One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

Note: First 5 pages of the script for my short comic, One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, which is based on the Chinese myth of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Two star-crossed lovers forever separated by a vast river, and fated only to meet once every year, this is the story of one of those meetings.

Page 1

Inside a little cottage, a young Chinese man (Niulang) is getting ready to go out. His home is simple and plainly furnished, a commoner’s home.

He stands before his bed, where he’s laid out three outfits: one blue, one green and one cream. He stares down hard at them, paralysed by indecision. Eventually, he snatches up the green outfit and puts it on, initially pleased with the result. However, when he catches sight of himself in the mirror, his confidence dissolves, and he throws his head and claps his hands over his face in frustration.

Page 2

Inside another cottage, a young Chinese woman (Zhinu) sits at a dresser before a mirror, also getting ready to go out. The dresser is a bit of mess, with makeup pots, brushes, flower vases and jewellery scattered on the surface. The rest of the room is elegantly if haphazardly furnished, with a beautifully carved wardrobe in left corner, and a divider on the right, clothes hanging off it.

Zhinu brushes her hair and ties it up in a half-bun, before applying red paint to her lips.

Page 3

Outside, it’s night. Niulang stands outside his cottage at the bank of a river, a cloth-wrapped gift clenched tightly in his hand. He’s fidgeting a lot, clearly nervous, but also excited.

Suddenly, he spies Zhinu emerging from her cottage on the opposite side of the river; she also has a gift for him, wrapped in embroidered cloth. Even after all this time, even across the distance of the river, Niulang’s breath still catches whenever he sees her. He can’t look away.

Page 4

Niulang stares, and he is lost.

As Zhinu emerges, she catches sight of Niulang, and stops in her tracks.

Even across the vast breadth of the river, their eyes lock, and for a moment, time hangs still.

Page 5

A full page illustration. Zhinu’s back is to the reader, and the camera is panned out to show the full width of the river, how great the distance separating Zhinu and Niulang.