In which this little star story is also a summer love story

The Weaver Maid and the Cowherd (China)

Long ago, there seven beautiful fairy women who were the daughters of the Goddess of Heaven.
These women spent their days weaving beautiful cloth which became clouds for the world below. 
Early one morning, they went down together to bathe in a mountain lake.

In a little hut near the mountain lake lived a cowherd who was very poor. 
His only friend was a wise old ox, who advised him on all things.
When the fairy women took off their clothing to bathe in the lake,
the old ox awakened his friend the cowherd and said,
“Master, if you wish to marry a beautiful fairy woman,
take away the red clothing she has left by the side of the lake.”

The cowherd did as the ox instructed and hid himself behind a nearby tree to wait.
When the fairy women emerged from the lake, one of them could not find her red clothing. 
Without the red garments, she could not return to her home in the sky, and her sisters left her behind.
She sat down on a rock and began to weep.

Hearing the weeping, the cowherd emerged from his hiding spot, and offered her the red clothing. 
“However,” he said, “if you like, you may stay here with me and become my wife.”

The weaver maid saw the kindness in the cowherd’s heart, and agreed to marry him. 
She lived with him in the little hut near the mountain lake
and together they had two beautiful daughters.

The Goddess of Heaven was angry when she learned of the marriage
ordered the daughter to return to the sky immediately to resume her weaving duties.

The cowherd’s heart was broken without his beautiful wife. 
But the faithful ox, who was very old and near death, spoke to him again. 
“When I die,” said the beast, “peel off my skin and make a cloak to cover yourself. 
The cloak of my skin will allow you to fly up to the sky to visit your wife.”

The cowherd followed his friend’s instructions, and when the old ox died,
made the skin into a cloak which allowed the wearer to fly up to the sky. 
His wife was so happy to see him with their two daughters
that she left her work untended to be with them. 

The weaver maid’s neglect of her work angered the Goddess of Heaven,
who created a great river in the sky between the woman and her family. 
But the woman and her sisters cried so much at this separation that, finally,
the Goddess of Heaven relented.
She agreed that on one night per year, birds would fly up to the heavens
and create a bridge of stars between the weaver maid and her family. 
However, if the sky is cloudy and rainy on that night,
the birds cannot find the way, and the family must remain apart for another year.

This story happened in ancient times,
but the people of China still celebrate the Qixi festival each year in August. 
If you look into the sky, you will see the Cowherd star and two fainter stars
which are the children separated from the Girl Weaver by the Milky Way. 
On the night of the Magpie Bridge, the family is able to meet up and be together and happy again.

Santa Camp, 2017