Oshirasama

I read a free newspaper Metro on a train yesterday, and small article caught my eye. It said, 'Girl, 18, marries a stray dog from her village in India to lift curse'. !!!!!!

According to the article, she has married a dog to please her family who think in doing so she will rid herself of a curse they believe she carries. But I was relieved to know she is not happy with that marriage.

This news reminded me of a falk tale 'Oshirasama', that has been handed down in northeastern region in my country. Well.., I don't like this story to be honest, because it's a brutal and spooky tale.

Once upon a time, there was a poor farmer. He lost his wife early and had lived with a beautiful daughter. She loved the horse abnormally which they had, and she got married with the horse.

One night, the father found this fact and killed the horse in a sad way by hanging it from a mulberry tree, withought say anything to his daughter. Later, she looked all over for the horse and found the horse was killed. She was so shocked and cried while clinging to the horse's head. The father developed a sense of aversion, took an axe and chopped of the horse's head in front of the daughter.

Suddenly, the horse's head got up slowly and flew away with the daughter and disappeared mysteriously, to the heaven...

The father lost his daughter and regreted what he had done. He cut the mulberry tree, created a sculpture of a horse and daughter, and worshiped them.

It is believed that The horse became a tutelary god (of the home), which was made from the mulberry tree. It is called Oshira-sama. In the region, people create Oshirasama dall using of sticks of mulberry, wrap a cloth and paint male and female faces on it.

Tono where the tale related