The Willow Pattern

Here is the story of the 'Willow Pattern' design, told by Susan Ryder.

This design just goes on and on! My Willow Pattern design was produced about forty years ago. I was teaching at our local primary school at the time and I had begun to produce my own cross stitch designs. My class of 7 to 9 year olds were doing a topic on China, and I read them the story of the Willow Pattern. It is actually an English story probably based on a Chinese legend. The children were entranced with it and they started making paintings and drawings of aspects of the plate design. It was a natural progression for me to make a cross stitch design of the Willow Pattern plate and I really enjoyed doing it. The first charts were hand drawn, but I have since put it on the computer so that it is now much clearer to see.

The Willow Pattern was probably first printed on dinner services by Spode in about 1780. The Spode design shows all aspects of the story, and my pupils and I became very critical of plates produced elsewhere which missed out things like the flames coming from the house on the island. Here is the story of the Willow Pattern. It will explain what is happening on the Willow Pattern picture.

 

The Story of the Willow Pattern

The large house in the centre of the picture is the Mandarin’s house. He was very rich, and his house and garden were very beautiful as you can see. There is a peach tree which towers above the house, and other trees around the house which bear fruit and lovely flowers.

 

 

The Mandarin had a daughter called Koong-se, and she was his pride and joy. To the right of the Mandarin’s house is the Summer House, and here Koong-se would secretly meet her lover, Chang, who was her father’s secretary.

 

 

One day the Mandarin discovered Koong-se and Chang together, and was furious. He sent Chang away, and had a wooden fence made to keep him away.

 

 

Koong-se was locked in the Pavillion, which is the little building to the left of the Mandarin’s house.

The Mandarin arranged for his daughter to marry a rich duke, called the Ta-jin, who was old and ugly. Koong-se did not want to marry the Ta-jin and even his gift of precious jewels could not endear him to her. The only man she wanted to marry was Chang.

 

 

As the Mandarin and the Ta-jin were feasting one evening, Chang managed to trick his way into the house and find Koong-se. They ran away together, chased by the Mandarin. You can see them crossing the bridge under the willow tree. Koong-se is first and she is carrying a distaff with which she has been spinning. Next is Chang who is carrying the box of jewels. The Mandarin is last, and he is carrying a whip.

 

 

The lovers soon outran the Mandarin, and they escaped to the little house by the bridge where the Mandarin’s gardener lived. You can see that the people who live here are poor by the uncultivated land and the tree which bears no fruit.

Here Koong-se and Chang were secretly married.

 

 

The Ta-jin searched for Koong-se and Chang, and eventually suspected that they were at the gardener’s house. He sent soldiers there, but the lovers managed to escape in a boat on the river. You can see Chang at the oar as he rows them towards the little island where they were to make their home.

 

 

Koong-se and Chang sold the jewels and with the money built a house and made a beautiful garden on the island.

 

 

Chang wrote books about gardening and became famous. It was through these books that the Ta-jin heard of their whereabouts and sent soldiers to kill Chang. This the soldiers did, and Koong-se, seeing her husband die, set fire to the house and died too in the flames. You can see the flames coming from the house in the picture.

The gods were angry at what had happened. They changed the lovers into two immortal doves who fly happily together above the willow tree on the Willow Pattern plate.

 

 

 

While we were involved with this project at school several of my pupils brought in Willow Pattern poems which their grandparents had remembered from their younger days. My mother also remembered one. Funnily enough, all the poems are different but have similarities, so it seems that they were all handed down by word of mouth and became changed in the process. I wonder if there is an original one somewhere from where all these stemmed. Perhaps some of you or your parents or grandparents can shed some light on this, and we would love to hear of any more variations of the poem. Here are the ones we collected, starting with my mother’s:

 

Two birds flying high,
A little ship passing by,
A little bridge that leads to Dover,
Three men passing over.
A little chapel stands so neat,
Preaching in it twice a week,
And a little house for Peter.

Two little pigeons flying high,
A little vessel sailing by,
A bridge with three men, if not four,
A weeping willow hanging o’er.
A tree with many apples on.
And that’s the fence that ends my song.

Two pigeons sailing high,
Weeping Willow hanging o’er,
Three men on a bridge, maybe four.
Chinese temple here it stands,
Seems to cover all the lands.
Apple tree with apples on,
Pretty fence to end my song.

Two swallows flying high,
A little boat sailing by.
Three men going to Dover,
Weeping willow hanging over,
Apples on an apple tree,
Iron railing there you see.

 

Our Willow Pattern design is available as a complete kit with a choice of Zweigart 14ct aida or 27ct evenweave fabric, or as a chart pack. You can see it by clicking here.