
the legend

The Love of
high-born Koong-se and
lowly Chang is one guarded
by the Willows that magically
drape the magnificent pagoda's terraces with purest blossom for their secret
meetings.
But then they are
discovered, and after banishing Chang her father - the powerful High Mandarin - betrothes
Koong-se to a mighty
Warlord.
On the night of the betrothal banquet Chang bravely returns,
and amid the pomp of the
Warlord’s arrival he slips through in disguise as a guest and
steals Koong-se away across the bridge over the river, pursued
in vain by the Mandarin.
The Lovers flee by small
boat to a far province and a new life together. But in time news of
them reaches the Mandarin
who travels with the Warlord to bring his daughter back.
Chang will not step aside,
but is no match for the Warlord
and is mortally wounded.
Trying to deflect a final
swordthrust, Koong-se too
takes a fatal strike and lies
there with her Love.
But it is a release, and
as the Villagers attend with all
respect to the needs of their lifeless bodies, the Lovers'' souls rise as fabulous lovebirds to
soar through all the skies
and all the heavens, inseparable for all of eternity.

