Away in a small town, a young man lived. He depended his life on the cows that he kept, and he was quite poor. One day, when he was retrieving water from the river near by, he met this beautiful lady, who seems to have lost her way around.

With a kind heart, the man offered her a shelter to live in for the time being - his cottage.

The two got along very well, as if they were a match made in heaven. They loved each other greatly, and soon, they got married, and had two children.

Together, they made a very happy and warm family.

However, the wife disappeared all of a sudden one day. There was no letter left behind. There was no trace of her left.

Heartbroken and saddened, they young man went to search for the reason she went missing.

It turns out that she, was a fairy from the Heavens, and the Goddess of Heaven had found out that she sneaked out of the palace, and also her relationship with a mere mortal.

She was separated from her family as a punishment, and was returned to the palace in Heaven, without the chance to bid goodbye.

Determined to reunite with his wife, the young man tried all ways to go to the Heavens.

An ox that he owned suddenly spoke up, and told the young man to kill it, and use its skin to go up to the Heavens.

He did exactly as the ox said, and carried his children with him, on the journey to look for his dear wife.

Just as he could finally meet his wife again, the Goddess of Heavens discovered his presence, and used a hairpin to create a river to separate the lovers forever.

Magpies in the world took pity on them, and each year, they would all gather once, and create a bridge for the lovers to cross, and meet each other.

This is a tale of two lovers, whose love was forbidden.

The fairy symbolised the Vega star.

The young man symbolised the Altair star.

And the river that kept them apart was the Milky Way.

To him, she was the brightest star.

To her, he was always shining brightly.

But their love story was just as tragic as Vega and Altair's.