Title: Osü Ozü shi asu
Language: Ao
Description: The story of “Osü Ozü shi asu” begins with two lovers who were deeply in love with each other. When both families agreed, the two of them got married and were blessed with a boy child short after. Leaving the wife and their child at home, he would go to the field with his fellow villagers in the morning and would eagerly wait for sunset so that he can go home and spend time with his family. They were living happily and peacefully until the wife got pregnant with their second child and gave birth to a girl who unfortunately passed away and because of the complications during birth, it led to the death of the wife as well, leaving the husband in great despair. After some time passed, the husband decided to move on and get remarried for the sake of his son. He married a beautiful woman from the same village. Seeing how the step-mother loved and cared for his son just like his mother did, the husband felt happy and content. When the harvesting season approached, he had to sleep over at the field to look after the crops. While he was staying there, he would often hunt the osü ozü meaning “osü bird” and let his son take it home and have a apetizing meal with his step-mother. But little did the husband know about the wrongdoings of the step-mother and how she mistreated his son until he found something strange when his son sang a song about how the bird tasted sour and bitter when it actually tastes sweet. The husband then decided to return home and assess her. When he found out about her deceit in preparing the meal and all the things that she has been doing, he told her to leave the house and never return. The news about her mistreating her step-son broke out in the entire village. She felt embarrassed about her own actions and decided to leave the village and venture into the forest. There she hid inside a tree and cried out “Waako Waako” and transformed herself into a Gecko lizard. When the villagers attempted to search for her in the forest, they could hear the distant cries. When they followed the sound and reached their destination, they saw nothing but a lizard making the sound “Waako Waako”. They believed that it was her and perhaps due to shame, she had transformed herself and would never return to the village again. With this belief in mind, the villagers decided to let her go without stopping her and set out their way back to the village. The villagers then decided to name that animal “Waako”.

Format & Duration: Audio: 9mins 13secs
Date of Recording: 15-Aug-2023
Date of Upload: 20-Nov-2023
Performer: T Asenla Imchen
Creator: Arentula
Publisher: Tetso College, Dimapur
Note: NA

Cite this work

Arentula. 2023. Osü Ozü shi asu. (https://neiipa.in/audio/osu-ozu-shi-asu/) NEIIPA,Tetso College. Accessed: (09-May-2024)