The Cow Herder, the Fairy, and the Milky Way

So basically, right, there’s this, like, cow herder dude, right? He and his cow, like, they kind of, like, live together. And one day, he was, like, out walking, and he saw some, like, fairies bathing in the river, and then he, uh… he took one of the fairies’ clothes, and then, like, the fairy found out, and then they married each other. And then, um, they had two kids, a boy and a girl, but then, like, the fairy’s, like, mom, or, like, caretaker, she didn’t like the marriage, so she took the fairy back home. And then, like, the, um… the… the cow herder, he, like, he wanted to, like, see her again, so he tried to, like, go to her, to the fairy, but then that, like, um, the, like, fairy, like, mom or, like, caretaker or whatever, she, like, made the Milky Way so they’d be separated. But then once a year, um… magpies, they would, like, form a bridge so that they could see each other once every year… with their wings.

 

Context:

It’s, like, a Chinese Valentine’s Day story… we learned about it in Chinese [class], it’s a really common story that, like, parents tell their kids.

 

Annotations:

“Cowherd and Weaving Girl.” Traditions, Cultural China, traditions.cultural-china.com/en/13Traditions289.html.