orm of a triangle. It is said that once the
Herd Boy was angry because the Weaving Maiden had not wished to cross
the Silver River, and had thrown his yoke at her, which fell down just
in front of her feet. East of the Silver River is the Herd Boy's
constellation, consisting of six stars. To one side of it are
countless little stars which form a constellation pointed at both ends
and somewhat broader in the middle. It is said that the Weaving Maiden
in turn threw her spindle at the Herd Boy; but that she did not hit
him, the spindle falling down to one side of him.

Note: "The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden" is retold
after an oral source. The Herd Boy is a constellation in
Aquila, the Weaving Maiden one in Lyra. The Silver River
which separates them is the Milky Way. The Seventh Day
of the seventh month is the festival of their reunion.
The Ruler of the Heavens has nine daughters in all, who
dwell in the nine heavens. The oldest married Li Dsing
(comp. "Notscha," No. 18); the second is the mother of
Yang Oerlang (comp. No. 17); the third is the mother of
the planet Jupiter (comp. "Sky O'Dawn," No. 34); and the
fourth dwelt with a pious and industrious scholar, by
name of Dung Yung, whom she aided to win riches and
honor. The seventh is the Spinner, and the ninth had to
dwell on earth as a slave because of some transgression
of which she had been guilty. Of the fifth, the sixth
and the eighth daughters nothing further is known.

XVII

YANG OERLANG

The second daughter of the Ruler of Heaven once came down upon the
earth and secretly became the wife of a mortal man named Yang. And
when she returned to Heaven she was blessed with a son. But the Ruler
of Heaven was very angry at this desecration of the heavenly halls. He
banished her to earth and covered her with the Wu-I hills. Her son,
however, Oerlang by name, the nephew of the Ruler of Heaven, was
extraordinarily gifted by nature. By the time he was full grown he had
learned the magic art of being able to control eight times nine
transformations. He could make himself invisible, or could assume the
shape of birds and beasts, grasses, flowers, snakes and fishes, as he
chose. He also knew how to empty out seas and remove mountains from
one place to another. So he went to the Wu-I hills and rescued his
mother, whom he took on his back and carried away. They stopped to
rest on a flat ledge of r