Cowboy And Fairy

Instructed by Ben Newhouse
Composed by Songming Wu
Go to www.songmingwu.com to get free score sheet of this music.
Romantic legend
The legend has been handed down for nearly 2 millennia. The story has been recorded as far back as the
Jin Dynasty (256-420 AD). Poets composed hundreds of verses on the love story and many types of
Chinese opera tell the story.
The Chinese people believe that the star Vega（织女星）, east of the Milky Way, is Zhi Nu and, at the
constellation of Aquila（天鹰座）, on the western side of the Milky Way, Niu Lang waits for his wife.
Zhi Nu was said to be the youngest of seven daughters of the Queen of Heaven. With her sisters, she
worked hard to weave beautiful clouds in the sky, while Niu Lang was a poor orphan cowherd, driven out
of his home by his elder brother and his cruel wife. Niu Lang lamented over his lonely and poor life with an old
cow, his only friend and companion. The magical cow kindly told him of a way to find a beautiful and nice woman
as his life companion. Under the direction of the cow, Niu Lang went to the riverside on an evening, where the
seven fairies slipped out of their heavenly palace to bathe.
He took one of the beautiful silk dresses the fairies had left on the bank. When the fairies left the water, the
youngest couldn''t find her clothes and had to see her sisters fly back to heaven without her. Then Niu Lang
came out with the dress and asked the youngest fairy, Zhi Nu, to stay with him.
Several years passed on Earth, which were only a few days in heaven. Niu Lang and Zhi Nu lived happily
together and had two children before the Queen of Heaven discovered Zhi Nu''s absence. She was so annoyed she
had Zhi Nu brought back to heaven. Seeing his beloved wife flying in the sky, Niu Lang was terrified.
He caught sight of the cowhide hanging on a wall. The magical cow had told him before dying of old age: "Keep
the cowhide（牛皮） for emergency use." Putting the cowhide on, he went after his wife with his two children.
With the help of the cowhide, Niu Lang was able to follow Zhi Nu into heaven. He was about to reach his wife
when the Queen showed up and pulled off her hairpin to draw a line between the two. The line became the Silver
River in heaven, or the Milky Way. Zhi Nu went back to the heavenly workshop, going on weaving the clouds.
But she was so sad, and missed her husband across the Silver River so much that the clouds she weaved seemed
sad. Finally, the Queen showed a little mercy, allowing the couple to meet once every year on the Silver River.
(Translated by Kylie Hsu)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Cowboy
• Fairy
• Songming
• Wu
• Berklee
• Ben
• Newhouse
• film
• score
• soundtrack
• orchestraion
• sheet