Once upon a time there lived a young man named Ngamtawn. He was not only handsome but also a good hunter. He spent most of his time in hunting.
One day in one such hunting he stumbled into an obscure village. The people were half human and half tiger. Under normal circumstances they were human being, but they could turn to tiger when out. In the open air a girl was weaving cloth. She was very beautiful girl named Keinu. Ngamtawn loved her as first sight and asked some people of the village about her. They told him that she was the daughter of the chief. He asked the parents for marriage and they agreed. So, he took her home to be his wife.
Ngamtawn bagged many wild animals in his hunting. In one of such hunting he bagged a huge bear. So, he wanted to celebrate it with all pomp and merriment. He set the date and invited the parents and the relatives of his wife. Accordingly they all became wild with excitement for the grand celebration.
As they entered Ngamtawn’s house they saw rows of the heads of wild animals including tiger heads. They saw the heads of their own sons and daughters. They were surprised and shocked.
Night came. All the guests slept on the floor. At midnight when everyone was supposed to be in deep sleep, they got up and stood near the nagging heads and shed tears.
“oh, my brother, oh, my sons,
You were hunting while alive,
But now you are hanging in the wall,
Huh! Huh! Huh!
Ngamtawn’s younger sister over-heard this and became restless with fear. She tried to wake Ngamtawn who was in deep sleep, “Brother, brother, I have a stomach pain, I want to empty my bowel outside, please, please, “Ngamtawn said, “You go yourself.” “I dare not go out alone in the dark,” said she. At this, Ngamtawn got up and went out with his sister. When they were outside, she told what she had heard about their guests. So, they chatted away the rest of the night.
Morning came and they all had their morning food. Ngamtawn had many pigs to kill for the celebration. His house was built on tilt and under the house were pigs sleeping. So, he asked his father-in-law to drive the pigs out.
At this, automatically, their animal nature appeared and began to roar like tiger and pounced on the pigs. Ngamtawn got frightened and took out his bows and arrows and killed them all.
His wife Keinu got furious to see all her parents and relatives killed like this on such occasion. So, secretly she tried to kill her husband. She asked of her husband many impossible things, but her husband got all these things done without much difficulty. At last she said, “Bring me the liver of a big white bear from Himaloi (Himalayas).” So he set out with his faithful dog to Himaloi. He killed a big white bear and took only the liver and started for home. Suddenly avalanche of snow from above half buried him and he felt he was sure to die, and said to his dog, “I’m dying. You go home and call the people to carry my body home. People would start pouring into our house as soon as the news spread. You sit still on the broomstick pretending to sleep. Your mistress would come to sweep the floor and try to drive you away. You spring up to your feet and bite the back of her legs might and main.” The dog nodded its head and ran towards home. It told the sad news and the people came and took the body home. The dog was sleeping on the broomstick. Keinu came to sweep the floor. As she tried to pick up the broom, she shouted, “You dog, go away.” At this, the dog sprang to its feet and bit the leg of its mistress might and main. Keinu died of her wound. After this, the dog ran away to the forest and never came back. It turned into wolf and eventually became the progenitor of the modern wolves. Whenever a pack of wolves killed an animal, they buried a small part of the liver by the side of a wild plant for their old master Ngamtawn, goes the Hmar legend.
Source: Lal Dena, Hmar Folk Tales, 1995
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