Keimingi (Weretiger)
Keimingi is perhaps the most famous female weretiger (Keimi) in our lore. She was married to the legendary hunter Hualtungamtawna. However, as if ordained by fate that weretigers and humans should never coexist, their marriage was plagued by severe conflict. Instead of a happy union, their life was defined by mutual hostility and a deadly game of wits, eventually leading to tragedy for both. The Detailed Narrative Long ago, there was a man who had two sons and a beautiful daughter named Keimingi; they were all Keimi. In a neighboring village lived a handsome and brave young man named Hualtungamtawna, a master hunter. Hualtungamtawna was so skilled that his walls were covered in hunting trophies, including many tiger heads. The Keimi people hated him for this and plotted his death. Keimingi’s parents told her: "Go to Hualtungamtawna’s trap. If he asks who you are, say you are a poor wanderer looking for a husband. If he proposes, accept." Keimingi followed their plan, and Hualtungamtawna, struck by her beauty, married her. The Transformation and the Trap One day, Keimingi went to the forest with her young brother-in-law. Reaching a wild banana grove, she said, "Little brother, this grove is perfect for practicing 'animal behavior' (transformation)!" Though hesitant to scare the boy, he encouraged her, saying he wouldn't be afraid. Keimingi warned, "If I scare you, hit me with this, and I will stop." She then transformed, growling and lunging through the grove with her tail erect. Terrified, the boy fled back home and fell deathly ill from the shock. Eventually, he confessed the truth. Enraged, Hualtungamtawna’s parents plotted to kill Keimingi during a Khuangchawi ceremony (a grand feast). They planned to shoot her while she sat atop the ceremonial litter. They got Hualtungamtawna drunk, but in his stupor, his shot missed. Keimingi, terrified, transformed and fled. The Conflict Escalates Later, the Keimi brothers visited Hualtungamtawna’s house. Seeing their kin's (tiger) heads mounted on the walls, they wept secretly at night, chanting: "Oh, my brother, once you roamed the wilds, Now you decorate the walls of a man; Would that Hualtungamtawna's teeth be shattered..." Hualtungamtawna’s daughter overheard this and told her father. Realizing his guests were tigers, Hualtungamtawna tricked them into entering a pigpen to "slaughter a hog." Once they transformed into tigers inside the pen, he shot and killed both of Keimingi’s brothers. The Death of Hualtungamtawna Grieving for her brothers, Keimingi plotted her husband's death. While pregnant, she feigned a craving: "I must eat the meat of the Nghalphusen (Great Red Boar) from Tawia, or I shall perish." Knowing the beast was deadly, she hoped it would kill him. Hualtungamtawna, a master of magic, went to the hunt. He cast a spell on all the trees on the mountain to make them unbreakable so he could climb them for safety—but he accidentally missed one tree, the Phuanberh (a brittle species). When the boar attacked, he leaped from tree to tree, killing many, but finally landed on the brittle Phuanberh tree. It snapped, and the Great Boar killed him. Before dying, he instructed his loyal hunting dog: "Go home. People will try to carry my body with strong wood, but it will break; tell them to use thatch (di). They will try to enter through the door, but I won't fit; tell them to enter through the space beneath the floor. When my wife sweeps the floor and says 'Ul!', bite her leg and sever her tendon." The Aftermath The dog did as told. The villagers were amazed that the body could only be carried with thatch and only fit through the floor-gap. Keimingi wept crocodile tears, though she was secretly glad. While she was sweeping, the dog bit her leg, severing her tendon, and fled into the wild. It is said that Hualtungamtawna’s dog was actually a Dhole (Asiatic Wild Dog). To this day, people believe that whenever a Dhole kills prey, it leaves the heart and liver near a Hnahkiah tree as an offering at its master’s grave.
