Weaver of Destiny • Story
(Year of the Ox)
Giclee Print • 26" x 19" • Edition size 88
|
The Weaving Maiden was the youngest of seven daughters of the Queen of Heaven. She wove the gossamer silks that were made into clothing for the gods. One day, her sisters, deciding she was working too hard, took her down to earth for some fun and games. There, the Weaving Maiden met a handsome
Cowherd. They fell in love, and she decided to stay on earth to be with her beloved.
Soon the Queen realized that no-one was doing the weaving. Hunting high and low, she found her daughter on earth with the Cowherd, and made her return to her weaving duties in heaven. When the Cowherd tried to follow, the Queen waved her jade comb across the skies, forming the Milky Way which separated the lovers. Everyday, as she wove her silken bolts, the Weaving Maiden cried and pined for her Cowherd. Finally, her father, the King, took pity on her, and decreed that once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, they could meet. Thereafter, every year on that appointed day, the magpies would fly down from heaven and form a bridge across the Milky Way. The Weaving Maiden and the Cowherd would cross the bridge and meet. You and I, looking up on that day, would see the bridge of magpies as a rainbow. |
