In East Asia people believed the Milky Way is a wide river, Vega and Altair on either side are two lovers forbidden to see each other except for one day in summer when every magpie in the world would form a bridge (in the summer the Milky Way would be especially bright). The folklore was first written down in Classic of Poetry from Spring-Autumn period. The folklore generally tells the story of a cowherder and a fairy whose job is to weave clouds. The fairy's mother or the Empress of heaven became angry that she married a mortal so she separated the two with a wide river. The birds took pity on them so they create a bridge every year and the two would meet.