''Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy'' is a

Chinese legend Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

centered around a romance between an orphaned

Han-dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring int ...

man named

Dong Yong In Chinese folklore, Dong Yong () is one of the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars who sold himself into servitude to bury his dead father. Touched by his filial piety, a celestial maiden (usually identified as the Seventh Fairy in modern times) ca ...

and the Seventh Fairy, the youngest daughter of the

Jade Emperor In the Chinese mythology, myths and Chinese folk religion, folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the Primordial Divinity (Tai Di), primordial god. In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of ...

Story

The seven daughters of the

travel to the mortal world. The youngest of the seven fairy maidens was in search of her lost weaving equipment and her "coat of feathers," without which she was unable to fly. Another version of the story states that the seventh fairy's feather coat was actually stolen by a mortal named Dong Yong, advised by one of his cattle who happened to be an exiled fairy as well and disguised as a normal, aged bull. During the stay, the maiden falls in love with Dong Yong. He is a poor worker who had sold himself into servitude to pay for his father's funeral. With help of the other fairies, the seventh fairy managed to weave ten pieces of

brocade Brocade () is a class of richly decorative shuttle (weaving), shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in coloured silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian langua ...

for Dong Yong to pay off his debt, shortening his indenture to 100 days. Before the couple can begin their life together, the Jade Emperor orders his daughters to return home. However, he is kind enough to allow the couple to reunite once a year on the (the 7th Evening) -- later known as the traditional Chinese

Qixi Festival The Qixi Festival (), also known as the Qiqiao Festival (), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month on the ...

—by crossing the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

.Shang, Biwu. "Unnatural narratology and Zhiguai tales of the six dynasties in China". In: ''Neohelicon'' 45, pp. 179–190 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-018-0421-5 In memory of this story, ancient Chinese astrologers named two prominent stars that stand at a distance from each other , "cowherd man," and , "weaving girl." These are the stars

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila (constellation), Aquila and the list of brightest stars, twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinisation of name ...

in the constellation Aquila and

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

in Lyra.

Adaptations

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The tale has also been subject matter of literary adaptations and retellings: * *

The Seventh Fairy ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

: a reinterpretation of the myth made by Angelo Paratico in a book published in Hong Kong in 2017 by Lascar Publishing.

Story

Adaptations

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See also

References

Further reading