Long, long ago, far, far away on the other side of the world, some
young men left the camp where they lived to get some food for their
wives and children. The sun was hot, but they liked heat, and as they
went they ran races and tried who could hurl his spear the farthest, or
was cleverest in throwing a strange weapon called a boomerang, which
always returns to the thrower. They did not get on very fast at this
rate, but presently they reached a flat place that in time of flood was
full of water, but was now, in the height of summer, only a set of
pools, each surrounded with a fringe of plants, with bulrushes standing
in the inside of all. In that country the people are fond of the roots
of bulrushes, which they think as good as onions, and one of the young
men said that they had better collect some of the roots and carry them
back to the camp. It did not take them long to weave the tops of the
willows into a basket, and they were just going to wade into the water
and pull up the bulrush roots when a youth suddenly called out: “After
all, why should we waste our time in doing work that is only fit for
women and children? Let them come and get the roots for themselves; but
we will fish for eels and anything else we can get.”
This delighted the rest of the party, and they all began to arrange
their fishing lines, made from the bark of the yellow mimosa, and to
search for bait for their hooks. Most of them used worms, but one, who
had put a piece of raw meat for dinner into his skin wallet, cut off a
little bit and baited his line with it, unseen by his companions.
For a long time they cast patiently, without receiving a single bite;
the sun had grown low in the sky, and it seemed as if they would have
to go home empty-handed, not even with a basket of roots to show; when
the youth, who had baited his hook with raw meat, suddenly saw his line
disappear under the water. Something, a very heavy fish he supposed,
was pulling so hard that he could hardly keep his feet, and for a few
minutes it seemed either as if he must let go or be dragged into the
pool. He cried to his friends to help him, and at last, trembling with
fright at what they were going to see, they managed between them to
land on the bank a creature that was neither a calf nor a seal, but
something of both, with a long, broad tail. They looked at each other
with horror, cold shivers running down their spines; for though they
had never beheld it, there was not a man amongst them who did not know
what it was—the cub of the awful Bunyip!
All of a sudden the silence was broken by a low wail, answered by
another from the other side of the pool, as the mother rose up from her
den and came towards them, rage flashing from her horrible yellow eyes.
“Let it go! let it go!” whispered the young men to each other; but the
captor declared that he had caught it, and was going to keep it. “He
had promised his sweetheart,” he said, “that he would bring back enough
meat for her father’s house to feast on for three days, and though they
could not eat the little Bunyip, her brothers and sisters should have
it to play with.” So, flinging his spear at the mother to keep her
back, he threw the little Bunyip on to his shoulders, and set out for
the camp, never heeding the poor mother’s cries of distress.
By this time it was getting near sunset, and the plain was in shadow,
though the tops of the mountains were still quite bright. The youths
had all ceased to be afraid, when they were startled by a low rushing
sound behind them, and, looking round, saw that the pool was slowly
rising, and the spot where they had landed the Bunyip was quite
covered. “What could it be?” they asked one of another; “there was not
a cloud in the sky, yet the water had risen higher already than they
had ever known it do before.” For an instant they stood watching as if
they were frozen, then they turned and ran with all their might, the
man with the Bunyip running faster than all. When he reached a high
peak over-looking all the plain he stopped to take breath, and turned
to see if he was safe yet. Safe! why only the tops of the trees
remained above that sea of water, and these were fast disappearing.
They must run fast indeed if they were to escape. So on they flew,
scarcely feeling the ground as they went, till they flung themselves on
the ground before the holes scooped out of the earth where they had all
been born. The old men were sitting in front, the children were
playing, and the women chattering together, when the little Bunyip fell
into their midst, and there was scarcely a child among them who did not
know that something terrible was upon them. “The water! the water!”
gasped one of the young men; and there it was, slowly but steadily
mounting the ridge itself. Parents and children clung together, as if
by that means they could drive back the advancing flood; and the youth
who had caused all this terrible catastrophe, seized his sweetheart,
and cried: “I will climb with you to the top of that tree, and there no
waters can reach us.” But, as he spoke, something cold touched him, and
quickly he glanced down at his feet. Then with a shudder he saw that
they were feet no longer, but bird’s claws. He looked at the girl he
was clasping, and beheld a great black bird standing at his side; he
turned to his friends, but a flock of great awkward flapping creatures
stood in their place He put up his hands to cover his face, but they
were no more hands, only the ends of wings; and when he tried to speak,
a noise such as he had never heard before seemed to come from his
throat, which had suddenly become narrow and slender. Already the water
had risen to his waist, and he found himself sitting easily upon it,
while its surface reflected back the image of a black swan, one of
many.
Never again did the swans become men; but they are still different from
other swans, for in the night-time those who listen can hear them talk
in a language that is certainly not swan’s language; and there are even
sounds of laughing and talking, unlike any noise made by the swans whom
we know.
The little Bunyip was carried home by its mother, and after that the
waters sank back to their own channels. The side of the pool where she
lives is always shunned by everyone, as nobody knows when she may
suddenly put out her head and draw him into her mighty jaws. But people
say that underneath the black waters of the pool she has a house filled
with beautiful things, such as mortals who dwell on the earth have no
idea of. Though how they know I cannot tell you, as nobody has ever
seen it.
[From Journal of Anthropological-Institute.]