Hi, I recently discovered this site and I hope that you can help me find a story that I've been trying to find again for many years. I read it in the 80s and it was part of a collection of fairy tales from around the world. It was a German edition, published in Germany, but since the individual stories were from so many different countries it's possible (at least I hope!) that it was translated into other languages as well. The story I'm looking for took place in an Asian country, quite probably China. It was all about how people are destined for each other from birth and how you cannot escape your fate. A wealthy man was permitted a glimpse at his fate. Someone (a fairy? a witch?) showed him him the "threads of fate" that connect men and women who are destined to be together. I remember these threads as being red, like yarn strings strung this way and that through the streets. The man followed his thread and came to a very poor section of town (fishermen's houses?). He discovered that at the other end of his thread was a child from one of these poor families. He saw this as a disgrace and somehow arranged to have the child killed, to escape his destiny. Years later the man fell in love with a lovely young woman from a rich family. There was just one thing peculiar about her, and that was that she always wore a headband of gold or silver threads which covered her forehead. He married her. Shortly afterwards he learned that the headband covered a scar that was the result of an injury she received as a baby. It turned out that this woman was the poor girl that he tried to have killed. She was only injured in the attempt and was adopted by a rich family later (I think). Does this ring a bell with anyone? I would be very happy about any clues. Hester | 
