Once upon a time there was a maiden called Haosi Namoinu. She had a stepmother who was a wicked and crooked woman. The unfortunate maiden had no peace of mind even for a moment as her stepmother always tried to find fault with her in all her activities and in every moment of life.

One day the girl and her friend sought the permission of her stepmother to play Kang (a typical traditional Manipuri indoor game) and promised to do her work on the following day. But her stepmother, Nganurol Laoshigam Chanu, who was as sour as a sour fruit and as hot as a hot ginger, told her to take a basket from the granary and fetch paddy from a distant village. The girl simply had to obey her stepmother and abandon the game of Kang with her friends. The girl returned home with the basket of paddy sweating profusely from all the work she had done.

Hardly had Haosi Namoinu reached the verandah of her house than her stepmother told her to husk the paddy. It was a hard task for the poor girl to husk the paddy without taking a little rest. So, the girl said, “O, mother why do you tell me to husk the paddy? I have not yet taken my seat after returning. I have perspired all over my body and breast-cloth is not yet dry.” But her stepmother became angry with her and not only did she call her bad names but also beat her on the crown of her head with the bamboo ladle. The helpless girl wept piteously leaning partly against the door and supporting herself partly on a piece of bamboo ladle.

Bleeding profusely, she moaned that such a life was not worth living. How could she show her disfigurement to her dear friends and the elders of the locality? As her cry and moan were mixed with the gale blowing through the sky, a strange thing began to happen. Her body was transformed into Hari Nongnang (Cicada). Her phanek (a piece of cloth worn by Manipuri women around their waist, like a sarong) became the hairs of the cicada and her breast-cloth became its transparent wings. Thus, Haosi Namoinu was transformed into a cicada.

A Folk story from Manipur sourced from a journal article titled ‘Manipuri Folktales’ by Nongmaithem Suraj Kumar found in the Indian Literature Journal vol.59.

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