Read a story from a new book that documents the folktales of the Wancho tribe of Arunachal Pradesh

Once upon a time a man named Topa was going to his jhum fields to protect his millet crop from the wild birds. That day he met with a hunting party and the men of the party were supernatural beings. The hunters had travelled far and wide and when they came upon Topa, they asked him whether he had seen any animals passing that way. He replied, “No, I have not seen any animals other than a cobra (pujam) and a flock of quail (omook) birds.” “That is exactly what we are looking for!” replied the hunters loudly and enthusiastically and they advanced on. The hunters were certainly not an ordinary party: they used the birds to hunt snakes just as we use dogs today when we hunt in the forest.

The sound of their celebratory hunting cry was heard from afar by Topa. From where he was hidden behind a bush he overheard the hunting party’s discussion of how to divide the meat: the first hunter to strike the animal would get the right thigh; the second one would get the foreleg and the third would get the lower waist portion; the left thigh and a portion of the heart...

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