Title: The folktale about the bird ‘Hornbill’.

Language: Chokri

Description: Once upon a time, a group of woman were working in the field. Among them, two women each had an infant baby, and they kept their names as Kahuli (female) and Kiviko (female). As they grew up, the two babies became lovers. Kahuli got married to a wealthy man from another village since Kiviko was someone who was poor. After hearing that Kahuli was married, Kiviko was heartbroken, but eventually he accepted his fate. One evening Kahuli’s friend tried to test Kiviko’s love for her, so they assigned him a tasked which was to carry a flamed charcoal to her village. So to prove his love, Kiviko did that. After reaching Kahuli’s village, night fell, and he could see Kahuli coming out from her house. He called her and instantly Kahuli recognized his voice and she let him hide in a bamboo casket fearing that her husband might see him. When morning arose, she sent her husband and some people to work in the field. After they left she met with Kiviko and they planned to elope to their native village. On their way, Kahuli felt hungry so Kiviko climbed a fruit tree to plug fruits for her, but after plucking the fruits he was unable to climb down the tree, as while he was climbing he broke all the branches from the tree. Slowly and slowly he was transformed into a bird named ‘Hornbill’. So, he told Kahuli to look out for him whenever she hears people speaking about a rare bird flying in the air. Heartbroken, Kahuli went back to her husband’s village.
Time passed by, one day as she was walking around, she heard about a rare bird flying in the air. She went out to look at it and suddenly a feather from that bird landed on her. She took it and kept it with her. As night came, in her sleep she dreamt of Kiviko and asked him about what she should do with the feather. He replied, “let it be used by all generations as a symbol of my never ending love for you”. And so, from that time onwards till this generation the Nagas use this traditional feather as a part of the headgear.

Format & Duration: audio: 3 mins, 46 secs.
Date of Recording: 9/16/2024
Date of Upload: 20 January 2025
Performer: Kevizo Vadeo.
Creator: Vivo Vadeo
Publisher: Tetso College, Dimapur
Note: I would like to thank the narrator for narrating this folktale. As technology and generation is passing by, we are losing all our identities. Therefore, this narration will help us to look back and preserve our folktales.

Cite this work

 Vivo Vadeo  . 2025  . The folktale about the bird 'Hornbill'.   (Narrated by Kevizo Vadeo )  . NEIIPA, Tetso College  . (https://neiipa.in/audio/the-folktale-about-the-bird-hornbill/)  . Accessed: (05-Feb-2025)