Mulan: The Untold Story

Chapter One

This is the story of brave girl. She was fierce, bold, and strong-willed. A very diplomatic and prestigious girl she was. Willing to change her life to fight for what was right. The family from which she came was a poor one. Her father had fought in the war but he was not given any compensation. So, money was scarce but the food was in abundance because they grew their food from the earth. Their garden was filled with the finest foods: leeks, kimchi, tomatoes, and wild rice. They also had a small chicken coop, where they used the eggs from the fowls for food. Their house was a small one, and in it it contained her, her father, her elderly grandmother, and her mother. Together, they made a family.

Ever since she was a little girl, this girl was always curious and she did not mind getting her hands dirty. Sometimes, her weary mother would find her baby inside the garden playing with slugs and beetles as if they were dolls.

"No!" her mother would yell. "Bad! Bugs are bad!" And she would spank her daughters bottom for playing in the dirt. But it never stopped the girl, she would continuously be found in the garden, playing with the bugs. And the spanking and constant discipline would not teach her any lesson, so her mother gave up and let her daughter play with the bugs.

At the age of ten, this girl, this brave girl, was still in the garden with the bugs. But this time, she would talk to the bugs as if they were her friends. This brave girl, she never had any real friends. All of the towns' girls would run in fear from her because of the things she would say. Her intelligence level was high, but many people did not understand her because being smart was not typical behavior for a girl. She also wore rags, and played in the dirt, so the boys of the town were often her play buddies. She did not care about the gender difference because she was too young to understand. But her mother, she was ashamed for the way her daughter was acting. Her mother's friends would ask her if her daughter had any problems. When she answered, her face would turn red and her eyes would grow large. Her emotions were anger and embarrassment. "No, my daughter is perfectly fine." And she would take her daughter's hand and drag her back home, ignoring her daughter's shrill screams and cries.

When the girl was sixteen, she spoke her mind. She was tired of her mother dragging her back home each time she left the house. One day, the girl went shopping for grocery's. She stayed out a little longer than she was supposed to and her mother came to look for her. When she found her, she grabbed a firm hold on her daughter's arm and began to drag her back home like she always had. She had a firm hold on her daughter's arm, but it was not strong enough to hurt her. Her daughter then resisted. She pulled her arm out of her mother's grasp. Her mother turned around, a slight fire burning in her eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked. She was surprised at her daughter's defiance, but she was not about to let her run free.

"I don't want to go home yet." her daughter replied. Her mother was shocked at what she was saying. Was her daughter really begging to disobey her own mother? The one that had birthed her and taken care of her for sixteen years?

"Mulan." she called her daughter by her name. "Get over here right now so I can make some soup when we get home." She then proceeded to grab her daughter's arm again, but Mulan moved her arm out of the way. "Mulan, give me your arm so we can go home! It is getting late and you should not be outside!"

"Why not mother? Why can't I go outside and shop for a few vegetables by myself for once? I am old enough to do so!" Asked Mulan.

"Why are you disobeying your mother this way Mulan?"

"Because I am tired of it, Mother! You treat me like a little girl! I do not want to be a little girl anymore! Treat me the way I am supposed to be treated!"

Her mother was so enraged inside. She did not like the way her daughter was treating her. She is not supposed to be talking back. The embarrassment of sixteen years, and the anger possessed her. She was angry. It was as if a demon had taken over her body. She could not feel herself. Her spirit was gone. Everything she had repressed was now in control of her. The angry made her body do things she did not want to do. It inflated her like a balloon; moving her limbs and controlling her body. The anger lifted her arm and raised her hand, high above her daughter's face. Mulan looked up with curious eyes, wondering what her mother was doing. Then, it was as if the wind had accelerated her arm to progress forward and make her hand land on her daughter's face. Then there was an immediate silence. The moon had appeared in the sky but the crickets were not chirping. The wind was not blowing and there were coyote howls in the distance. It was if the world had stopped spinning. Everyone and every thing was silent.

"Now," Her mother said. "Let us go home." and with that, they walked home.