Niulang Altair 🐂

Intro  ~ About Niulang Altair ~ Niulang Altair is a poor cowhearder that toils day in and day out. His father, too old to help and a man of few words, has made for a quiet and lonely life. When Niulang is out in the fields, taking the cows to graze, he can often be seen or heard playing the dongxiao, a bamboo flute he carved himself with a low and beatiful sound. His most treasured friend is an oxen, one that he found abandoned and sickly in which he nursed back to health. This ox, he discovered, is an ethereal entity in disguise. ~ Background ~ It was a normal day in the fields for Niulang when his oxen friend came running in good spirits. The oxen excitedly told Niulang that today, fate could free him of his lonliness. The oxen lead Nuilang to a lake upon where princessess from the heavans had decended to play. The oxen instructed Niulang that the robes nearby were needed for the princessess to return and, should he take one and hide it, he could afford himself a bride. Niulang did as the oxen instructed and, when one of the princessess, Zinü, could not return, he took her home with him to care for her. The two fell in love and were to be wed. However, the King of the Heavens discovered this and went down to retrieve his daughter, separating the two lovers. He made a celestial river, the milky way, to separate them forever. Zinü, so disgraught, could not take up her duties and would cry day and night. The King of the Heavans could not bear it and so, when the magpies and ravens of the earth who had heard and could not bear the cries and longing of the cowheard flew up to make a bridge acrross the celestial river, the king allowed this. Now, once a year, on the 7th night of the 7th month, Niulang and Zhinü can reuinte once more for that one night. ~ Story ~ You are enjoying the fresh air in the countryside when you come across the sound of a sad and lonely tune. Nuilang plays of a love far away.