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Show PRETTY MYTHS OF BUSHMEN Real Poetry in Legends Handed Down Among the Aborigines of Australia. Fish were not always fish, and did not always stay under water, according accord-ing to the story of the blacks of the Australian bush. They say that fishes once lived on land and went hunting just as other people do. One day the fishes were gathered together in a camp near a river, the story goes. It was very cold, and the fishes were huddled around a fire trying try-ing to get warm. Suddenly a great wind came up and blew both the fishes and the fire into the water. The fishes just crowded around the fire under the waves and kept warm. That is how the fish first came to stay in rivers and streams, the bushmen say. Tin y add that the fire is still under the' water, wa-ter, and that Is why it is always warmer warm-er under water on a cold day than it is on land. They also say that the crow once owned all the fire there was on earth, and that he kept it in a has. One day it dropped from his bill and a sparrow hawk saw it fall. He dove after It and grabbed the bag. When he flew away the crow gave chase atul overtook him. The two birds foughr, and in the rnixup the fire fell out of the bag and set the grass and leaves ablaze. The crow tried in vain to prevent the spread of the flames by stamping on them and rolling in them, but the fire spread over the earth and everybody got some. To this day the crow is black from rolling on the. burned grass, they say. |