Oceanic Mythology: Part V. Australia: Chapter II. Animal and Miscellaneous Tales

CHAPTER II

ANIMAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TALES

THE tales which explain the origin of the individual habits, markings, or cries of animals and other living creatures are quite as typical, on the whole, for Australia as are the Maui myths for Polynesia, the wise and foolish brothers for Melanesia, or the trickster stories for Indonesia. A large proportion of the myth material thus far published from Australia belongs to this class, which, although often interesting in itself, offers less in the way of significant comparative material than other types. While some of these tales have a fairly wide distribution, they are usually rather local in character.

The practically wingless emu has naturally given rise to a number of such aetiological tales; and in New South Wales this distinctive characteristic of the bird is explained as follows. 1 Dinewan, the emu, being the largest of the birds, was acknowledged as king by all the rest; and accordingly the Goomblegubbons, or bustards, were envious of him, the mother bustard being especially jealous of the mother emu because she could run so swiftly and fly so high. She resolved, therefore, to put an end to the mother Dinewan's supremacy by injuring her wings; and so one day, when she saw her enemy approaching, she sat down and folded her wings to look as though she had none. When Dinewan approached, she said, "Why don't you do as I do, and be without wings? All birds fly and have wings. The Dinewan as king of the birds should do without them. When the others see how clever I am, they will make the Goomblegubbons king." Dinewan took this to heart, and finally resolving not to lose the supremacy, she went and cut

In Victoria 2 the following tale is told of the kangaroo and the wombat. The two once lived together as great friends; but though the latter had a good hut, the former possessed

Many of the tales of this type serve to explain the geographical distribution of certain animals or birds. Thus, one of the Queensland tribes 3 says that once the fish-hawk had poisoned a water-hole with roots and went off to sleep until the fish should be stupefied and rise to the surface; but meanwhile a pheasant came by, and seeing some of the fish, speared them. The hawk, discovering this on his return, awaited his opportunity and hid the pheasant's spears in a tree, but the owner climbed the tree and got his weapons, with which he took more of the fish-hawk's catch. Accordingly the latter hid the spears again, this time in the top of a very tall tree; but though the pheasant at last spied them, he was too lazy to climb so high, and going up-stream, he caused a flood to rise which swept the fish-hawk and his fish out to sea. So to this day the fish-hawk is found only along the shore, while the pheasant is.

4 Originally the turtle possessed venomous fangs, and the snake had none; but since the latter lived on the shore, he was more liable to be attacked and killed than the turtle, who could take refuge under water or on an island. Accordingly the snake offered the turtle his head, if the latter would give him his fangs, and to this the turtle agreed; whence the snake now has fangs and can protect himself, while the turtle has a snake's head and takes refuge under water. Another tale 5 accounts for the red legs of the curlew. According to this, one day the hawk, who was the mother of Ouyan, the curlew, said to him, "Go out and get an emu for us. You are a man and a hunter, and must go and get food for us, and not stay in camp like a woman." Accordingly Ouyan took his spears and went off; but being unable to find an emu, and fearing the jeers of the women, he cut some flesh from his own legs and carried it home, telling his mother that he had gone far and seen little game, but that he had brought something, and that there would be enough for all. So the women cooked the flesh and ate it, but afterward were quite ill. The next day Ouyan went off again, and being unsuccessful as before, he brought back another piece of his flesh; but this time the women were suspicious, and thinking that the meat was unlike that of the emu, they determined to see what Ouyan did on the following day. Thus they found how he secured the meat, and when he returned as usual and then went to lie down saying that he was tired, they rushed up, and pulling off the covering which he had drawn over himself, disclosed his legs all raw and bleeding. They upbraided him for his laziness and evil tricks, and beat him, after which his mother said, "You shall have no more flesh on your legs hereafter, and they shall be red and skinny forever." So Ouyan crawled away and became a curlew, and these birds cry

