English Original
Long ago, there lived a clever, diligent, and honest boy. Orphaned and poor, he adopted an abandoned old buffalo. The loyal buffalo helped him with the hard labor in the fields, and they were inseparable. The villagers thus knew him as the Cowherd.
Meanwhile, the youngest of the seven celestial princesses grew weary of her privileged yet secluded life in heaven. Longing for the mundane world below, she secretly descended to Earth. There, she found the Cowherd, with whom she had secretly fallen in love from afar.
They married and had two lovely children. The Cowherd worked the fields with his buffalo, while the princess wove at home. Her skill was so admired that she became known as the Weaving Girl.
Their peaceful life was shattered when her celestial family discovered her absence. In heaven, a day equals years on Earth, so her time with the Cowherd was brief by celestial measure. The furious Celestial Empress gave her a cruel choice: return or see her family destroyed. Heartbroken, the Weaving Girl had to leave.
As the Cowherd grieved, his old buffalo spoke, revealing it was dying. It instructed him to use its hide as a vehicle to chase his wife. Carrying his children in baskets on a shoulder pole, the Cowherd sailed to heaven.
To stop him, the Empress drew a vast river across the sky with her hairpin—the Silvery River (the Milky Way). She aimed to separate them forever.
Deeply moved by their love, all the magpies in the world come to their aid. Every year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, they form a bridge across the river, allowing the family a brief, joyous reunion.
中文翻译
很久以前，有一个聪明、勤劳、诚实的男孩。他自幼成为孤儿，生活贫苦，收养了一头被遗弃的老水牛。这头忠诚的水牛帮助他分担田间的重活，他们形影不离。村民们因此称他为牛郎。
与此同时，七位仙女中最小的那位厌倦了天宫中优越却与世隔绝的生活。她向往下方的人间世界，便偷偷下凡。在那里，她找到了牛郎，其实她在天上早已对他暗生情愫。
他们结为夫妻，并育有两个可爱的孩子。牛郎和他的水牛在田间劳作，而仙女则在家织布。她的织布技艺备受赞誉，因此被称为织女。
他们的平静生活在她天上的家族发现她失踪后被打破。天上一天，地上一年，因此她与牛郎共度的时光在天庭看来十分短暂。愤怒的王母娘娘给了她一个残酷的选择：返回天庭，否则她的丈夫和孩子将被毁灭。织女心碎不已，只得离开。
正当牛郎悲痛欲绝时，他的老水牛突然开口说话，透露自己将死。它嘱咐牛郎用它的皮做成交通工具去追赶妻子。牛郎用扁担挑着两个孩子，乘着牛皮飞向天庭。
为了阻止他，王母娘娘用她的发簪在天空中划出一条浩瀚的河流——银河。她意图永远拆散这个家庭。
世间所有的喜鹊都被他们的爱情深深打动，前来相助。每年农历七月初七，喜鹊们会聚集成一座鹊桥，让这对夫妻和他们的孩子得以短暂团聚。