Zhong Kui
the ghost-catcher with the ugly face
earthZhong Kui was denied his honors for his ugliness and died in protest, then rose as the great vanquisher of demons; to dream of him is to learn that what the world rejected in you may be exactly what it needs guarding.
To the friend who buried him he sent his own sister as bride, escorted by a wedding procession of demons; even his gratitude arrives with teeth.
He passed the highest examination and was stripped of it for his face, and dashed his head against the palace steps; the underworld valued what the court could not see.
People paste his fierce portrait on their doors at New Year, and the demons keep walking; the ugliest guardian is the kindest inside.
He rides a donkey, not a war-horse, with a sword too big for him and eighty thousand ghosts under his command; elegance was never the point.