One of the legends about the Seventh Eve Festival has it that Niu Lang was an ordinary farmer who had rescued a heavenly cow which persuaded him to hide the clothes of Zhi Nu, one of the granddaughters of the Heaven Queen, when she descended on the earth with her six elder sisters and bathed in a river. In finding for her clothes, Zhi Nu fell in love with Niu Lang and get married with him. Enjoying the happiness of the sweet love, Niu Lang and Zhi Nu neglected their working duties, so they were punished and separated on the opposite sides of the Milky Way and were allowed to meet once a year on the bridge formed by magpies over the Milky Way.