son-in-law, and at the same time improve his
daughter's habits and disposition.

No sooner did the maiden become wife than her habits and character
utterly changed for the worse, and the father had a very vexatious case
of _tadashiku suguru_ ("too much of a good thing") on his hands. The wife
became not only very merry and lively, but utterly forsook loom and
needle. She gave up her nights and days to play and idleness, and no
silly lover could have been more foolish than she.

The sun-king became very much offended at all this, and thinking that the
husband was the cause of it, he determined to separate the couple. So he
ordered the husband to remove to the other side of the river of stars,
and told him that hereafter they should meet only once a year, on the
seventh night of the seventh month. To make a bridge over the flood of
stars, the sun-king called myriads of magpies, which thereupon flew
together, and, making a bridge, supported him on their wings and backs as
if it were a roadway of solid land. So, bidding his weeping wife
farewell, the lover-husband sorrowfully crossed the River of Heaven. No
sooner had he set foot on the opposite side than the magpies flew away,
filling all the heavens with their chatter. The weeping wife and
lover-husband stood for a long time wistfully gazing at each other from
afar. Then they separated, the one to lead his ox, the other to ply her
shuttle during the long hours of the day with diligent toil. Thus they
filled the hours, and the sun-king again rejoiced in his daughter's
industry.

But when night fell, and all the lamps of heaven were lighted, the lovers
would come and stand by the banks of the starry river, and gaze longingly
at each other, waiting for the seventh night of the seventh month.

At last the time drew near, and only one fear possessed the loving wife.
Every time she thought of it her heart played pit-a-pat faster. What if
it should rain? For the River of Heaven is always full to the brim, and
one extra drop of rain causes a flood which sweeps away even the
bird-bridge.

[Illustration: THE STAR-LOVERS MEETING ON THE BRIDGE OF BIRDS.]

But not a drop fell. The seventh month, seventh night, came, and all the
heavens were clear. The magpies flew joyfully in myriads, making one way
for the tiny feet of the little lady. Trembling with joy, and with heart
fluttering more than the bridge of wings, she crossed the River of
Heaven, and was in the arms of her husban