Hua Mu-lan

Legend 4 - HUA Mu-lan, the girl disguised as a
boy to fight for
her country

In China, there was once a retired general by
the name of HUA. As he was already 70 years
old, he suffered from asthma and could not
move fast as he used to do when he was in the
army. He lived with his wife, two daughters and
a very young son. They lived happily in a
village, outside the capital of China.

His second daughter was called HUA Mu-lan.
When Mu-lan was three years old, she used to
sit at one corner of the courtyard and watch her
father practice martial art with great interest
every day. General HUA realized that, as her
daughter was very enthusiastic in martial art and
started teaching her the martial art skill as a
hobby. In those days, girls were taught only to
weave and embroider, and no way should they
be given the opportunity to learn how to fight.
As time went by, she had grown to a young
strong woman and she was so skillful with the
martial art that she was able to fight against half
a dozen men at the same time.

The Mongolian in the north had been sending
their troops across the border for a number of
years to rob the local people of their animals
and harvest. The soldiers had been involved in
numerous skirmishes with the Mongolians but as
the country were not particularly strong at that
time; the Chinese soldiers could not drive the
Mongolians back to where they came from.

As the Mongolians had been successful in their
advances in a series of their offences, the
Emperor became worried and decided to wage
a war against the Mongolians, Being an ex-
service man; Mu-lan’s father also received the
Emperor’s conscription, ordering him to resume
his military role.

Mu-lan's mother was extremely worried as she
just could not see how her husband, who was
not enjoying the best of his health, could join the
army again and fight in a battle. Unfortunately,
they had no choice button obey the Emperor’s
order.

One evening, Mu-lan's uncle, his wife and their
son, HUA Ming,knocked on the door, asking
whether they might stay with them for a
little while. They came from a village in the
North, which had just been looted by the
Mongolians and their house had been burnt
down. Many others had also killed and made
homeless. HUA Ming had already enlisted
himself in the army and would travel to the front
line in a few days time.

Like her mother, Mu-lan was also worried about
her father’s health and his fitness to fight in a
battle. Mu-lan proposed to her parents that she
would enlist as a soldier as well and to fight on
behalf of his father. Naturally, her proposal was
turned down because she was a girl. Mu-lan
was extremely disappointed and retired to her
room.

The next day, Mu-lan's cousin, HUA Min
requested Mu-lan's father to meet his best
friend who also intended to join the army to fight
against the Mongolians. HUA Ming’s friend
would like Mu-lan’s father to test his skills so
that he might know whether he could become a
soldier. Mu-lan's father, who liked people who
were patriotic and sacrifice themselves for the
country, happily acceptedthe invitation.

The same afternoon, HUA Ming then introduced
a young man to Mu-lan's father. They started a
practice fight with Mu-lan’s father using his
spear and the young man was using a spear.
The fight became very intense and despite his
excellent martial art skills, Mu-lan's father just
could not get the upper hand. After a long
exchange of blows, Mu-lan's father was
somewhat exhausted and lost some of his
speed. When he was trying to jump away from
the young man, his belt was cut by the young
man’s sword; losing his balance, he felt on the
ground. All the family members were surprised
with the young man’s fighting skills and agility
and immediately rushed to the assistance of Mu-
lan’s father.

The young man immediately knelt down in front
of Mu-lan's father, and took off his cap. "I am
sorry, father, please pardon me if I have
offended you", said the young man who was in
fact Mu-lan. Mu-lan had dressed herself like a
man and tried to show her father that if she
could disguise as a man, she could be enlisted
to be a soldier to defend her country. She
further tried to persuade her father that
defending the country should not only be the
responsibility of men; it could be the duty of
women too.

Seeing that Mu-lan's skill was supreme and
none of the family members recognized her as a
girl, both her parents agreed, if she would let
HUA Ming to go along with her.

Therefore, Mu-land was on her way to the
frontier with her cousin, HUA Ming, making sure
that she would not expose her identity
accidentally. It was a long and rough journey to
the frontier. When they arrived, their initial
tasks were to guard the warehouse, which
stored food for the army. Mu-lan mixed very
well with all her fellow soldiers, some being
gentle but others rough and uncultivated. She
had kept her gender identity extremely well.

