in-law.

The sister-in-law was mean and treated the boy badly. She especially didn’t like to have the cowherd in her home. So, one day the boy was ordered to leave and live by himself.

All he had was an old ox, a worn-out cart and a small piece of barren land.

But he was diligent and every day, he and his old ox worked long hours in the field. After years of effort, the small piece of land became more productive and the cowherd, now a young man, could eventually afford to build a new home for himself and a new shed for the old ox.

In Heaven, several fairies, who all had great sympathy for the weaver girl, one day asked the Heavenly Empress for permission to descend to the mortal world with the punished girl to bathe in the beautiful Lotus Flower Lake.

The grandmother agreed, because the girl had worked so hard for so long.

The day before, the cowherd was working with his old ox in the field. He was shocked when the ox suddenly opened its mouth and spoke, telling him seven fairies would come down from heaven.

The ox said the fairies would bathe in the nearby lake and he should go there and take away the red dress, because that fairy would become his wife.

Half believing, but curious, the cowherd went to the lake the next day and indeed came upon a group of beautiful young fairies bathing.

He stood watching for a long time, almost forgetting what he had come for. Remembering the ox’s words, he crept up, picked the red dress from where the fairies had left their clothes, and ran away to hide it.

But the fairies had spotted him and quickly came to shore, dressed and flew into the sky.

Only the weaver girl remained at the lake.

The cowherd stepped forward and asked the girl to marry him.

She immediately recognized him — she had never stopped loving him.

So she said yes.

The young couple lived happily in the mortal world. The weaver girl told the cowherd the story of their romance in Heaven, even the fact that the old ox was originally a star in the Heaven, too.

He had been banished because he stood up to the Heavenly Empress to defend the two of them.

Soon, two children — a boy and a girl — came along.

But their happy life didn’t last long. When the Heavenly Empress discovered that her granddaughter didn’t come back to Heaven and stayed with the cowherd in the mortal world, she flew into a rage.

She immediately sent out a team of Heavenly soldiers to bring the weaver girl back.

Again, the old ox alerted the young couple to the looming calamity. He told them that he would die soon and then they must take off his hide for it could help the cowherd fly into the sky.

Then the old ox died in front of them. With tears, the couple peeled off the hide and then properly buried the ox.

Just a moment later, the Heavenly soldiers arrived. They snatched the weaver girl and flew away.

The cowherd immediately draped the ox hide on his back to fly into the sky to chase his wife. Meanwhile, he carried their two children in bamboo baskets.

However, when the Heavenly Empress saw the cowherd getting closer and closer to the weaver girl, she took out a long hairpin and drew an arc across the sky, which instantly became the Milky Way, separating the two lovers for eternity.

Watching each other across the Milky Way, the cowherd and the weaver girl washed their faces with tears.

And the two children also cried out sadly for their mother.

Almost all stars and deities in the Heaven felt pity for the young couple and their sincere love and tears eventually also touched the heart of even the Heavenly Empress.

So, she decided to allow the family to reunite once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

On that day every year, thousands of Heavenly magpies gather there to form a bridge across the Milky Way to let the cowherd, the weaver girl and their children get together for one day.

Today, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month each year is known as the Qixi Festival in China, which celebrates the annual meeting of the cowherd and the weaver girl.

It is also observed as the lover’s day, when the girls often go to temple to pray for their dexterity in needlework and the prospect of marrying a good husband.

In cities, many young people now spend the day just like a Chinese Valentine’s Day, following many Western customs as well, such as buying chocolate and flowers for girlfriends and lovers.

The story of the cowherd and the weaver girl has also been very popular in many East and Southeast Asian countries for a long time and in many different variations.