The nun took Sparrow’s lamp and walked over to the first panel of the mural. The light revealed the outlines of a lake. Beside the lake, a horse paws at the ground, its reins loose. Feet planted in his stirrups, the horse’s rider stands, a young man with his mouth open in admiration. His eyes are fixed on a girl bathing under the shade of a willow. Her nakedness is hidden by the tree’s flowing branches, her hair elaborately dressed with ornaments of stars.

“You can see why she’s called the Willow Star,” the nun said. “This is their first meeting.” She gestured farther along the wall at another panel where the Prince and the Willow Star sit in a garden pavilion, a chessboard between them. The nun moved to another panel where the Prince kneels on the ground, the executioner’s sword about to touch his neck. In the next panel, the Willow Star is prostrate before the Queen Mother of Heaven, whose hand points at the Wheel of Rebirth.

“Here the Star is deciding whether or not to take the Queen Mother’s offer,” the nun said. “All mortals must drink the Tea of Forgetfulness between reincarnations to erase memories of their previous lives. So it’s impossible for the Prince to remember her, yet the Star accepts the offer so that she can be with her Prince during each of his lives. Her love is eternal and unconditional.”

She moved along to the next mural, the colors brighter, painted by a different hand.

“Now this painting is only two hundred years old, added during the Qing Dynasty,” the nun said. “The Willow Star and the Prince during one of his reincarnations.”

“This isn’t mentioned in the Legends,” Lian exclaimed. She set her lamp down on the cave floor and pulled a notebook out of her rucksack. “The story in the book ends by saying that the Willow Star hasn’t succeeded yet in getting the Prince to remember. There wasn’t any mention of what happened during their reincarnations.”

Two young women are pictured running through the streets of a town. It’s raining heavily and they appear to be following a red lantern that hangs in the air, leading the way. One woman is richly dressed, the other wears more simple clothing, but stars are woven into the long braid that hangs down her back. There are three lines inscribed beside the mural.

In this reincarnation they are born into the same wealthy household, the Prince a cherished daughter, the Willow Star her maidservant. The Prince escapes an unhappy marriage with help from the Willow Star. Mistress and maid grow old together.

“Oh, this is a real find,” Lian said, pencil scribbling rapidly across her notebook. “It’s so tantalizing and so frustrating not to have more. Do you know any other tales of the Willow Star and the Prince?”