DǑNG Yǒng 董永 = a filial orphan
The Emperor Above = the father of five daughters
Qīxiāngū 七仙姑 = his youngest daughter
The family of DǑNG Yǒng 董永 in the Hàn 汉 dynasty (period 06) lived in Qílín 麒麟 county of Huángzhōu 黄州 in Húběi 湖北 province (or some say in Qiánchéng 黔城 County in Húnán 湖南 province). The family was very poor. And finally, almost at the same time, both of his parents died. Dǒng Yǒng sold himself into three months of servitude to borrow money to buy coffins and bury them. When he had finished the required three years of mourning for his dead parents, he went to work for the lender to pay back the debt.
Now, the Emperor Above (Shàngdì 上帝) had seven daughters, and the youngest of these had laughed out loud most inappropriately when she met the Queen Mother of the West (Xīwángmǔ 西王母), who was quite angry with her, and sentenced her to spend some time among mortals. Knowing that Dǒng Yǒng was a filial lad, she specifically sent the emperor’s Seventh Daughter (Qīxiāngū 七仙姑) to go to earth and become his wife.
And so, as he was on the way to the lender’s house, Dǒng Yǒng met a mysterious woman, who asked to become Dǒng Yǒng’s wife, promising to work hard for him. He readily agreed (having no other marital prospects, after all), and she went with him to his new master’s house.
The master ordered them to weave 300 bolts of silk in three months, and then they could return home. Dǒng Yǒng’s wife wove for a month and then was finished. The master was astonished, but since the task was completed, he agreed that the contract had been fulfilled, and he allowed them to leave.
They returned as far as the locust tree where they had met, when Seventh Daughter suddenly bade Dǒng Yǒng good-bye and vanished.