Children Stories - The Story Of The Willow Pattern Plate

There was once a grown-up lad in the County Leitrim, and he was strong and lively, and the son of a rich farmer. His father had plenty of money, and he did not spare it on the son. Accordingly, when the boy grew up he liked sport better ... Read more of Teig O'kane And The Corpse at Scary Stories.ca

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The Story Of The Willow Pattern Plate

from Boys And Girls Bookshelf - BRER RABBIT and HIS NEIGHBORS

RETOLD BY M. ALSTON BUCKLEY

Once upon a time there lived in China a rich and haughty mandarin, who
had great riches in lands, and horses, and priceless jewels. This great
man had one lovely daughter with soft black eyes, and raven hair that
scarcely could be told in texture from the silken robes she wore. The
mandarin loved his daughter and showered dazzling jewels on her, and
bought rich robes, heavy with choicest needlework, that she might wear
them.

Now the mandarin had a faithful secretary, a young man named Chang,
whose every thought was given to the business of the man he served. But
as he went about the house with downcast eyes, Chang saw the daughter of
the mandarin trip lightly to her father's side to whisper in the ear of
her indulgent parent, or flash across the hall, or through the garden
where she fed her goldfish in the lake, and when her mother called her
name, Kong Lee, it seemed to him like sounds of liquid music. The
mandarin talked always of his secretary, and said that he was honest and
true and good, and told the truth and did his work as well as ever any
man could do it.

Kong Lee learned to think of him and love him.

But the mandarin had a friend, a rich old man, who wished to marry Kong
Lee, and take her far away to be the mistress of his castle. Kong Lee
refused to marry this old man, and to punish her, her father shut her up
in the top room of a lonely house that stood on the lake shore. From her
windows she could see the lake, and she could see the willow tree that
dipped its drooping branches in the smooth, still water and seemed to
hang its head and weep for her. And when the Spring came on and she
could hear the singing of the birds, she wished that she could go and
walk about the garden where she could see the sweet blossoms that hung
like a veil of pink over the peach trees. In her loneliness she wept,
and wrote sad poetry, which she threw into the water.

All this time Chang grieved for her, and sent her gifts to comfort her,
and when his work was done, he walked along the shore and thought of
her. But one day Kong Lee caught sight of him standing on the shore, and
she thought, "Chang will help me." So she took a cocoanut, and cut the
shell in two and made a little boat of half of it. Then she made a
little sail of fine, carved ivory, on the sail she wrote a message
asking Chang to help her and threw the boat out of the window. The
little skiff sailed out over the lake, then fell and splashed into the
water, the wind caught the sail and the small craft sailed bravely on.
Chang saw it, waded out, and caught it, read the message, and went to
find Kong Lee.

Kong Lee was waiting for him, and they fled in haste, taking her box of
jewels with them. The mandarin saw them, and taking a whip he hastened
after them to beat them back again, for he had great fear of his
friend's anger. But they were too swift for him, and reached the other
side, where Chang's boat was waiting to take them to his house.

There they were married, and lived in happiness until the mandarin's
wicked friend found where they were, and secretly, at night, sailed down
the lake and burned the house when they were sleeping. But their loving
spirits became two doves that rested in the trees and flew about the
places they had loved.

And if you look at a blue china plate you will see there the house where
Kong Lee was shut up, the willow tree she watched, Kong Lee and Chang
running across the bridge followed by her father with his whip, the
funny house-boat that carried them away to Chang's little house that
almost is hidden by the trees, and at the top, the pair of doves in
which the Chinese poet believed the spirits of Kong Lee and Chang still
lived.

Next: Brother Fox's Tar Baby
Previous: The Tiger The Brahman And The Jackal[n]

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