The Legend of the Milky Way

If you look up at the night sky in summer, you will see two stars shining especially brightly. Those two stars are called Altair and Vega. But have you ever heard their story?

Legend has it that the Emperor of the Heavens had seven daughters. They were hard working girls: every day they spun colourful clouds into silk, which they then wove into fabric and sewed into beautiful cloaks. One of the sisters was even more beautiful and harder-working than the others, and she was known as the heavenly weaver.

The seven sisters would sit together on the banks of the Silver River and spin, sew and weave all day long, fulfilling the duties the Emperor had set for them. If you look carefully, you can see that same river in the sky yourself – we call it the Milky Way.

On the other side of the Silver River was the world of humans. There, not far from the river lived a poor young man whose parents had died long ago, leaving him all alone. The only creature he had for company was an old buffalo. He spent a lot of time with his buffalo, and everyone called him the cowherd.

But the young man’s heart was full of sorrow because he didn't have any human companions. He lamented to his trusty buffalo: “My parents left me so many years ago, and I’m still living here all alone. How I would love to have a wife and a family!”

The old buffalo felt sorry for the young man and, all of a sudden, he spoke to him in a human voice: “I’ll tell you how to find a bride, if you listen carefully. Go down to the Silver River in the evening. When you…