Willow pattern design by seaforth

The story

The wealthy Mandarin lived in a lavish palace and had many employees, one of whom was Chang, who fell in love with his daughter Koong-see. The love affair was not permitted because he was of a lower social class and so he was dismissed by the Mandarin and banished from the palace.

The Mandarin built a large fence around his palace to keep the lovers apart. On the eve of the wedding, the powerful nobleman arrived at the palace by boat bearing jewels and expensive gifts. Meanwhile Chang disguised himself as a servant and sneaked into the palace unnoticed and was reunited with Koong-see. The lovers eloped taking the jewels and the expensive gifts with them. The Mandarin gave chase over a small bridge, holding a whip, but the lovers managed to escape using the Duke’s ship. They eventually landed on a secluded island where they lived there happily together for many years.

The Duke searched for them for all this time and eventually found them. He cruelly put them to death as he had been disgraced by the lovers when Koong-see had rejected him. The gods were saddened by the tragic and sad events and transformed the dead lovers in to a pair of doves so they could continue their life together.