Gunwinggu

(map)

The woman Gulbin traveled from the south, looking for a place to put herself as djang. At length, she killed a snake, began cooking it, and slept while it cooked. But the snake was the daughter of She who lives underground. That snake made water rise, threatening to drown the woman, and at last the Snake came up and ate her. Later the Snake vomited her bones, which became like rock.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 84-85.

Two girls traveled, making places. With fires, they attracted two men to marry them. But one day the four of them killed the daughter of Ngalyod, the Rainbow Snake. The mother came looking for her child, and they saw storm and rushing water coming. They tried to escape by climbing rocks, but the water rose and drowned them. The Snake ate them, carried their bones for a long time, and vomited them out in the same place, named Malbaid. They became like rocks.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 279-280.

The first people were living in what is now the middle of the sea. In ignorance, some of them knocked a maar rock, a dangerous Dreaming rock. After they went home, rain fell for a long time, and fresh water came running in search of them. In panic, the people swam around trying to get to dry land. There was no place they could go except for the rock Aragaladi, but Aragaladi was not a real rock; Snake had made it rise up for them. Snake came looking for the people, urinating salt water. A man came from the mainland in a canoe, but he drowned in the middle of the sea. Snake came and swallowed the people and later vomited their bones. She made the place deep with sea water. Those first people became rocks. Nobody goes to Aragaladi now.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 88-89.

People came from all around, heading for Gabari for a youth's initiation ritual. On the way, a small boy was crying. His mother had died recently. But the people were singing and dancing the wirbu, bringing the novice along. Some women tried to stop the little boy from crying, but they were more occupied with singing and dancing. They camped at Gun-ngulugi. The boy's elder brother went hunting. He told the boy that he would be gone a long time and not to cry.

The people at Gabari were doing nyalaidj dancing, which goes with trade between groups. The Gun-ngulugi group nearby sent a message to Gabari that they were ready, and they began to paint the novice. The nyalaidj and wirbu dancers came together at Gun-ngulugi.

The brother of the crying boy came back from hunting and went straight to his little brother, ignoring the dancers. He saw that the child had not eaten anything at all. The others had fed him bitter yams, but he would not eat any. He went on crying.

The nyalaidj group got ready to circumcise the novice. They kept dancing. The elder brother knew about Rainbow eggs, but others did not. He took those eggs out of the ground. He told the people, "I'm sorry you did not give food to my little brother. I'll finish all of you!" He held up the Rainbow eggs for all to see. All the gray-haired men cried out and tried to stop him, but he knocked the eggs together, breaking them. The water jumped out and spread.

The man took his little brother up a hill. "We had better find our places. You are sick, so you stay here." The little boy became a rock. The man went higher, by some caves. He put his two baskets as pictures in the caves, and he made himself into a rock at Ngiwulban, where he still sits.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 93-94.

Some people came from north and danced the nyalaidj ceremony. While they danced, one girl climbed a pandanus palm and was calling out, and an orphan boy was crying. The people kept dancing. The crying and calling upset the place, and water came up from underneath. The people cried in fear, but they couldn't run away because the ground became soft, and the water covered them. Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent ate them, first the people who were calling out and the orphan who was crying. The name of the place is Gaalbaraya; it is still a taboo place.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 96-97.

All the honeycombs that a man cut out were no good. He went on and cut and ate a palm tree. He heard bees talking, saying "Gu-gu" ["water"]. He ran back to others and told them that he had unknowingly done wrong to a djang palm tree. They tried to burn the tree, but water came up from it. One girl ran up a hill calling out; the others climbed a manbaderi tree. The tree fell, and those in it drowned. The girl became a rock. The place is named Gudju-mandi; nobody goes there now.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 100-101.

Two were traveling during the Dreamtime. One fell sick, and the Wuraal bird came up. The other heard it and said, "Maybe we're making ourselves wrong, coming into Dreaming." That night, the bird repeatedly struck the dying one with its claws, killing him. Water came up where it struck him. The other tried to outrun the rising water, but he fell in a hole, and all three went underwater and came into Dreaming.

Berndt and Berndt, 1994, 194.