I have been trying to remember a picture book I read to my children back in the mid 1990s. My son now has a child and wants to find that book. I am pretty sure it is a Japanese folk tale ( but maybe Chinese?) .  The story is  about a deformed scholar who is hired to tutor the beautiful young daughter of an important rich person.  There is a myth that before a baby is born, they know the person who they are matched to be with, their “soul mate”. But before a baby is born one of the angels will press a finger to the middle of the upper lip ( hence the dent in our lips)  causing the baby to forget all memories of this person.  then they search during their lives for that one person.
Apparently in heaven before birth, the deformed scholar was a handsome baby and the young girl was the one with deformities . For some reason… ones I cannot remember, he switches with her so she will be beautiful and he will carry her deformities. They end up falling in love down on earth. This was such a lovely book that both my children remember even 20+ yrs later

This children’s book I used to have was this paperback book about two brothers who live on the island of Mozambique. Its a fairy tale story that take place in the modernize world early 1900s. One i thing i remember is this particular scene from the book. The brother kills a snake with a machete that is trying to kill his brother and his brothers wife in bed. When they wake up the brother in bed accuses the brother with the machete of trying to kill him. When the brother with the machete explains what really happened he turns into stone. Its a really beautifully illustrated book and uses a lot of deep blues and greens. I bought it in Boston around the late 1990s.

Novel about hillbilly-type farm family talked into turning farm into guest farm. Grandpa has apparent narcolepsy and ends up passes out anywhere and everywhere. A visiting couple finds watching cows being butchered erotic. I remember describing wallpaper of old magazines and newspapers because so poor. Read around late 1980s to mid 1990s?

If I remember correctly, the children’s story is a short-story which was part of a larger book which contained many different stories. It may even be true, or based on a true story. It was read to me in the 1970s. It is the story of a flood from a nearby reservoir’s dam breaking, and a smart, resourceful mother who protects and saves her little children by climbing onto tables, then top of bookcase/cabinet, then eventually sawing through ceiling and placing them in attic, (or maybe outside)?. The story had at least once hand drawn black & white

Pre 1970, fairly large format, color illustrated (vintage style) children’s book of fairy tales/nursery rhymes contains a story with an old woman baking a cake for a young male. Cake has prominent tubular peaks covering the surface. I think the illustration was on a left-hand page.