Extended Creation Story 1
Yidumduma shares a more detailed version of the Creation Story. The Story highlights when Nardi and Dungdung marry and teach the children the songs, dances, painting designs, law.... about caring for the land.... Rainbow Gorrondolmi brings the flood with the Creation Gujingga Song, jaliny-gi jaliny-gija, ngabarl ngabarla, gayirra jarlbanga.
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Transcript
The story that the old people told us...
No tree was in this country, no grass...
no rock...was just a dry land...
Now listen to the story they told us.
A group of us young ones sat around listening to the old people.
...the first person here was Gorrondolmi, who is the Rainbow,
the one that made the water in the sea.
... they call yi-goyogin, the salt water...
When he made it and was floating around... in the sea,
he met the Frog Lady Dungdung... the one that kept the earth strong.
She made the earth that we are walking on today.
Dungdung is the one that came out of the side of the earth.
She saw old Rainbow floating around in the water.
Dungdung went across and Rainbow asked,
"Where did you come from?"
Dungdung said, " I came from under the earth."
They sat down and started talking and they got married...
They sat down together and they had many children all underwater.
... all the fish people... sea turtle...everything in the salt water... all the fish... that's what they had...
... then old Dungdung walked out inland to dry herself out,
to have a look at some of these children.
They were sitting around and Nardi the Boss Man
came down from the sky and landed beside old Dungdung.
She asked him, "Where did you come from?"
Nardi said, "I come from the sky."
Nardi asked Dungdung, "Where did you come from?"
She said, "I came out of the side of the earth."
Then they sat down talking and they took a 'liking to' (married) one another.
Then Dungdung had two husbands,
she had old Rainbow and she had old Nardi.
Between Nardi and Dungdung, when they were together,
they decided to make up all the songs.
Nardi made up all the men's songs,
Dungdung made all the women's songs.
They made all the different designs,
they worked out all the different totems for everyone...
with the song.
With the song, they made all the different pigment.
They put all the earth together to make white pigment,
... called galyji.
They put all the earth together to make red ochre,
... called liwin.
They put all the earth together to become yellow from the song,
... called gilirringa.
They were working it out for the black one, making a song...
where the tree will grow with the bark...
called wumorrong... is a black charcoal.
Those two had lots of children, part of the Lightning People.
... the one that struck the land in this country.
They had lots of children, between Frog Lady and Nardi.
When they had grown up, they taught them to sing...
how they invented all the different tools, different plants,
how to eat, to sing the earth to make fruit grow...
They were decorating themselves on the body,
teaching all the songs and dancing...
men and women songs, bringing them together...
Everybody was singing and dancing and the old lady Dungdung
took the girls out to a different place (from the boys),
made all the woman's law, women's ceremony.
Nardi was taking all the male out, teaching them about the male ceremony,
song, the law, to understand, to pay attention, to recognize, caring for country...
They showed them how to put it together.
They said, "You have to have two separate laws, two strong law.'"
"Women's law have to be separate, no men go there."
"Men's law has to be separate, no women go there.'"
They made another story with the song, all the men and women come together,
that makes everybody happy.
They made the song and the story where everybody has to trade...
for marriages,...when the children are born, grown up.
"You have to follow your totem from your father"...
"You follow a little bit from your mother"
That's what they said.
They were putting everything together...and doing a lot dancing.
... they were very happy.
... they were making a lot of noise in this country.
Rainbow could hear all this noise, he stood up, had a look,
he saw many people walking around inland.
Then Rainbow came across and said to old Dungdung,
"Why are doing this, having all the children inland?"
"We are supposed to have everybody underwater."
Dungdung said, "No, we got to have two separate lots."
"One lot in the water, one lot inland."
Rainbow said, "No, we got to have everybody underwater.'"
"I'll go back and bring the water across the country"...
So Rainbow Gorrondolmi went back and he sang this big spiritual song,
we call yarrindi.
He sang and made the water rise.
The water came right over in this country, there was a big flood here ...
buried everything.
They call that ngabarl ngabarl was here.
... they made a song for it ...
wet muddy land, water flashing with ripple waves, splashing and walking in shallow water.
jaliny-gi jaliny-gija, ngabarl ngabarla, gayirra jarlbanga
They sang that song.
Jaliny-gi jaliny-gija means, wet muddy land.
Gayirra jarlbanga means, it was very shallow.
Ngabarl ngabarla means, when the water was flashing
and the water was rising with a little wave.
