In shorter poems and in simple rhyming verses the general aspirations and inspirations of the head hunters for adventure and to fight enemies are narrated. Longer stories both in prose and poetry are about hair raising fights and some of these are indeed stranger than fiction.

The Ancient Naga Hunters formally released recently by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs P.R. Kyndiah at a simple function in Delhi and published by Mittal Publications has been written in the form of fiction to hide the identity of the character and locales of the story. The author Mr. Penzu, now aged 70, had opted for voluntary retirement as a senior government employee after serving the state government for two decades. He joined politics, became a legislator in Nagaland, was Minister and was in active politics for ten years.

This self made man says that the identity of the characters has been kept hidden with the object that these discoveries of the long buried Naga treasure of folklore of bygone days through the just published Naga Head Hunters will be preserved as a common Naga literary heritage, a part of the Indian heritage and of folklore just as the legends of Beowulf and King Arthur are still treated as the common heritage of the English people.

Also, hiding the identity of the characters and locales of the tales will prevent any attempt by an individual to claim that the heroes, heroines, warriors and the local people as narrated in the book belong to his or her clan , village or family. This may lead to a lot of problems.

Except for one story, materials for this publication were collected not from any library or book, but from the oral tales told by the older generation in the interior Naga villages. To collect the tales, Mr. Penzu, now a full time writer, had to travel extensively to the remotest villages in Nagaland. He should feel rewarded as the readers will have a glimpse of the way of life, hopes and aspirations of the ancient Naga people.