Cowherd and Weaving Girl Long ago, there was a boy, clever, diligent and honest. Orphaned at an early age, he was very poor. However, he adopted an abandoned old buffalo, which proved to be very loyal and relieved him a lot from the hard labor in the fields. The two enjoyed a very good relationship, being seen together all the time. Villagers from far and near came to know him by the name of the Cowherd. At the same time, the youngest of the seven celestial princesses had grown tired of the privileged but secluded life in the heavenly palace. She longed for a mundane life she often saw down beneath her. That was a very pervert idea to cherish in heaven. Yet, determined to pursue what she deemed to be her own happiness, she sneaked out and descended onto the earth and to the sudden happiness of the Cowherd with whom she had secretly fallen in love all along in heaven. They married and had a lovely boy and a girl. While the Cowherd worked in the fields with his old pal the buffalo, the heavenly princess weaved at home to help support the family. Villagers all admired her excellent weaving skill and started learning from her. She was now well-known as the Weaving Girl. The family lived moderately but peacefully and happily until the girl‘s celestial royal family found her missing and traced her to the village. By the way, it is popularly believed that a day in heaven accounts for years on the earth. The years she had spent with the Cowherd was but a day or so by the celestial calendar. The Celestial Empress was in such a wrath that she gave her daughter only two choices: to go back home or see her husband and children destroyed. She had no choice but to leave. The old buffalo suddenly began to speak to the bereaved and now astonished young man, saying that he was dying in no time and asking him to use his hide as a vehicle to catch up with his wife. And off he sailed to heaven taking his young son and daughter in two baskets carried by a shoulder pole. Fearing that the young man would catch up, the empress took out her hair spin and drew a big river across the sky, known to the Chinese as the Silvery River (the Milky Way in the West). She wanted to separate the family forever. However, all the magpies in the world, deeply touched by the story, came to their rescue. Each year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, they would flock together to form a bridge so that the family may enjoy a brief reunion. 牛郎和织女很久很久以前，有一个聪明、勤奋、诚实的男孩。
他从小就是孤儿，生活很贫苦但是他养 了一头老水牛，这头水牛也是被人抛弃的，他对男孩非常忠诚，每天尽力的帮他干农活他 们相依为命，形影不离因此人们都把这个男孩子叫做“牛郎“ 那时，天庭中有七位公主其中最小的一位厌倦了天庭中优越但是与世隔绝的生活，她常常 从空中偷看人间，非常向往人间平凡的生活尽管这种想法十分大逆不道，但是七仙女下定 决心要追求自己的幸福，于是她私自下界来到人间因为她在偷看人间的时候就偷偷爱上了 牛郎，所以她到人间之后就嫁给了牛郎后来他们生了一对儿女，夫妇俩个男耕女织，生活过的十分美满由于七仙女纺织的技艺非 常精湛，村民们纷纷向他学习，于是人们就称她为织女但是天庭终于知道了织女私自下界的事情，并且很快就在一个小村庄里找到了牛郎和织女 但是，“天上一天，地上一年“，这时候织女已经和牛郎生活了一年多了王母暴跳如雷，她给了织女两条路：离开人间或者眼看着丈夫和孩子被杀织女无奈，只得 选择离开这是，老牛突然开口对悲痛欲绝的牛郎说话了，牛郎大吃一惊老牛告诉牛郎说它马上就要 死了，它死后牛郎可以剥下它的皮，然后踩着它去追织女于是牛郎把一双儿女放在两个筐 里，用一根扁担挑着去追妻子王母害怕牛郎追上织女，于是就拔下头上的簪子，在天空中划出了一条大河，就是后来的银 河，她想用这条河把牛郎一家永远拆散。
牛郎织女的故事感动了人间的喜鹊，于是所有的喜鹊都赶来帮助这对夫妇每年的七月初七， 喜鹊们就会搭成一座桥，让牛郎织女一家人在桥上团聚。