| The inspiration for the
Willow comes from the story of the Willow Pattern. The blue and white
Chinese design depicts the saga of two lovers that were barred from
seeing each other because the girl's father felt the boy, a humble
clerk, unsuitable to marry into his noble family. The father had the
suitor banished from the land, but the boy came back under the cover of
darkness and persuaded the girl to elope. They were not to be found
despite the angry father's intensive search. Some years later the father
finally discovered the hiding place of the couple on a small island and
he quickly dispatched armed men to secure the return of his daughter.
When the soldiers crossed the bridge onto the island the boy tried to
defend his wife but was killed, the girl was so distraught she set fire
to their house and perished in the flames. Their souls, now beyond the
reach of their pursuers, turned into doves, to fly in the garden of
eternal peace for ever more. |
