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Description
In China and Japan, the constellations Vega and Altair are called the Weaver Maiden and the Herdsman. Legend says that after Shokiyo, the Weaver Maiden, fell in love with and married Kengi, the Herdsman, she became distracted and failed in her duty to weave the cloth of heaven. Her father the Sun, getting angry, exiled Kengi to the other side of the Milky Way. The two lovers may only meet on the seventh day of the seventh month when the Milky Way is spanned by a bridge of birds. (Tamara Tjardes, One Hundred Aspect of the Moon; Henri L. Joly, Legend in Japanese Art.)
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