[ Updated threads · New messages · Members · Forum rules · Search · RSS ]
  • Page 1 of 1
  • 1
“Longkongla's Story” or “The Origin of a Clan” - Ao Folktale
LongshimDate: Friday, 16/10/2015, 2:49 PM | Message # 1
Generalissimo
Group: Administrators
Messages: 94
Awards: 0
Reputation: 0
Status: Offline
Longkongla in the story is the mythical heroine of the Aos who is believed to be the progenitor of the Ao clan called 'Ozukumer,' meaning the one who was transformed from a bird. The myth dates back to the first village established by the Aos called Chungliyimti. Longkongla or Ongangla was considered to be a messenger between God and man, and the living and the dead. One day as she sat at her loom, she noticed a beautiful hornbill  fly past her house she expressed her desire to own one of the feathers of the bird. The next instant a beautiful feather came down
and settled on her loom. She took it and kept it among her valuables. After a few days much to her surprise, she discovered that "it had turned into a cocoon of some sort". She took it out and kept it in the fork of a tree. After some time she heard the crying of a child from the spot where she had kept the cocoon. Longkongla brought him up as her own son and named him Songmaket or Asongmaket, a handsome man without blemish. She also named him 'Ozukumer,'keeping in mind his origin, and to this day his descendants are known as the 'Ozukumer' clan among the Aos.  Ozukumer grew up to be a handsome man and his prosperity
increased along with his mother Longkongla, who possessed some kind of supernatural powers. He was so handsome that all the  menfolk became jealous of him and plotted to kill him. So one day when all the men folk of Chungliyimti went fishing to Dikhu river they killed him there. When Longkongla came to know the facts about the incident from his closest friend she began to plot revenge on the villagers. So one fine day she called all the children of the village and set all of them on fire, thus killing them all. The villagers angered by her actions secretly plotted to kill her too. But she knew of their plans and so spread thirty mats of millets (mentioned in the song) around her and in the middle she started to weave. So when the Chungliyimti warriors attacked her with daos and spears, they slipped on the spread millet and as they struggled, Longkongla killed them with her weaving stick. Longkongla was attacked by the villagers continuously but her supernatural allies always came to her rescue. One day as she was being pulled up to heaven with the help of a thread, by her god Anengtsungba, she was prohibited from looking downwards, but she did as she could not ignore the cries of her animals. She fell down upon the sharp branches of a tree called 'kabusung'. Thus died this mythical heroine. Since then it is believed that the red sap that is found in the heart of the 'kabusung' is Longkongla's blood. Thus the tale throws light on the origin of the Aos and the division of clan through the use of Longkongla's myth.
 
  • Page 1 of 1
  • 1
Search:

close