One day, the Commander of the Army ordered
all the soldiers together in order to assess the
ability of all the soldiers, so that he would
deploy them to different duties. To everyone
surprise, Mu-lan won most of the fighting
exercises and scored extremely high marks.
His cousin HUA Ming was very happy for her.

In view of Mu-lan’s high standard of fighting
skills, she was ordered to join the battalion in
the north-west frontier, which was under the
command of General Li. Mu-lan requested HUA
Ming to go with her. General Li was a fine
soldier and a leader and he treated everyone
with sincerity. When Mu-lan reported to him, he
immediately charmed her.

Mu-lan had been stationed in the north-west
frontier for ten years. Although General Li had
won several battles, his army still had not
completely driven the enemies away. By that
time, the Commander who had received reports
from General Li that Mu-lan was a brave and
intelligent soldier who could command the
respect of her colleagues had already promoted
Mu-lan to Deputy General.

One night, Mu-lan received a report from the
scouts that the enemies who had been lying low
for some time, were swimming across the river
towards their side. She immediately reported
this to General Li, and together they
immediately deployed their solider to ambush
the Mongolians who were led by their Chief. As
soon as the Mongolians landed, Mu-lan led her
soldiers to attack them. Very soon, General Li’s
soldiers surrounded the Mongolians and many
of them surrendered. At that time, Mu-lan saw
the Chief of the Mongolians escape to the west;
she immediately chased after him on her horse,
and charged right past him. Realizing that
somebody was trying to attack him by his side,
the Mongolian Chief threw a dagger at Mu-lan.
Although Mu-lan had ducked her head, she was
still hit byte dagger at the arm. At the same
time, she threw a spear right into the Chief's
chest. He fell from the horse and was killed
instantly. All his soldiers surrendered to
General Li.

When she returned to her camp with the help of
her soldiers, a physician was called in to treat
her wound. When she was asked to take off her
clothes, she refused vehemently. General Li
was anxious that she should receive medical
treatment immediately and ordered her to tear
off the sleeve so that the physician could treat
her wound. No one was suspicious that Mu-lan
was a girl.

The good news of General Li’s victory was
broken to the Commander, and he said he
would ask the Emperor to reward Mu-lan with
one thousand teals of gold and a promotion.
Mu-lan turned down the handsome reward
courteously and instead she requested the
Commander to discharge her from the army so
that she could return home to see her parents.
Her wish was granted.

Before Mu-lan left General Li and her fellow
soldiers who had fought with her for over 10
years, she invited General Li to visit her on his
journey back to the capital. General Li agreed.

The village where the HUA's family lived was
greatly honoured by Mu-lan’s victory. Everything
had returned to normal and the HUA family was
once again able to enjoy peaceful life. However,
Mu-land missed General LI very much and was
praying night and day that he could visit her
soon.

It took General Li several months to hand over
his official affairs before he could return to the
Capital. He made a detour on his way to visit
Mu-lan as he had promised. Mu-lan's brother
opened the door and invited General Li to the
sitting room. Mu-land's parents heard so much
about General Li from Mu-lan, that they
themselves made General Li very welcomed.
"Tell Mu-lan that General Li has come to visit
her", Mu-lan's father told his son. General Li
sat there and waited, still without realizing that
Mu-land was a girl. Mu-lan quickly put on a bit
of makeup and put on a very feminine outfit, and
went to the sitting room to meet General Li.
"Glad that you have come to visit me, General
Li," said Mu-lan. "I have come to see Mu-lan.
May I ask who are you", asked General Li. Mu-
lan's father joined in and said "Mu-lan in fact is
my daughter. She had disguised herself as a
boy so that she could defend her country on my
behalf, as I was too old to be a solider. She has
displayed filial piety towards us and showed
patriotism towards her country." explained Mu-
lan's father. General Li admired Mu-lan's
courage, and virtues and he fell in love with her
immediately.

Mu-land then married General Li and lived
happily ever after.

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