The Great Hornbill is regarded with great respect in Nagaland. There are many legends associated with how it came to be.
According to one legend, the Great Hornbill was formed from a very sad, orphaned little boy, who was raised by his relatives, who used to constantly ill-treat him. As the little boy grew into a young man, he was sent to the fields to work. His stepmother used to give him rice mixed with rat dung to eat, and a porcupine spine to separate and eat the rice from the mess.
In the fields, all the young people used to sit together and eat, however, the young man never liked to sit with the rest of them, lest anybody saw what he brought for his lunch. Thus, he would sit quietly in a secluded spot each day and have his lunch. Among the youngsters, there were two young girls who used to like the man, and they wanted to speak with him. However, they felt it was strange that he would shy away from everybody. Thus, one day, when the young man had chosen his secluded spot for lunch, kept his lunchbox and gone to wash his hands, the two young girls came to speak to him. Upon realizing he had gone to wash his hands, the two young girls seized the opportunity to uncover the contents of his lunch box, a mystery he meticulously concealed from everyone.
They were overwhelmed with horror to see the rice mixed with rat dung. They did not know what to do, and instantly decided that they would replace this with a little of their own food. Thus, after sharing their food, the two girls went away. When the young man returned, he was pleasantly surprised to see the good food in his box. He knew that someone had inspected his lunch box and changed its contents. He disliked being the object of pity, and immediately went over to the place where all the other youngsters were sitting and having their lunch. When questioned, no one claimed responsibility for removing and replacing the contents of the lunch box. Dazed and overcome with sadness and grief at his own pitiable condition, the young man did not touch any of the good food in his box.
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This continued for several days. Every time the young man went to wash his hands, the two girls would replace the vile contents of his lunch box, and each day the young man went without his lunch. He understood who was putting the food in his box one day, and decided to put a stop to the whole thing. Yet he felt sorry for the girls’ love, which he knew would go unrequited. He felt sadder for his forlorn life and how it gave him nothing but sadness and pity. He decided to put an end to it all. So, he approached one of the two girls he favoured the most and inquired about her preference between him and her clothes. When the girl confessed her love for him, he told her, ‘Then get me your skirt and a black top.’ She did as she was told. The young man put these on and asked for the cap of her water bottle.
He put this near his mouth like a beak and started to climb a tall tree nearby. Upon reaching the top branches of the tree, he asked the girl how he looked. This time, the young girl started to feel uneasy and began to plead with the young man to come down from the tree. However, he did not; instead, he climbed even higher and went and sat on one of the highest branches of the tree. As the man settled down on the branches of the tree, to the utter disbelief of the girl, he gradually turned into a Great Hornbill and started to chirp harshly. The girl was stunned and began to cry. She kept pleading to the boy to come down and to return to their village, but being a hornbill, he had no intention of returning to his mortal life.
He wanted to fly away now. He raised his magnificent wings and flew away saying, ‘I will return once a year. When you hear the flapping of the wings of hornbills, do come out to see. I will be the last one of the flock in the sky. If you come out to see me, I will drop one of my finest feathers down for you. You may keep that,’ and the hornbill flew away. The young girl returned to her village weeping. Shortly after that, she got married, but kept thinking about the Great Hornbill.
Soon, one day, when she heard the flapping of wings from the sky, she rushed out to have a look and to her surprise, indeed, there was a flock of hornbills flying just above her hut and the last one of the flock suddenly dropped a glorious feather towards her. The girl received this token of love and took it inside her home. At the same time, the cruel, adoptive mother of the young man was also watching the Great Hornbill drop a beautiful feather for the girl. Greedily, she asked, ‘Oh! Give me something as well!’ but all that landed right on her face were the droppings of a bird, which blinded her.
The girl kept the feather in a special place and it brought them luck. She and her husband always had a great harvest and soon became very rich. They led a very comfortable life forever—thanks to the good fortune brought by the Great Hornbill.
The hornbill is still considered very auspicious to the Nagas.
This excerpt from ‘How The World Was Born’ by Lopamudra Maitra has been published with permission from Aleph Book Company.