" She'd grown up with few friends. She'd played with the neighborhood boys, chasing pigeons and catching fireflies with them until it was no longer considered proper. By then, the girls in the village scorned her. In front of her mother and father, they pretended to be polite, but Mulan knew what they said about her behind her back.
Ill-bred and ill-mannered.
She has the temper of a firecracker and the grace of a bull.
It's a miracle she even looks like a girl- look at the hay in her hair, and the dirt on her face. What a discredit to her mother!
The insults had never bothered Mulan too much. Back then, her mother comforted her by telling her to ignore what people said, and talking to her father would always make her feel better. And she'd had Khan for company... then, later, Mushu and Cri-Kee. "

― Elizabeth Lim , Reflection (Twisted Tales)