It was the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival when Emperor Xuánzōng 玄宗 of the Táng 唐 dynasty (period 12), like everybody else in the land, was out enjoying the full moon. As he was sighing over the moon and imagining what it would be like to visit the famous palace of the immortals there, a Daoist priest appeared named LUÓ Gōngyuǎn 罗公远, who offered to take him to the Moon Palace (yuègōng 月宫), which was more formally known as the Palace of the Yellow Cold (Huánghángōng 黄寒宫).
When the emperor agreed, Master Luó tossed his walking stick into the sky. It turned into a huge bridge, and the priest and the emperor set forth over it towards the heavens, where, at length, they came upon the Moon Palace. There the emperor, who had always heard of the rabbit in the moon, saw the rabbit himself, who was mixing herbs in a mortar. And he saw fairy maids, who were playing ethereal music. He tried to memorize some of the music.
Unfortunately he remembered little of it when he returned to earth. He was able to compose only one song based on what he had heard in the Moon Palace. It was called "Song of the Rainbow Skirts and Feather Dresses" (nícháng yǔyī qǔ霓裳羽衣曲).