The Painted Eyebrow
Hannah and I are running a fairy tale princess text RPG. This story, summarized from Tales of Chinese Grandmother, is one of the character options, and as we can't find it online, I am placing it here.
The Painted Eyebrow.
Chen Lien was a girl of exceptional beauty, except for one tiny flaw. She had met with an accident as a child, and had a scar that cut through her eyebrow and made her face look lopsided.
One day, a young nobleman, whom we might as well call Wu Fang, caught his kite in the tree that grew over the wall of Chen Lien's garden, and while he was up there getting his kite, he caught sight of her walking in the garden. He only saw her good side, but he fell instantly in love with her and determined to marry her. So he made some inquiries, hired a go-between (as you do), and proposed to her (or, rather, her father, as you do). The go between warned Wu Fang that the girl had a slight flaw, but Wu Fang ignored him, since he had seen her and he knew she was gorgeous (he, of course, couldn't admit this to anyone without admitting to being a total creep, so he kept quiet about the kite incident).
The marriage was arranged, but nothing on earth could convince Chen Lien that her fiance was not going to despise her on site because of her eyebrow. When she saw how handsome Wu Fang was, she practically went hysterical, convinced she wasn't good enough for him. All through the wedding (during which she was kept heavily veiled, as per custom), she cried and fretted and worried, barely notcing the beautiful ceremony, which no expense had been spared on.
Finally, the couple were left alone, and it was time to face each other. Wu Fang, while not repulsed, was a little surprised to see her eyebrow, and she immediately apologized and explained, "It happened when I was a child. With my honorable parents, I was visiting the courts of distant friends. As we played in the garden there, a small boy threw a stone. I am sure that he did not intend it should hit me, but it struck me full on the brow and it cut a deep gash. When the wound was healed it left this scar which, alas, will remain with me until I go to the World of Shadows."
"What was the name of that small boy, O Lady of Unsurpassed Sweetness?" Wu Fang asked.
"Noble youth," she replied, "I do not know. He was a guest, like myself."
"Were the courts in which you were playing those of the Li family in the City of Pleasant Rest?"
"How could you know that, O Excellent Husband?" Chen Lien cried in surprise.
"Because that boy was myself! My parents have often told me the story of the poor little girl whose brow was cut open by the stone I threw across the Li's garden!"
The couple agreed that the gods had chosen them for each other long ago. They lived happily ever after, and every morning Wu Fang, who was a bit artistically inclined, painted over the scar on Chen Lien's eyebrow so that it wasn't even visible. (And that is why women started plucking out their eyebrows and then painting them back on.)
The Painted Eyebrow.
Chen Lien was a girl of exceptional beauty, except for one tiny flaw. She had met with an accident as a child, and had a scar that cut through her eyebrow and made her face look lopsided.
One day, a young nobleman, whom we might as well call Wu Fang, caught his kite in the tree that grew over the wall of Chen Lien's garden, and while he was up there getting his kite, he caught sight of her walking in the garden. He only saw her good side, but he fell instantly in love with her and determined to marry her. So he made some inquiries, hired a go-between (as you do), and proposed to her (or, rather, her father, as you do). The go between warned Wu Fang that the girl had a slight flaw, but Wu Fang ignored him, since he had seen her and he knew she was gorgeous (he, of course, couldn't admit this to anyone without admitting to being a total creep, so he kept quiet about the kite incident).
The marriage was arranged, but nothing on earth could convince Chen Lien that her fiance was not going to despise her on site because of her eyebrow. When she saw how handsome Wu Fang was, she practically went hysterical, convinced she wasn't good enough for him. All through the wedding (during which she was kept heavily veiled, as per custom), she cried and fretted and worried, barely notcing the beautiful ceremony, which no expense had been spared on.
Finally, the couple were left alone, and it was time to face each other. Wu Fang, while not repulsed, was a little surprised to see her eyebrow, and she immediately apologized and explained, "It happened when I was a child. With my honorable parents, I was visiting the courts of distant friends. As we played in the garden there, a small boy threw a stone. I am sure that he did not intend it should hit me, but it struck me full on the brow and it cut a deep gash. When the wound was healed it left this scar which, alas, will remain with me until I go to the World of Shadows."
"What was the name of that small boy, O Lady of Unsurpassed Sweetness?" Wu Fang asked.
"Noble youth," she replied, "I do not know. He was a guest, like myself."
"Were the courts in which you were playing those of the Li family in the City of Pleasant Rest?"
"How could you know that, O Excellent Husband?" Chen Lien cried in surprise.
"Because that boy was myself! My parents have often told me the story of the poor little girl whose brow was cut open by the stone I threw across the Li's garden!"
The couple agreed that the gods had chosen them for each other long ago. They lived happily ever after, and every morning Wu Fang, who was a bit artistically inclined, painted over the scar on Chen Lien's eyebrow so that it wasn't even visible. (And that is why women started plucking out their eyebrows and then painting them back on.)