Publisher's Synopsis
A python becomes a man to marry a girl; a boy becomes a hornbill to escape his step-mother; the animals gather at a house-warming party; the earth starts to rotate on its axis because of the efforts of the earthworm to bite its tail. Welcome to the magic world of Niumadian, Aneuwang, Anguma, Ahmang, Nothithian and dozens of other heroes, heroines, vampires and witches, gods, elves and imps. Find out how that dog got on to the moon, why rabbit bums are so fatty, why the robin is so small .... Learn about the ancient beliefs and superstitions of the Zeliangongs, their customary laws and practices, their traditions of marriage and social life, their work and their pleasure, their sense of beauty and of justice, their daily activities of hunting, fishing and agriculture.Stories of love and hate, wealth and poverty, power and humiliation, pain and pleasure, jealousies and licentiousness, cruelty and vengeance - the gamut of all emotions a human being may experience in a lifetime. Perhaps it is difficult to believe that all this and much more can be found a collection of 24 folktales of the Zeliangrong. This particular volume gives you that and more.Do not miss it if you are a Zeliangrong. If you are not, all the more reason to read it. You wouldn't then be surprised the next time you see snakes with ear-rings, men with the features of a tiger, or even when a marriage proposal to you from an elf, an imp, a tiger, a python or - why not - a god or a goddess
