The Love of Two Stars

by Janie Jaehyun Park

In this ancient Korean folktale, Kyonu and Jingnyo, a farmer and a weaver, live in a kingdom in the starry sky. They fall in love the moment they meet, forgetting all about the cattle to care for and the cloth to be made. This angers the king of the starry realm, who separates them and tells them that they can meet in the Milky Way once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. But when the time finally arrives, Kyonu and Jingnyo cannot make it across the river of stars to be together. Their tears of sorrow cause endless rain upon the Earth until the magpies and crows think of a way to help them.