A Woman to Know: Hua Mulan
I want to buy a saddle and horse and serve in the army in Father's place. — The Ballad of Hua Mulan
(image via Wikimedia Commons)
Another one of those "is she a legend or a real woman *hidden* as a legend?" women. According to the Ballad of Hua Mulan, a sixth century Chinese epic poem, the story goes much the same way as the Disney movie: in the dead of night, Mulan disguises her beauty under men's clothes, to take her father's place in the war. She's lauded as a valiant warrior, and after the war, when she reveals her true gender, she's still heralded by her comrades and regarded as a national heroine.
In the historical retelling, however, Mulan's story doesn't have the picture-perfect Disney ending. After 12 years fighting the Huns, she returns to her hometown. There, she finds that her father has died, and her mother has remarried -- and Mulan is still expected to settle down and marry. Rather than live that life again, she decides to commit suicide and "join her father." "I'm a girl," she tells her family. "But I have been through war, and I have done enough."
Add to your library list:
Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend (Shiamin Kwa)
Fa Mulan: The Story of a Woman Warrior (Robert D. San Souci)
Read more:
The true stories behind Beauty and the Beast and other stories (BBC News)
The Ballad of Hua Mulan (Ancient Origins)
The Legendary Warrio Who Inspired Disney's Mulan (Movie Pilot)
Hear more:
Hua Mulan (The History Chicks)
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