So the story goes something like this.
There was this immortal in heaven, and he did something to piss off the all mighty dictator of the Jade emperor, so as a punishment, he was sent to earth as an ox to toil as hard labour.
The ox was with this orphaned man and was working the family fields. The man, because he was using the ox, was thus known as the cowherd (though technically, one ox is not exactly a cow nor a heard of oxen)
In heaven, this dictator of the Jade Emperor also had 7 daughters. Was not easy being the daughter of a dictator. They had to do things for him as well. U don’t get waited upon just for being the princess of heaven apparently. Anyways, the last daughter was supposed to weave the clouds and rainbows and all the nice things you see in the sky. That was her job, so she was called the weaving maid. (thought you would expect the heavenly princess to have a couple of maids instead of being a maid)
Then there is this bit that is rather disputed. Some say that the cowherd had nasty sister in law and brother, some say sister and nasty brother in law and there is generally some confusion here. The only bit that is consistent is that he was an orphan and badly treated. Though he was badly treated, he was still king hearted and always looked after the old ox well.
More dispute over the stories about how come he was in this enchanted wood, but he was there one day when the 7 daughters of the Jade Emperor were having a bath/soak/swim in the lake/river in this enchanted wood and cowherd came upon them. He fell in love with the youngest daughter. Some says he stole her clothes, so she was unable to return to heaven with the rest of her sisters, some say that it was love at first sight. However the universally agreed bit was that they did fall deeply in love with each other and got married and had 2 kids. They had a great time together as a family even though life was hard.
So come a day that the old ox was dying and spoke to the cowherd, telling him the secret that he used to be an immortal, and if he died, the cowherd should skin him and use the leather to make a coat. If the cowherd wore the coat, then he would be able to fly up to heaven. (Sounds like the cloak that Harry Potter can wear to render him invisible. Wonder which story copied which story?)
But anyway, the Jade Emperor started to notice that there was something wrong with the sky. The clouds, rainbows and all the nice bits were missing because his youngest daughter had not been weaving them. He then sent his wife to look for their youngest daughter that had eloped with this mere mortal. He wasn’t pleased that his heavenly princess daughter had decided to marry this poor mortal without even his consent or blessing.
The empress came down and found her daughter. Grabbed her and flew up towards heaven with her in tow. The cowherd (now without the ox) came home and found his wife missing and his kids crying. After asking them what happened, he decided to fly up to heaven with them to look for his wife and their mother. So he put the kids in 2 wooden baskets and used a rod to balance them between his shoulders, grabbed his leather jacket made from the skin of the ox that used to be an immortal, put it on and they started floating up towards heaven.
And in the typical melodramatic way, the caught up with the empress and the princess. He reached out and grabbed the princess’s hand, trying to pull her back down with him. The empress wasn’t impressed and took out her hairpin and with a huge wave, created this huge torrent of celestial bodies that flowed like a river, causing a division that prevented the cowherd with his low level magical leather coat from crossing. This split is still present till this day as the milky way.
As such, the princess and the cowherd was then separated. They both wept and wept and the princess became the star Vega (The swooping - Eagle) in the Lyra (Harp) constellation and the cowherd and their 2 children became the stars Altair (Flying one) in the Aquila (Eagle) constellation.
They were so miserable and so much in love that the magpies felt so sorry for them that a huge flock of them flew across the milky way to form a bridge for them to meet each other.
Their love and the magpies sacrifices for them touched the empress and she secretly felt sorry for them. So in the end, she created this little quirk in the milky way that happens every year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month that the 2 stars will be able to meet each other, and thus so, the 7th day of the 7th lunar month became the Chinese symbol of love.
Pictures from www.thatschina.net
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