A long time ago, the people had been without meat for too long.
A man and his son travelled a long way, to country they had never been to before looking for meat. People used to stay away from that country because they said a giant water snake lived there.
The man and his son travelled a long way through spinifex country and beside hills.
In the evening they came upon some big hills and they climbed up the rocks. All of a sudden a big wind sprung up and a giant water snake was upon them, knocking over trees and rocks!
The two frightened men fled further West. They climbed down to the bottom of the hill and set up camp, because they were very tired from all that running. They soon fell asleep by the fire.
They had only been asleep a little while when they heard a voice like the wind.
The monster water snake had found them sleeping.
"Make a big fire" the father said.
But the giant snake rose higher and higher, and the father and son once again fled, this time to the East through the gap in the hills.
They had gone a long way when the father grew tired, and again they built a fire to warm them from the cold, and lay down to sleep.
They were sound asleep when a big wind started howling.
The son woke and he saw the giant water snake close by. He tried to warn his father but he was too frightened to move. He picked up a stick and started lighting fires everywhere.
The giant water snake was rising high in the sky as the father shouted 'Make a bigger fire!' but the water snake just got bigger and bigger.
Again the men fled, frightened the snake would kill them. As they fled the snake sank slowly back into its waterhole.
The father and son ran East again, over the hills and through the spinifex. All through the night they ran, arriving back at the camp in the morning light.
Still shaking with fear the son told the people what they had seen; 'A giant water snake tried to kill us!'
The two men's wives came to see what was going on.
'Why have you returned looking so frightened and with no meat? ' they asked.
'There is a huge water snake living in that country and it's trying to kill us!' they said.
After hearing the story the women said to the other people, 'Let's leave this place, let's head East, away from that giant water snake.'
So the people got ready to leave, and in the evening when it was cool they set off. When it was dark they looked to the hills and could see that giant water snake burning like fire.
The people said, 'Oh it was true what you said, the giant water snake is coming out of the waterhole. We would have died if we had stayed there. That country belongs to the giant water snake.'
So the people kept going, and they found another place in the East. They stayed camping in the East forever and went hunting for meat where there was no giant water snake.
About Jukurrpa Stories
Jukurrpa Stories are produced at PAW Media, an Indigenous media organisation in the remote community of Yuendumu, NT. Stories are developed at the Billingual Resource Development Unit in Yuendumu, along with other Warlpiri language teaching resources.
Voiced by: Esau Japanangka Marshall
Recording and Sound Design: Esau Japanangka Marshall
Story: June Napanagardi, Tess Napaljarrirli, Helen Napurrurlarlu
Podcast tile image: Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming), Jeanie Napangardi Lewis, Warlukurlangu Artists
