On the thirteenth day of that month the moon
shone very brightly. Darkness was chased away even

than that, until one day Hikiboshi, a young herdsman, leading an
ox, passed by her door. Divining her love for him, her father gave
his daughter the young herdsman for her husband, and all went well,
until the young couple grew too fond of each other and the weaving
was neglected. Thereupon the great god was displeased and "they
were sentenced to live apart with the Celestial River between them,"
but in pity of their love they were permitted to meet one night a
year, on the seventh day of the Seventh month. On that night the
herdsman crosses the River of Heaven where Tanabata-tsume is
waiting for him on the other side, but woe betide if the night is cloudy
or rainy! Then the waters of the River of Heaven rise, and the
lovers must wait full another year before the boat can cross.
Many of our beautiful poems have been written on this legend;
sometimes it is Tanabata-hime who is waiting for her lord, some-
times it is Hikiboshi who speaks. The festival has been celebrated
for 1 100 years in Japan, and there is no country village which does
not sing these songs on the seventh night of the Seventh month, and
make offerings to the star gods of little poems tied to the freshly cut
bamboo branches.
* River of Heaven: Milky Way.
24



Of Old Japan

from every comer of the heavens. It was about mid-
night and all were asleep.
