Book Review by Asenla Yanger
“…kindness is always rewarded by gods of heaven, earth and sky.” (p.18 of The Sky Bride and Other Tales Retold)
One of the prime blessing Nagaland, as a land of diverse tribes and cultures, is bestowed with is the orality of numerous tales, folktales, passing on from generation to generation which has now taken to its written preservation. However, I personally thank my home buzzing with little ones who have made it mandatory, every night, to listen to stories from their grandparents of magic, talking birds and animals, blood thirsty eyes of the witches, the roaming wizards, compassionate fairies and the spells and curses. No matter how many of fine lines and grey hair are adding to us every year, none can deny the high pitching of the heartbeat picturing the tiger-spirit crushing the dry forest leaves as it walks behind its human body, or the smiling of the eyes listening to the songs sung deep inside the dark depths of the forest. Folklores takes us to a time and place away from the real world, with both virtuous and wicked characters, magic and charm were commonplace and struggles got resolved through kindness and wisdom. A question might be interrogating your thoughts: are folklores of any relevance? To this I would say, all the morality we are living with have their roots in the tales of the ancients. Folklores are tales that speak actuality to the human heart and mend the path of the young walking astray. They are shade in the sun. I thankfully proclaim that these eight folktales, in the collection The Sky Bride and Other Tales Retold by Tialila Kikon are a delight to the soul and a reassurance of living and letting all choose the rightful path.
As a young girl and I take it to the extent of my belief that we all have grown up with Hebrews 13: 2 of the Holy Bible reading, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.” Many a times gripped with our assignments that cannot be put off even for a millisecond we disregard that blessing of giving a little of our time to others thinking it a mere wastage. As they say, “never judge a book by its cover” so who are we to decide whether a well garmented person needs our time more or a shabbily dressed old soul. Let us be mindful of what that kind touch can bring in return to us. Just the way, in one of the stories ‘The Divine Visitor’,the old, shabbily clad and hungry poor vagabond passing through a village was denied entry with every door being slammed on his face only to be welcomed in to the little shanty by two orphaned sisters, with pots empty to feed neither themselves nor anyone else. They unknowingly entertained an angel who rewarded them saying, “…from now on, you will reap unending harvest and when you think you have enough, turn your harvest basket upside down” and this blessing they reaped with “several granaries filled with grain to last a lifetime” (The Divine Visitor, p.18).
Have you ever felt yourself of no use? Did your heart ever break crying, “Everybody thinks I’m useless and stupid. I’m taunted all the time.” (The Rooster’s Feat, p. 11). This isn’t something new, for this life brings along certain taunts of inferiority that shatters our confidence making us feel dust. Give this a thinking: if a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, could protest outside the parliament to stir Swedish government to pass actions to combat climate change, then it is indicative for us individuals to never devalue even the meekest of the being. As Thunberg quoted, “Just like a whisper sometimes is louder than shouting” so did Kikon, in her retelling of the theme that no one is too small to make a difference, very prettily tells us how even something like a rooster “was held in high esteem as earth’s special envoy to the sky. And to this day, it is often told that the rooster crows every single dawn to lure back the sun”(The Rooster’s Feat, p.12).
I see Kikon as an artist of the highest order for with this book of hers that carries our myths and legends, she stands tall to the word of Joseph Campbell when he quoted, “Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are the artists of one kind or another.” We are all part of a myth, a folklore, a legend or the other. It still fascinates when I remember how those cold winter vacations in one cold corner of the hills of Nagaland, we the little ones, used to get tugged in our warm blankets by the fireplace all set to listen to grandma as she delivered those mythic tales of our clansmen and kinsmen. And no wonder it still brings the same enthusiasm reading or listening to the past myths no matter how rooted the same story is in our veins owing to repeated listening. Kikon’s The Sky Bride and Other Tales Retold have some of the best retelling of the mythic tales which are highly moralistic in nature. She reiterated that these tales are going to help us get back to the realization of the importance of compassion which has of late being forgotten in the rational world we are living in. Something that really fascinated me is the embellished display of nature as the stories open displaying the harmony man has to have with nature because nature provides just like, “a long, long time ago, sky and earth parted, so that mountains could grow, rivers could flow and tribes of men could move between them” (Spirit Stone, p.19). This takes me to Easterine Kire as she mentioned in her prize-winning work When the River Sleeps, “This is our home, do you understand? We cannot abandon it and try to live in another place. Our umbilical cords are buried here, and we would always be restless if we tried to settle elsewhere.” One of the greatest influences this book got on me is to start my reverence for nature and understand its transcendental manifestation and love. Kikon has wonderfully brought to the front the ecocritical principle of coexistence of all the entities around, both human and non-human, thereby instilling in us the good principle of respecting all forms of entities because as the author herself mentioned in a casual discussion I had with her that, “everything is connected to everything else.” The first story, in this collection, ‘The Mountain Children and the Sparrows’ so well deliberates this connectivity of love and respect where the little sparrows pecked and scratched at the big black stone that entrapped a group of children playing in natures lap, in a pit. How much the pecking would have hurt their tiny beaks? Coexistence of all teaches us that in front of love and concern any amount of pain is insignificant.
With eight beautiful stories in black and white by Tialila Kikon adorned in the subtle colorful illustrations by six talented artist of color, this review will be a mislead if I recommend the book to children alone, but I urge all kind souls, occupying the world, to read and get in tuned with the didactic bearings that are a must if you wish to restart and live being the person the Almighty created you to be and after all we all have a child in us still with wide opened eyes and ears to the art of listening, to storytelling. Literary proficiency is at its best note as the stories are decked in simple language. Objects of nature having a significant meaning make the eight stories highly symbolic and each symbol lends moralizing, didactic catchment. The prose envelopes poetic rhythm of the Romantic Era in English literature whereby poetic orality is manifested in the written words. With a touch of modern writing some stories will leave your mind to draw numerous possible intriguing conclusions like the beautifully crafted title story ‘The Sky Bride’
It will be a contempt on my part if I end this without talking of the kind souls behind this endeavor, the Act of Kindness Society. This team has been scaling all the odds to bring a difference in our lives through their selfless effort. Whenever I see them, my ears ring to the verse from the Holy Bible which I quote, “Love is patient, love is kind…it is not self-seeking….” (1 Corinthians 13:1).Knowing that the proceeds from this book is for bringing a change in the living of the have-nots, my heart leaped a thousand happy leaps of joy and gratefulness. All gratitude to team AoK for making me proclaim my soul’s belief, for my soul says, “where there is love, there is kindness and where kindness thrives so thrives love.”
An eminent read for all with no age specification.
The writer is a Doctoral Scholar, Academic and Book Reviewer.
