The tales in our Li : She cho mo me?

There once lived a beautiful girl, Kuvelü in a far off Naga Village.

She lost her mother at a young age and lived with her father. A long time after her mother’s death, her father married a young lady hoping she would be a mother to her but her stepmother was vain and evil. She was jealous of Kuvelü’s beauty and grace and was envious of the majestic "tida"(a large necklace, worn by both men and women, denoting status and wealth) she had inherited from her dead mother.

Everyday, Kuvelü would rise before daybreak and make the fire, sweep the house clean, feed the chickens and cook their meals with a song on her lips and then go off to work in the fields. But inspite of all her efforts and industrious ways, Kuvelü could not do anything right in her new mother’s eyes and this saddened her greatly for she missed a motherly presence in her life. Her father was a gentle soul and could only sigh and hope.

As was the way of her people, the young Kuvelü would go to the forest daily with a group of friends to gather wood and fetch water.  One day, Kuvelü and her friends went deep into the forest to fetch firewood and ended up at a mysterious lake. Having had a tiring time, they set down their baskets, took off their jewellery and started frolicking in the water. And while the girls bathed and enjoyed the cool waters, the Spirit of the lake fell in love with the beautiful Kuvelü and stole her prized possession, her tida.

As dusk was fast approaching and they were a long way from home, they reluctantly made hurried preparations to return back. To her great distress and horror, Kuvelü could not find her tida where she had left it. She beseeched her friends not to tease her and hand over her necklace if they had hidden it. But turns out her friends did not have it and they joined her in her search but to no avail. Her necklace was gone. The young girls returned home mystified while Kuvelü was in tears for she had lost all that was left of her dead mother.

On returning home, she mournfully related the day’s events to her stepmother and father. While her father said it must be the work of the lake spirit and not to worry for it was just a necklace after all; the cruel stepmother accused her of lying and said, “ You sly young lady, you must have given it away to your admirers or some secret lover!” Kuvelü refuted the accusations and pleaded innocent but her stepmother was not moved. She teased her mercilessly. So the young girl finally took it to heart and made an oath to prove her innocence. She swore on the names of the spirits of her ancestors and upon their honor that she spoke the truth and if she was lying, may all her efforts be unfruitful and barren for life.

The next day as dawn broke, she rushed to the lake and stood at the spot she last saw her tida. She took off her cloth belt and threw it upon a great rock which stood at the mouth of the lake and shouted aloud, “Spirit of the lake, I challenge you to reveal yourself to me, you who stole my necklace! Pray return it to me so I can prove my innocence. You who has great power, show me your magnanimity and give me back my necklace and you can have my soul in return”. The moment she uttered these words, her necklace was flung back into her hands and the spirit of the lake rose from his abode in the form of a handsome young man. “There you are, you shall be my bride! Come with me”.

Alas! The deal was made and the price had to be paid.

Kuvelü had a wish to return to her village and bid her father goodbye before she would be gone to the spirit world so the god took her back to her village in a mist. She came upon her stepmother and handed her the necklace saying, “Oh mother, here you are. I am peace at last and so should you be. Of what good is this necklace to me if it causes a rift between us mother and daughter. Oh what sorrow that we couldn’t be friends! Alas I am gone”. The stepmother could only stare, mouth agape as the beautiful Kuvelü was swept  away in a swirling mist by a very handsome god.

She then appeared to her beloved father who was busy cutting wood in the yard, “My poor father,  your unfortunate daughter has paid the price for letting her desire of a mother’s approval win over a father’s love. What sorrow that I shall not be with you no more, Father, take care of yourself for me and I shall find comfort in your wellbeing.” Saying this, she was borne away by her spirit husband to his world, never to be seen again.

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