Romantic legend 七夕節(jié)的浪漫傳說(shuō)

　　The legend has been handed down for nearly 2 millennia. The story has been recorded as far back as the Jin Dynasty (256-420 AD). Poets composed hundreds of verses on the love story and many types of Chinese opera tell the story.

　　The Chinese people believe that the star Vega(織女星), east of the Milky Way, is Zhi Nu and, at the constellation of Aquila(天鷹座), on the western side of the Milky Way, Niu Lang waits for his wife.

　　Zhi Nu was said to be the youngest of seven daughters of the Queen of Heaven. With her sisters, she worked hard to weave beautiful clouds in the sky, while Niu Lang was a poor orphan cowherd, driven out of his home by his elder brother and his cruel wife.

　　Niu Lang lamented over his lonely and poor life with an old cow, his only friend and companion. The magical cow kindly told him of a way to find a beautiful and nice woman as his life companion.

　　Under the direction of the cow, Niu Lang went to the riverside on an evening, where the seven fairies slipped out of their heavenly palace to bathe.

　　He took one of the beautiful silk dresses the fairies had left on the bank. When the fairies left the water, the youngest couldn''t find her clothes and had to see her sisters fly back to heaven without her.

　　Then Niu Lang came out with the dress and asked the youngest fairy, Zhi Nu, to stay with him.

　　Several years passed on Earth, which were only a few days in heaven. Niu Lang and Zhi Nu lived happily together and had two children before the Queen of Heaven discovered Zhi Nu''s absence.

　　She was so annoyed she had Zhi Nu brought back to heaven. Seeing his beloved wife flying in the sky, Niu Lang was terrified. He caught sight of the cowhide hanging on a wall. The magical cow had told him before dying of old age: "Keep the cowhide(牛皮) for emergency use."

　　Putting the cowhide on, he went after his wife with his two children.

　　With the help of the cowhide, Niu Lang was able to follow Zhi Nu into heaven. He was about to reach his wife when the Queen showed up and pulled off her hairpin to draw a line between the two. The line became the Silver River in heaven, or the Milky Way.

　　Zhi Nu went back to the heavenly workshop, going on weaving the clouds. But she was so sad, and missed her husband across the Silver River so much that the clouds she weaved seemed sad. Finally, the Queen showed a little mercy, allowing the couple to meet once every year on the Silver River.

　　民間愛(ài)情傳說(shuō)之一的牛郎織女的故事。

　　七夕節(jié)始終和牛郎織女的傳說(shuō)相連，這是一個(gè)很美麗，千古流傳的愛(ài)情故事，是我國(guó)四大民間愛(ài)情傳說(shuō)之一。

　　相傳在很早以前，南陽(yáng)城西牛家莊里有個(gè)聰明、忠厚的小伙子，父母早亡，只好跟著哥哥嫂子度日，嫂子馬氏為人狠毒，經(jīng)常虐待他，逼他干很多的活，一年秋天，嫂子逼他去放牛，給他九頭牛，卻讓他等有了十頭牛時(shí)才能回家，牛郎無(wú)奈只好趕著牛出了村。

　　……

　　一天，天上的織女和諸仙女一起下凡游戲，在河里洗澡，牛郎在老牛的幫助下認(rèn)識(shí)了織女，二人互生情意，后來(lái)織女便偷偷下凡，來(lái)到人間，做了牛郎的妻子。織女還把從天上帶來(lái)的天蠶分給大家，并教大家養(yǎng)蠶，抽絲，織出又光又亮的綢緞。

　　牛郎和織女結(jié)婚后，男耕女織，情深意重，他們生了一男一女兩個(gè)孩子，一家人生活得很幸福。但是好景不長(zhǎng)，這事很快便讓天帝知道，王母娘娘親自下凡來(lái)，強(qiáng)行把織女帶回天上，恩愛(ài)夫妻被拆散。

　　牛郎上天無(wú)路，還是老牛告訴牛郎，在它死后，可以用它的皮做成鞋，穿著就可以上天。牛郎按照老牛的話做了，穿上牛皮做的鞋，拉著自己的兒女，一起騰云駕霧上天去追織女，眼見(jiàn)就要追到了，豈知王母娘娘拔下頭上的金簪一揮，一道波濤洶涌的天河就出現(xiàn)了，牛郎和織女被隔在兩岸，只能相對(duì)哭泣流淚。他們的忠貞愛(ài)情感動(dòng)了喜鵲，千萬(wàn)只喜鵲飛來(lái)，搭成鵲橋，讓牛郎織女走上鵲橋相會(huì)，王母娘娘對(duì)此也無(wú)奈，只好允許兩人在每年七月七日于鵲橋相會(huì)。

　　后來(lái)，每到農(nóng)歷七月初七，相傳牛郎織女鵲橋相會(huì)的日子，姑娘們就會(huì)來(lái)到花前月下，抬頭仰望星空，尋找銀河兩邊的牛郎星和織女星，希望能看到他們一年一度的相會(huì)，乞求上天能讓自己能象織女那樣心靈手巧，祈禱自己能有如意稱(chēng)心的美滿婚姻，由此形成了七夕節(jié)。