Legends of Qixi Festival
The First Story: Once upon a time, there was a cowherd boy, whose parents died early, so he had to live with his elder brother and sister-in-law. However, he was often ill-treated by his brother and sister-in-law, so an old bull in their house became his only company. One day, the magic powered bull advised a scheme to the little boy, that he could get married with the goddess of weaver. When the day predicted by the old bull came, the beautiful fairies indeed went to the silvery river to enjoy their bath. Suddenly, the cowherd ran out of the reed marshland where he had hid himself, and took away the clothes of the goddess of weaver. The panic-stricken fairies rushed to the bank, dressed up, and flew away, only the goddess of weaver was left behind in the river, helplessly. Under his continuous and sincere requests, the goddess of weaver agreed to be his wife. After marriage, the cowherd worked in the field, while the goddess of weaver did her loom work. They deeply loved each other, leading a very happy life. Later, the weaver fairy delivered a son and a daughter to the cowherd. Further later, when the old bull was to die, it reminded the cowherd to keep its skin after it died, as it would be helpful when he fell into emergencies. After the old bull died, the couple peeled off the bull skin in sorrow, and buried it in a mountain slope.
When the news that the weaver fairy and the earthly cowherd got married was reported to the Jade Emperor and the Empress in heaven, they burst into fury, and ordered the heavenly warriors go down to earth and bring back the weaver fairy. When the heavenly warriors came, the cowherd was not at home. When he returned home and couldn’t find his wife, he immediately put on the bull hide, laid his two babies in baskets connected to a shoulder-pole, then dashed out. Soon, he caught sight of his wife, and ran even faster. Seeing this, the heavenly empress was so much upset that she pulled off her gold hairpin and struck a line at the silvery river. Suddenly, the past clear and calm river became incredibly violent with billows running one after another. Now, the cowherd could not move a step forward. Henceforth, the cowherd and the weaver fairy had to stand on both sides of the Milk Way, looking from far away at each other, full of tears in eyes. Day after day, year after year, they would not leave away for a second. So the Jade Emperor and the Empress knew they couldn’t separate them but they also wanted to save their faces. Consequently, they granted that the couple could meet each other once a year, i.e. on July 7. The legend further goes, on this very day, the magpies on earth would fly up to heaven to make a bridge with their own bodies for the beloved couple to meet. When it is deep into the night at this night, it is said that if you hide yourself under a fruit shed, and if you are lucky enough, you can hear the sweet words of the cowherd and the weaver fairy.
The Second Story: Many many years ago, there lived in mountains a family, the parents of which had died, leaving two brothers to drudge on. Later, the elder brother got married, but his wife was a bad person, who always tried to possess all of the properties left by the parents.
One day, the younger brother went out with his dog to graze the bull. When they arrived at a pasture, the boy patted the bull on the back, “Bull, my good bull, I feel like a doze, but you should not ran away, OK?” The yellow old bull seemed to have understood what its master had said, so it mooed several times. Then the bull continued grazing the grass as it swung its tail unhurriedly. Soon, the boy fell asleep.
After it was over noon, the sister-in-law came, carrying some food in a pot. When she saw the boy was stealing a good sound sleep, she sent a vicious kick at the boy with her foot. The boy woke up and hurriedly tottered to his feet, dumbfounded.
The sister-in-law dumped the food pot heavily on the ground, saying ferociously, “You are really having fun, ah? You set the bull free and you yourself slept here soundly. See what I’ll do to you if the bull get lost!” Then, she turned around and made her way back home.
The boy felt hungry quite some time ago, and couldn’t wait to hold up the pot ready to eat. Suddenly, the old bull standing by struck the pot broken, and the rice scattered all around onto to the ground. Seeing this, his big black dog didn’t waste a second to gulp it down. In a trice, the rice scattered on the ground was gone completely.
The boy gazing at the broken pot, frightened, thinking there would be a good scold awaiting him back home. In desperation, he sighed deeply, “Oh, my goodness, how come I’m so ill-fated?”
Hardly had he finished his lament, when his black dog fell to the ground with blood bleeding through its mouth and nose, and for a moment it expired its last breath and died. Only then did he know that his sister-in-law had put poison into his rice.
(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)
