(http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/china-favorite-of-fortune-and-child-of.html)
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| Depiction of the Prince's daughter |
The tale begins in Ancient China, where a high class prince has a daughter that has what is known as "ill luck." Fast forward to when this daughter was to be married and a large gathering of many noble men such as princes and counts all came to offer her their hand in marriage. Among these many noble men there was a lowly beggar who somehow found himself at this event and also joined in offering his hand in marriage to the prince's daughter. The daughter decided she would select her husband by casting out a red ball of silk and whoever catches it among the gathered men will get to marry her. Before throwing out the ball of silk, the daughter noticed that the lowly beggar had a dragon crawling through his ears and popping out his nostril and instantly knew that this man was someone who had luck on their side. She threw the ball of silk right to the beggar who caught it much to the dismay of her father who exclaimed that he would not allow such a thing to happen. His daughter insisted that this man had luck on his side and she hoped it would cure her ill luck, but her father cast her out only for her to move into the beggar's hut and marry him. After some time, the beggar came to his new wife and told her he was going to leave to get a fortune for them and she agreed as she believed in this lucky man. Eighteen years past and the beggar was still gone, the daughter barely hung in patiently waiting for her husband to return some day with a fortune and only stayed alive during these hard years by having her mother secretly give her money behind her father's back. The beggar had become a powerful emperor with many riches in this time and came back to retrieve his wife to take her to their palace. She did not recognize this now powerful emperor and was confused when he asked her if she took another husband or wanted to, and after his wife denied it he revealed himself. The two went happily to live in their new palace, but sadly his wife, who had always been a victim of ill luck, fell sick and died only eighteen days after moving back in with her husband.
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