Eastern Australia

(map)

Grumuduk, a medicine man who lived in the hills of the Kiti range, had the power to bring rain and to make plants and animals plentiful. A plains tribe kidnapped him, wanting his power, but Grumuduk escaped and decreed that wherever he walked in the country of his enemies, salt water would rise in his footsteps.

Flood, Josephine, Archaeology of the Dreamtime (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1983), 179.

Mountford, Charles P. and Ainslie Roberts, The Dreamtime Book (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973), 63

The source does not say what part of Australia this fable comes from, but lyrebirds are native only to the east.

Fish hawk spent the morning crushing poisonous berries; then he poured the juice into a pool and went to sleep while he waited for the fish to die and float to the surface. While he slept, though, Lyrebird came and speared the poisoned fish. When he had a good supply, he built a fire and began roasting them.

Fish hawk woke up and realized how Lyrebird had taken advantage of his work. He quietly snuck up behind Lyrebird and gathered all his spears. He took these and bound them at the top of the tallest tree, where they blended in with the branches.

Lyrebird finished his meal and, when he prepared to leave, noticed his spears missing. While Fish Hawk, hiding in the bushes, laughed silently, Lyrebird ran all about looking for his spears. Finally, he saw them at the top of the tree. Since he did not believe in unnecessary effort, he called on the spirits of water, and the water of the pool rose and carried him to the top of the tree, where he retrieved his spears, and he sank to the ground again as the water lowered.

Fish Hawk was caught in the flood and washed out to sea. He was not able to get back and lives on the sea coast still. Lyrebird still remembers the experience and goes around searching the tree tops.

A. W. Reed, Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables (Reed Books, 1982; Sydney: Reed New Holland, 1999), 313-314.