Hue, now called Chuc Ngu in this life, worked very hard as a seamstress during the beginning of the universe. She was often found sewing clothes for her older sisters, and there were many of them. She, however, never felt disgruntled by all the work she had to do. Chuc Ngu truly enjoyed every moment of the day at the river where she could help out her sisters and just sew because that's all she knew how to do and that's what she loved.
Thanh, now Nguu Lang, tended to water buffalos. One day, when he dragged his buffalo herd to the clear, bustling river, his eyes fell upon a woman with radiating beauty. He immediately attempted to converse, standing straight and tall while brushing his hair back, ready to meet this beauty.
"Hello there! I'm Nguu Lang. What brings you to this river? I have never seen you around," asked Nguu.
Shocked at the sudden voice in this serene atmosphere, Chuc Ngu dropped all of the clothes into the clear water.
"AHH! Get out of my way! I need to grab that thing. I've been working on that for a whole week!!" she screamed as she shoved Nguu Lang away, dashing for the dress. However, the shove was so hard that Nguu Lang fell over into the river, too.
SPLASH! There went Nguu Lang along with the dress. As they were both floating away, Nguu Lang saw the dress and grabbed it, swimming arduously against the intense current. Chuc Ngu was distressed, but she took a breath and focused on pulling Nguu Lang out of the water. “What should I do now?” she thought to herself.
He was unconscious from drinking too much water. She did something that she learnt when she was younger. She tickled the Nguu Lang! That woke him right up as he coughed, spitting the water and some baby fish out back into the river.
"Ptui, how gross!" Nguu Lang said as he held his chest, coughing with strain.
"You're welcome," added Chuc Ngu.
"WHY SHOULD I BE WELCOME? You almost killed me! And now my buffalo herd had disappeared. Get out of my way. I have got to go rally them up again," said Nguu Lang with a sense of annoyance in his voice.
Days later, fate, of course, brought them back together. Again as they were doing their daily jobs, their eyes somehow fell on each other, but instead of a look of adornment, it was more of a glare. The Queen of Heaven was determined to keep her promise to never let Thanh live with his love happily. So, she sent a bear to terrorize the two of them, hoping to drive them apart. Yet, little did the Queen know that the King was working against her. The King helped them with some strength as they combined forces to push the great black bear down the river, floating away and chumping on little fishes in the river along the way. After that, they rested under a shady tree and talked until the sun rose the next morning.
Over a course of months, they finally confessed feelings for each other and fell in love, but the voice of the person in charge of the creation of the universe came booming mysteriously out of the sky, telling them that he will only approve of their marriage if they continue to work as hard as before. The couple happily agreed and got married, but after some time, they became too engrossed in their love that they started slacking off.
"Remember what I told you guys before you got married. You must not slack on your job because you are important in this universe, but since you have been too laid back, I must punish you. You guys can no longer be together because that apparently is affecting your jobs. Thus, you are only allowed to gaze at each other from opposite sides of the river where you met," he said harshly.
"BUT..." they pleaded with tears rolling down their faces.
"Fine, you guys can only be together once a year during the seventh month of the lunar year," he said, giving in to their love.
This is the reason why during the 7th month of the year, there are torrential rains. These are the tears of joy of Nguu Lang and Chuc Ngu as they meet each other and also their tears of sadness as they are forced to separate for another year. Also, there might not be ravens around during this month in Vietnam because they are off to the sky to help carry the bridge connecting this lovely couple. The river that they meet at is also known as the Milky Way as it looks like a strip of milk in the sky during clear nights.
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The King of Heaven, seeing that this life would not allow Hue to achieve her mission, allowed Hue and Thanh to reincarnate into new lives to try again. Meanwhile, the Queen was laughing at the events that took place between Thanh and this supposed girl, not knowing that she was causing her own daughter suffering.
Source: The Legend of the Milky Way
Author's Note: This story was basically kept the same as the original. In the original story, Nguu Lang was a water buffalo herder, and Chuc Ngu sewed clothes for her sisters. They met each other and fell in love and her dad, the King of Heaven, acted as the person who created the universe in this story. They forgot about their responsibilities and were punished in the same way in this story! This explains the torrential rains and the lack of ravens seen in Vietnam during the 7th month of the lunar year, Also, this allows us to understand where people thought the Milky Way came from. I just added more details on how they met as well as add dialogue to make the story more engaging. I made the person who punished them the creator of the universe because it can't be the King of Heaven since he is on the couple's side as his daughter is the reincarnated Chuc Ngu. I like the part where the King and Queen both are against each other but don't exactly know it. Heaven and the place where the universe is created are two different places. Heaven is the very top and the latter is more like a level below it. This distinction is imperative to understanding how everything works.
Photo of the Milky Way: Wikipedia Commons