The Birds of Hong Kong
79
bridge made by Magpies, and to meet and embrace cach other on that night only.
In Wei-hai-wei, where there are large numbers of Magpies, it is said that not one of these birds will ever be seen on this day before the hour of noon, all having gone up to the skies to perform the duty of making a bridge for the celestial lovers. The day is regarded as one of good omen and suitable for fortune-telling and the casting of lots."
("Lion and Dragon in Northern China": R. F. Johnston).
the fable of Aquila and Vega, known in Chinese mythology as the Herdsman and the Weaver Girl. The latter, the daughter of the Sun-god, was so constantly busied with her loom that her father thought that by marrying her to a neighbour, who herded cattle on the banks of the Silver Stream of Heaven (the Milky Way), she might awake to a brighter manner of living.
•
she quite
No sooner did the maiden become wife than forsook loom and needle, giving up her nights and days to play and idleness. The Sun-king, in great wrath at all this, concluded that the husband was the cause of it, and decided to separate the couple. So he ordered him to remove to the other side of the river of stars, and told him that hereafter they should only meet once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh month. To make a bridge over the flood of stars, the Sun-King called myriads of Magpies, who thereupon flew together, and, making a bridge, supported the lover on their wings and backs. So the two were separated, the one to lead his ox, and the other to ply her shuttle, and the Sun-King again rejoiced in his daughter's industry.
At last the time for their reunion drew near. The Magpics flew joyfully in myriads
she crossed the River of Heaven and was in the arms of her husband. This she did every year." (Extracts from "Myths and Legends of China":
(NOTE: This year 1932, the seventh day of the seventh moon is the 8th of August, we ask observers to make a note of this date!)
May 1932.
91
1