Once upon a time, in a quaint village nestled amidst the rolling hills, there resided a man and his beloved wife, their happiness palpable in the air that surrounded them. Their union blessed with the arrival of a baby daughter, filling their home with even more joy. However, tragedy struck swiftly as the mother’s life was cut short, leaving the grieving father to raise their precious child with unwavering dedication and love.
Months passed, and the man found solace in the arms of another woman, who soon became his wife. With her came a daughter of her own, adding another dimension to their family dynamic. Little did the man know that this new chapter would hold unforeseen cruelty for his firstborn. The stepmother’s heart turned cold, showing favoritism to her own child and callously neglecting the daughter from her husband’s previous marriage.
In a twisted act of oppression, the stepmother fed the vulnerable girl only the tough skins of the Pindalu(Giant Taro)root, depriving her of nourishment and care. The child, unable to digest this meager sustenance, suffered silently, her belly aching with unbearable pain. Despite her distress, she found no respite, as her cries for help fell on deaf ears.
The man, consumed by his duties and unaware of the injustice befalling his daughter, was taken aback by the sudden deterioration in her health. Confronting his wife, he demanded answers, only to be met with denial and deception. The truth unraveled like a dark tapestry, revealing the depths of the stepmother’s cruelty and the dire consequences it had wrought upon the innocent girl.
As the child’s life hung in the balance, she mustered the strength to reveal the harrowing truth to her father, her final words a testament to the suffering she endured. Shock and rage coursed through the man as he confronted his wife’s heinous actions. In a moment of reckoning, the stepmother’s deceit was laid bare, her true colors exposed in the face of her stepdaughter’s tragedy.
Witnessing the extent of the cruelty inflicted upon his beloved child, the man’s anguish transformed into resolve. As he lifted the frail girl in his arms, a miracle unfolded before his eyes. The Pindalu(Giant Taro)skins, once a symbol of neglect and malice, metamorphosed into ethereal wings, setting the stage for a miraculous transformation. The girl, freed from her earthly chains, ascended into the sky, reborn as a dove, her mournful cries echoing the pain that plagued her mortal form.
Even at this very moment, the dove’s expression remains sorrowful, its cry resonating with a deep sense of distress as it utters the words “Aah-sa-po-tuk-tuk” in the native language of the Yakthung Limbu, conveying a message of physical discomfort as if it is sharing its internal pain by expressing, “I have a pain in my stomach.”