Still another example 6 of this type of tale runs as follows. The crane was an expert fisherman, and one day when he had caught a large number of fish, the crow (who was white) came along and asked the crane to give him some; but the latter answered, "Wait a while, until they are cooked." The crow, however, being hungry, kept begging to be allowed to take the fish, only to hear the crane always reply, "Wait." So at last, when his back was turned, the crow started to steal the fish, but the crane saw him, and seizing one of them, he threw it at the crow and hit him across the eyes. Blinded by the blow, the crow fell into the burnt grass, rolling about in pain; and when he got up, his eyes were white, but his body became as black as crows have been ever since. Resolving to get even with the crane, the crow bided his time, and when the latter was asleep one day with his mouth open, he put a fish-bone across the base of the crane's tongue and hurried away. On awaking, the crane felt as though he were choking and tried to get the bone out of his mouth; but in so doing he made a queer, scraping noise, which was all he could do, for the bone stuck fast; and so ever since the only sound that a crane can make is "gah-rah-gah, gah-rah-gah," while the crow has remained black.

Examples of these animal stories might be multiplied almost indefinitely, but enough have been given to illustrate the type. It is to be noted, however, that characteristic as is this form of myth for Australia as a whole, it seems to be especially abundant in the south and east. In the central and northern districts (at least so far as published material is concerned) the prevalent assumption seems to be that just as the world and people have always existed, so the animals have had all their present characteristics from the very beginning. Here again, therefore, we find a distinction between the two main groups of Australia, outside of which this sort of myth is not

7 the story runs as follows. Wyungare, a man whose miraculous origin from ordure has already been recounted, 8 was a great hunter and a handsome man; and one day, while he was drinking water by drawing it up from a lake through a long reed, the two wives of Nepelle saw and admired him, and desired him for a husband. Accordingly, when he was asleep in his hut, they made a noise like emus running past, and Wyungare, waking, rushed out with his spear, thinking to secure the game; whereupon they greeted him with shouts of laughter and begged him to take them as his wives, which he obligingly did. When Nepelle discovered his loss, he was very angry and went to Wyungare's hut to try to kill the culprits; but since the hut was empty, he placed some fire inside, telling it to wait until Wyungare and the two women were asleep and then to get up and burn them. His orders were carried out exactly, and in the night Wyungare and his new wives were awakened by the flames and just had time to escape from the blazing hut. The fire, however, pursued them, and they ran until they reached a deep swamp, in the mud of which they took refuge; here the flames could not reach them. Dreading further attempts of Nepelle to be revenged, Wyungare looked about him for means of escape, and determining to ascend to the sky, he took his spear and hurled it straight upward with a line attached. The spear stuck firmly, and by means of the cord he ascended and pulled the women up after him, where they may now be seen as stars.

9 but with this difference, that the ascent to the heavens was accomplished by throwing a spear into the sky; then casting a second, which stuck in the butt of the first; and so forming a chain of spears which finally extended down to earth and up which the fugitives climbed to safety. A similar method of reaching the sky is also recorded among the Narrinyeri 10 from whom the first tale was obtained, but is given simply as a means by which a person succeeded in climbing to the heavens. It will be remembered that in Melanesia the arrow-chain as a method of ascent to the sky was wide-spread, 11 and the occurrence of the same incident here (substituting spears for arrows, since the latter are unknown in Australia) is certainly significant.

Of equal importance are two tales which would seem to be incomplete and mutilated versions of the swan-maiden episode, which is also widely current both in Melanesia and in Indonesia. The Victorian (?) recension 12 narrates that one day a man who was out hunting surprised a number of winged girls who were bathing; and owing to the fact that he was very handsome, they fell in love with him and became his wives. Nothing is here said of their being sky-maidens or of the usual incident of stealing the wings; but in a version recorded in New South Wales some of these elements appear. According to this form of the tale 13 there was once a man who was so badly treated by his fellows that in anger he determined to leave them and seek a home in a far country. He travelled for a long way, having many adventures on the road, and at last came to a camp, where there were only seven girls who received him kindly and gave him food, telling him that they had come from a distant land to which they hoped to return. Next day Wurruna, for this was the man's name, left, but after going a short distance, he hid to see if he could not steal one of the girls for a wife. They set out with their digging sticks to get flying ants' nests, and while they were eating the grubs, they

 

PLATE XXIV

Native drawing of Wurruna, spearing the emus just before he met the seven sky-maidens. After Parker, Australian Legendary Tales, p. 24.

