Xiu’s cloth rabbit

Xiu’s cloth rabbit is a small, worn toy whose importance lies in the care it carries between sisters. First given to Mulan when she was a child, it became Xiu’s favorite possession after Mulan passed it on to her. Years later, as Xiu lies unresponsive, Mulan takes the rabbit with her when she leaves home to seek a remedy. Its journey from gift to beloved toy to keepsake makes it both a record of their shared past and a concrete expression of Mulan’s devotion.

Appearance and Origin

The toy was once bright reddish orange, embroidered with a circle of animals associated with fighting poison: a viper, spider, toad, centipede, and scorpion, arranged around flowers. By the time Mulan carries it, it is old and worn. She remembers the contrast between its vivid colors and the old woman’s dappled hand when the stranger gave it to her; in the present, its silk and threads are shabby and delicate. The change in its condition marks the years it has remained in the family, while its recognizable embroidery preserves the image of the original gift.

Mulan received the rabbit after a childhood episode involving her father and the chickens she was learning to herd. When the crowd had dispersed, she was ashamed and making her way back to her father. An unfamiliar, elderly peasant woman approached, gave her the toy, and left before Mulan could thank her. Unlike the people who had shown disapproval, the woman did not rebuke her. The gift therefore entered Mulan’s life as an act of kindness at a moment when she felt disgraced, though the woman’s identity and reason for giving it are not explained in the account.

From Mulan to Xiu

Mulan initially put the rabbit in her sleeve and continued toward her father, intending to apologize. Later, she showed it to Xiu. Xiu immediately loved it, hugged and played with it, and took it to bed; Mulan let her keep it. The transfer turns the toy into a shared family object: it begins as comfort offered to Mulan and becomes something through which she cares for her younger sister.

Xiu’s attachment lasted well beyond childhood play. The rabbit became her favorite toy, even after she had grown older and nearly forgotten it. When Xiu lies still and unresponsive, Auntie Ho hopes the familiar object may draw her spirit back. That hope gives the rabbit a particular place in the family’s response to Xiu’s condition: it is not simply a reminder of happier years, but an object they associate with reaching Xiu when ordinary communication seems impossible. The account presents this as Auntie Ho’s hope, not as a proven power of the toy.

Carried on Mulan’s Journey

As Mulan prepares to leave home to find help for Xiu, she sees the rabbit hanging near her motionless sister. She touches its soft, worn silk and carries it close before slipping it from its string and pressing it to her chest. She decides to take it as a reminder of home. The action gives the toy a second role: it travels with Mulan as she undertakes a journey Ma would not approve of, one Mulan understands as necessary care for her family. Its presence makes the separation tangible without displacing the purpose of her departure, which is to help Xiu.

The rabbit also prompts Mulan to recount its history to the Jade Rabbit. When he notices it among her belongings and asks how Xiu came to have it, Mulan explains that it was given to her and that she gave it to Xiu. His questions lead her to describe the childhood gift and the sisters’ later attachment. The object thus carries the story of their relationship into the journey itself: Mulan does not merely bring a reminder of home, but tells how that reminder became Xiu’s treasured possession.

At a campfire, after an unsettling dream involving a giant spider, Mulan quietly retrieves the toy from the shared bags. She strokes its embroidered threads, hugs it, and wraps herself in a blanket. She then falls asleep. The scene returns the rabbit to the intimate scale of touch and private comfort, linking Mulan’s fear for Xiu with her memory of her sister’s gentleness. The dream does not establish that the toy has protective power; its significance is emotional and relational.

Narrative Significance

The rabbit’s meaning develops through successive acts of giving, keeping, and carrying. An unknown woman’s kindness reaches Mulan at a moment of shame; Mulan’s decision to let Xiu keep the toy extends that kindness within the family; and Mulan’s choice to take it on the journey binds her effort to save Xiu to the home she has left behind. Its worn material condition holds those stages together, while its embroidered poison-fighting animals quietly echo the danger surrounding the sisters without providing a cure themselves.

By making the toy the subject of the Jade Rabbit’s questions, the narrative uses an ordinary possession to open a personal history. The account moves from the rabbit’s appearance, to the circumstances of its gift, to its place in Xiu’s life, revealing Mulan’s past vulnerability and her continuing care for her sister. The object does not resolve the crisis; instead, it makes the stakes of Mulan’s quest legible through a specific bond and a familiar thing carried away from home.