Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 154]
142
TRADITIONS
Shortly after this Vega rises to the N.N.E., and is also called "mullion." These are the parent eagles, springing up from the earth to watch their nest. King Rory used the word "mullionga" of them both, signifying eagles in action. The Pleiades he called worrul (bees nest). Bungula and Agenor (the pointers to the Southern Cross) he called murai (cockatoos). The three principal stars of the Southern Cross are IJuu (a tea-tree). The dark space in the sky at the foot of the cross is gao-ergi (an emu) couching.
The Magellan clouds are two buralga (native companions).
The two stars across the Milky Way, near Scorpio, are gijeri gā (small green parrots).
The dark space between two branches of the Milky Way, near Scorpio, is Wurrawilburū (a dreadful demon).
The S-shaped line of stars in Serpentarius, between the Northern Crown and Scorpio, is called Mndēwur (the notches cut in the bark of a tree to enable a blackfellow to climb it).
Spica Virginis is gūriē (a crested parrot).
Fomalhunt is gānī (a small iguana).
Corvus (the four stars) is bundar (a kangaroo).
The Peacock's Eye is mūrgū (a night cuckoo).
On the Murray [river] a beautiful legend has been ascribed to the Aborigines, concerning the two pointers, Bungula and Agenor. A flock of turkey-buzzards (commonly called plain-turkeys), used to sport every evening on a plain ; but an old cannibal bird watching them, when he saw one weary with the dance, or race, pounced upon it and devoured it. Grieved at the loss of their young birds, the flock met, and took counsel together to remove to another plain. But when they were about to leave, two birds of the same species, from a distance, came up and encouraged them to stay, promising to save them from their persecutor. When evening came, one of these two birds hid himself in the bushes near the old cannibal : the other joined the ring. After a while, this last bird, pretending to be weary, fell down in front of the persecutor, who at once sprang forth to kill him. But the second stranger came to his help, and the two soon despatched the old bird. While the whole flock were applauding the deed, the two deliverers rose up from their midst, and flew higher and higher, until they reached the sky, where they now shine forever.