 

By no means so significant as the two groups of myths just considered, but yet of some value for comparative purposes,

14 runs as follows. Byamee, the creator-deity, one day went off to get honey, and his two wives started out to gather figs -and yams. While they were enjoying themselves swimming in a deep water-hole, they were seized and swallowed by two water monsters, who then dived deep, and traversing an underground passage, took all the water with them, after which they proceeded down the stream, carrying the waters as they went. On his return Byamee found his wives missing, and setting out in pursuit, he followed down the river-bed, which was now dry, until, by cutting across bends of the stream, he got ahead of the monsters. As they came on, he threw his spears at them and finally killed them, the water gushing forth and refilling the bed of the stream; after which he cut open their bodies and took out the forms of his wives, which he laid upon some red ants' nests. These quickly cleaned the slime off the bodies, and when they stung them, they made the muscles twitch, so that the two women were soon restored to life. Byamee then cautioned them not to bathe again in such deep water-holes, and pointing out the cavities in the ground made by the struggles of the monsters, and now filled with water, said that ever afterward these should be lakes on which many wild fowl would gather; and to this day Narran Lake marks the spot.

Interesting in that its similarities lie far afield is an incident in a tale recorded from Victoria. 15 Among some of these tribes there are quite a series of stories recounting the deeds and adventures of two brothers, the Brambrambult, or two Brams. On one occasion Gartuk, the mopoke, having been badly used by them, resolved to get even, and finding his opportunity when a great wind-storm arose, he made a great kangaroo-skin bag, caught the wind in it, and tied it up. 16 In the course of time he thus similarly captured and imprisoned three windstorms, and taking the three receptacles containing them, he set off for the camp of the Brams. Having found it, he unloosed

17 the tale runs as follows. The native bear, when he was still a child, was left an orphan; but the people to whom he was entrusted did not take any care of him and often, when they went hunting, left him in camp with no water to drink. One day, after they had thus abandoned him, they forgot to hang their water-vessels out of his reach, so for once he had plenty. To be revenged for his previous ill treatment, however, he took all the water-vessels and hung them in a tree; and he also gathered the waters of the streams, and putting them into other vessels, he carried them to a tree, into the top of which he then climbed and which he made to grow until it was very tall. By and by the people returned tired and thirsty from their day's hunting; but when they looked for their water-vessels, they could not find them, and when they went to the stream, it was dry. At last they spied the little bear and all the water-vessels high up in the tree and called out to him, asking if he had any water, to which he replied, "Oh, yes; but I shall not give you any, because you have so often left me thirsty." Two of the people then started to climb the tree to take the water by force, but

18 and in Victoria, 19 runs as follows. Two old men, who were brothers, were travelling with a young man who was their nephew; but since the old men were cannibals and planned to kill and eat the young man, one of them secreted himself in a cave, while the other sat down near by. Meanwhile the young man went off to hunt and drove much game down from the hill, all of which ran into the cave where one of the old men was hidden. The other cannibal then called to his nephew to go in and kill the game, which he did, partly by blows and partly

20 runs as follows. The members of a certain tribe began to decrease one by one, and hunters and women who went far from camp failed to return, until at last only one family was left. Determining to find out how all their kinsmen had perished, and leaving their old father to take care of the women, the sons set out and after travelling for some distance they met an old man carrying a hollow log, who asked them to aid him to get a bandicoot out of it. They feared trickery, however, and refused to put their hands into the trap, thrusting in a stick instead; and their suspicions were justified, for out came a great snake with a head at each end of its body.