If you just can’t get enough of Mulan, check out these other versions of her story. But the legend of Mulan had been around a lot longer-the first transcription of the story appears in the sixth century, and the earliest film version appeared in 1927. The 1998 animated Disney ’s Mulan introduced many in Western audiences to the legend of a young Chinese woman who disguised herself as a man to fight against an invading army.