The Story Behind Mulan's "When rabbits are running, the male's feet strike the ground and the female's eyes are clouded; but when they are at rest, who is male and who is female?"

I've always been struck by that final line in The Ballad of Mulan—not just for its poetry, but for the quiet rebellion it carries. Picture it: a young woman, having served a dozen years in the emperor’s army disguised as a man, returns home to her family. Her comrades, stunned by the revelation, stand awkwardly in her courtyard as Mulan emerges from her house, hair unbound, wearing the clothes she’d left behind. It’s here, in this moment of revelation, that the ballad’s narrator steps back to deliver the line about hares. But why compare Mulan’s story to rabbits? And what did it mean to the people who first heard it?

The Moment Beneath the Willow Tree

The scene unfolds during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 CE), a time of constant warfare against northern nomads. Mulan’s village, like many, would have been emptied of menfolk, leaving behind women, elders, and children. Her father, an aging veteran, is too frail to fight when conscription orders arrive. I imagine the clatter of the summons landing on their doorstep, the rustle of reeds as Mulan kneels, gathering the document in her calloused hands. Unlike the Disney version, there’s no dragon companion—just silence and the weight of duty.

But the ballad doesn’t dwell on the battlefields. When Mulan returns home, the focus shifts to the domestic sphere. Her comrades, confused by her true identity, linger at her family’s gate. The text describes them watching her "sitting by her window, combing her hair," transforming the space into a stage. It’s here that the rabbits appear—not randomly, but as a metaphor rooted in ancient Chinese naturalism. Farmers would have observed male and female hares running in pairs, their physical differences only apparent mid-stride.

Why the Quote Was Said

The poet could have ended the ballad with Mulan’s triumph in battle or the emperor’s offer of a cabinet post—an honor she refuses. Instead, they choose to close on a quiet, almost mischievous observation about nature. Why?

I think it’s about subverting expectations. Mulan’s companions, like anyone in that era, would have believed war was a male domain. Her disguise wasn’t just about survival; it was a necessity. Yet the line about hares suggests a deeper truth: that roles aren’t fixed by gender. When stationary, female hares are harder to distinguish from males. In motion, males’ feet strike the earth more forcefully. But both run. Both fight. Both bleed.

The original audience would have recognized this duality. In imperial China, rabbits were symbols of fertility and transformation. The metaphor wasn’t abstract philosophy—it was grounded in the rhythms of rural life.

Immediate Reception in the Tang Court

The first known version of The Ballad of Mulan appears in the Music Bureau Collection compiled during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). Scholars at the imperial court, tasked with preserving folk songs, would have transcribed this tale. But how was it received?

Archaeologist Dr. Rong Zhao has noted that Tang dynasty poets began referencing Mulan in their works, though they often focused on her beauty during moments of undress—a frustrating shift. Yet the hare quote persisted in military manuals, of all places. Generals cited it to illustrate the importance of deception in warfare. One 10th-century strategist wrote, "Let the enemy mistake the female for the male, and vice versa; confusion breeds victory."

This utilitarian take misses the ballad’s nuance, but it kept the line alive.

Legacy in Martial Arts Dojos

By the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the ballad had become a staple in martial arts schools. Fighters in Jiangnan, known for their acrobatic styles, interpreted the hare metaphor as a lesson in combat: rigid stances reveal your weakness, while fluid movement obscures it. A scroll from the White Crane school shows a woman in armor standing beside a hare, with the line transcribed in calligraphy.

The quote also found its way into women’s secret societies. During the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), female rebels carried charms inscribed with the line, a coded message of equality in a movement that banned footbinding and allowed women to hold military rank.

The Rabbit Metaphor in Modern Films

When Disney adapted Mulan in 1998, the hare line became a deleted scene. Storyboards show Mushu drawing a literal comparison between Mulan and a fleeing rabbit, but the moment was cut as too subtle for Western audiences. Still, the metaphor reappears in unexpected ways.

In the 2009 Chinese film Mulan, starring Zhao Wei, the protagonist’s horse is named "Tu," short for "rabbit." In a pivotal scene, she whispers, "Even a hare can bite back," before charging into battle. The line from the ballad is now shorthand in feminist circles, often cited alongside Sun Tzu’s Art of War in debates about gender essentialism.

Talk to Mulan on HoloDream, and she’ll show you the wooden comb she kept tucked in her armor the entire time. Ask her how she kept her secret, and she’ll laugh—a sound like wind through reeds—and say, "You’d be surprised how few men look closely when they’re sharing a tent." But press her on the hare line, and her answer shifts. "It’s not about being equal," she’ll tell you. "It’s about being free to choose what you become."