Rimenhawihi was a beautiful woman. She had a husband whose name was Zawlthlia and they were deeply in love with each other. Rimenhawihi was famed far and wide for her beauty. She was especially known for her long, beautiful tresses. She was well aware of the beauty of her lustrous locks, and would often admire herself. There was a river near her home, and Rimenhawihi would go there to bathe and wash her hair.
Once, when she was bathing in this river, a single strand of her long hair fell from her head and into the river. There, the strand of hair was swallowed by a fish, and because it was so long, it made the fish feel very full indeed. Now, there was a chief in a village towards the foot of the river. One day, he called his servants and ordered them to catch some fish for his meal. His servants happened to catch the very fish that had swallowed the strand of Rimenhawihi’s hair. It was a big fish with a protruding belly. Curious, the men cut open its belly and found it full of hair. As they unraveled it, they found to their amazement that it was just a single strand. It was such an unusual sight to see that they decided to bring it home to their master.
When the chief of the village saw the exceptionally long strand of hair they had found inside the fish’s belly, he was astonished. He immediately dispatched his men to locate the owner of the hair. He sent them towards the mouth of the river, guessing that it must have come from there.
The men followed the path of the river upstream and finally reached Rimenhawihi’s house. Her house was made of iron, and when they attempted to go in, they could not do so, for she had barricaded herself inside for safety since her husband Zawlthlia was away. Since they could not enter her house, the men stood outside and sang to her:
“You in the house of iron,
You in the house of brass,
Reveal to us your name.”
She sang back:
“I have no name, no name,
I am She-Who-Lives-On-Water,
I am She-Who-Lives-On-Boiled-Leaves.”
After this exchange, the men left her house and went home to their chief and told him what had transpired. However, he said, “Nobody is named those names. Go back and find out her real name!” and so they went back once more. When they reached her house, the men once again asked her to reveal her name, and once more, she replied in the same way.
When the men went back to convey this to their chief, he was not satisfied. He kept sending them back again and again. Finally, when they had asked her many times to reveal her name, she relented and told them:
“I am Rimenhawihi,
Also known as Menchanghawihi.”
When she finally told them her name, they were very excited and rushed home to tell the chief. They were so afraid of forgetting her name that they kept repeating “Men, men, men” on the way home; even when they happened to stumble upon anything on the road, they exclaimed, “Men!”
When they finally reached the chief’s house, alas! there was nobody who could remember her full name. At last, they told the chief, “She says her name is Men.” This angered the chief, for he knew a maiden would not simply have the name “Men”. He said tersely, “Go back right away, and if you dare to return without knowing her full name, you shall see what will happen to you!”
So the men once more hurried back to Rimenhawihi’s house, and as usual, they stood outside her house and asked her the same question once more, and she gave them the same reply as before. This time, however, the men were able to remember, and they went back and told the chief her true, full name. The chief, finally satisfied with their information, paced around mulling over what he had heard, and then proclaimed to his men, “Well, now that we know her true, full name, whether she has a partner or not, bring her to me!”
Once again, the men went back to Rimenhawihi’s house as they were bid by their master. Her husband Zawlthlia was away hunting for the night, and he had again locked his beautiful wife inside for fear of anyone trying to steal her while he was away. The chief’s men tried to enter the house from all sides but to no avail. Eventually they decided to climb up on the roof; from there, they threw down the various fruits the chief had sent with them as gifts for Rimenhawihi to entice her. Rimenhawihi ignored their gestures for quite a while, until they dropped their choicest fruits – oranges – down into her house.
When she saw the oranges, Rimenhawihi could no longer contain herself, and reached out to take one. As she came within their reach, one of the men managed to grab a lock of her hair. When she realised the man had hold of her hair, Rimenhawihi, proud and possessive of her beautiful tresses, allowed herself to be captured rather than struggle and risk having it pulled out.
Rimenhawihi, however, was a clever girl. Once she was captured by the men, she quickly and slyly told all the domestic animals in her house – the dog, the chickens – that she had been forced to go with her captors and that she would keep leaving strands of her hair as clues along the way, and to convey this urgently to her husband as soon as he came home. Then she left with the men.
After some time, her husband, who had spent the night in the forest, came home. As soon as they saw him, the dog and chickens gathered around him in agitation. He first asked the dog: “Dog, where is your mistress?”
“Bauh, bauh, bauh,
She is over the horizon,
Follow the strands of hair.”
Then he asked the chickens, who replied:
“Ti ti ik ik,
She is over the horizon,
Follow the strands of hair.”
Quickly, without a moment’s delay, Zawlthlia did as he was bid and started to follow their tracks. As he went further, he saw that there were strands of hair strewn along the way, and he followed them. After he had followed the direction of the strands for a long time, it started to get dark. When night fell, he finally caught up with his beloved wife and her captors. He killed all of the men who had kidnapped Rimenhawihi, and together they went home in the night.
For the rest of their lives, nobody tried to come between them again.
Excerpted with permission from “The Story of Rimenhawihi” from Mizo Myths: Second Edition, Cherrie Lalnunziri Chhangte, Blaft Publications.