Introduction to the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl

Story introduction:

The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is a famous folk love story in ancient China, derived from the star names of Altair and Vega.

It mainly tells the story of the orphan Cowherd who relies on his brother and sister-in-law to survive. His sister-in-law was mean and often abused him, so he was forced to separate the family and rely on an old cow to farm and support himself. This old cow is very spiritual. One day, the Weaver Girl and the fairies came down to play and bathe in the river. The old cow persuaded the Cowherd to meet him, and told the Cowherd that if the fairies could not go back before dawn, they would have to stay in the mortal world. .

The Cowherd stayed by the river to watch the seven fairies. He found that the youngest fairy among them was very beautiful, and fell in love with him. He remembered what the old cow said, so the Cowherd quietly took away the little fairy's clothes. They took a bath and were ready to return to heaven. The little fairy found that the clothes were missing and had to stay. The Cowherd and the little fairy Weaver Girl had an encounter. Later, they got along well and understood their respective difficulties, and Weaver Girl became the Cowherd's wife. wife. After they got married, the man farmed and the woman weaved, and they gave birth to a son and a daughter. Their life was very happy. Unexpectedly, the Emperor of Heaven found out about the matter and ordered the Queen Mother to escort Zhinu back to heaven for trial.

Lao Niu couldn't bear the separation of his wife and children, so he broke off the horns on his head and turned into a small boat, allowing the Cowherd to pick up his children and catch them in the boat. Just as she was about to catch up with the Weaver Girl, the Queen Mother suddenly pulled out the golden hairpin on her head and drew a rolling Milky Way in the sky. The Cowherd could not cross the river, so he could only watch and cry with the Weaver Girl by the river. Their faithful love moved the magpies. Countless magpies flew over and used their bodies to build a colorful bridge across the Tianhe River, so that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could meet on the Tianhe River.

The Emperor of Heaven had no choice but to allow the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet on the Magpie Bridge once a year on July 7, with the magpies by their side. From now on, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet every year on July 7th.

Extended information:

Origin

The words "Weaver Girl" and "Morning Glory" appear in writing. They first appeared in "Dadong" in "The Book of Songs" 》Chapter. The Weaver Girl and Petunia in the poem are just the names of two constellations in the sky, and there is no relationship between them. "Hanshu·Geography": "The territory of Guangdong (Vietnam) is divided into the Cowherd (Cowherd) and the Weaver Girl."?

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Ten Ancient Poems" written by Anonymous Among the "Nine Poems", there is one "Far Far Away from Altair". It can be seen from it that Altair and Weaver are already a pair of lovers who admire each other, but the poem does not identify them as husband and wife. In written records, the first person to call the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl a couple should be the "Selected Works" compiled by Xiao Tong of the Liang Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. There is an annotation to "Luo Shen Fu" that says: "The Cowherd is the husband, and the Weaver Girl is the husband." Women, the Weaver Girl and the Altair star are everywhere beside the river drum, and they will be together on July 7th."

At this time, the story of the "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" and the plot of the Chinese Valentine's Day meeting have begun to take shape. , developed from two stars in the sky into a couple. But in the imagination of the ancients, the couple in heaven and the couple on earth are basically the same, so there is no tragedy in the story. As for why the Morning Glory and the Weaver Girl have to "get together for a while" on July 7th? The original text is not explained.

According to later generations' speculation, on the one hand, the stars may be the brightest in the sky at night in July every year, and the two stars Altair and Vega are relatively close to each other; on the other hand, July 7th was the folk custom at that time for "begging for cleverness" days, and the working people regarded the Weaver Girl as a skilled laborer, so they could "weave a hundred pieces of silk in ten days" and "begged for skill" from her. As a result, people combined the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl with folk customs. The story continues to enrich and develop over time.

The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the "Qixi Festival" originated from the theory of celestial phenomena and stars. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there are records of "Cowherd" and "Weaver Girl" in "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Dadong". Here, the Weaver Girl and Altair are only used as natural star images to elicit a metaphorical association, without any storyline. At this time, they only serve as a cultural factor and begin to enter the larger system of literature. It is this "factor" that prepares the potential cultural conditions for the generation of this legend.

Wang Yi's "Shou Zhi", Volume 17 of "Chu Ci Chapters and Sentences": "Lift the sky to hide evil, and hold up the sky to shoot rape." It expresses the theory of the marriage of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

The "Four People's Monthly Order" written by Cui Yan of the Eastern Han Dynasty "On July 7, Hegu (the astronomical name of Altair), the two stars of the Weaver Girl will meet." From the above materials, it can be seen that people gradually became the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. These two stars who are far apart form a love story.

The first choice of "Nineteen Ancient Poems" reveals this information. The two stars here, Morning Glory and Weaver Girl, have already taken on human form. Weaver Girl misses Morning Glory all day long and longs to see each other, but she is "full of water, and her pulse is speechless". From then on, it was woven into a love tragedy of a loving couple suffering from isolation.

In the long process of historical development, the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, as an important carrier of traditional culture, sprouted in the Pre-Qin Dynasty and gradually matured in the Han Dynasty. The story framework was basically determined in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Although the details and specific connotations of the story have changed in different historical periods, the concept of loyalty to a lover contained in it has warmed future generations through thousands of years.

Whether it is the "seeking for wisdom and skill" since the Han Dynasty or the "Magpie Bridge Society" after the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, they are all inseparable from the long-term observation and rich imagination of the ancient Chinese on astronomical phenomena. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ancients named a pair of stars facing each other at both ends of the Milky Way after "Morning Bull" and "Weaver Girl". "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Dadong" records: "There is heaven and Han in Wei, and there is light in the prison.

I stand on the Weaver Girl, and she has seven pillows all day long. Even if I have seven pillows, I can't make a newspaper. I look at that thousand cattle, Not in a box." This is the earliest record of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl that can be found. As the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl spreads widely, Qixi Festival is defined as the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Tianhe River meet through the "Magpie Bridge", and the Qixi Festival has increasingly evolved into China's "Valentine's Day".

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia: Development and Evolution