The place N^gambalbalu. Similar to the place Ramalgaruj, Crow (was there). Meat Ant was at N^gambalbalu. That place Ran^yjirij, that river N^gambalbalu.

She (Meat Ant) was killing fish. She had her camp there, in that rainforest area, at N^gambalbalu. She was there, killing fish-- perchlets, all kinds of fish.

He, her husband, had left her. He went that way. (They) had a small baby. He (the husband) had begotten a daughter. She (Meat Ant) had borne her. She (Meat Ant) stayed there in the camp, she took care of her (the baby).

She put (armband, manba) on her (daughter's) arms. She did that, and wrapped (string belt, bu:dhun^g) around her head. She put (string belt) around her waist. Then she (the daughter) stayed there, beautiful (i.e. with splendid decorations).

Then Meat Ant went that way, to (get some) fish. Her daughter continued to stay there (at the camp).

As for them (two men), they came (onto the mainland) for drinking water. Silver Gull and Swamp Pheasant. They came from that way and speared a green turtle. They butchered it over on that side. Whatchamacallit, they tied up their stringybark canoe.

Note: The two men had come from somewhere distant and had been hunting in a canoe in the Gulf near the camp of Meat Ant.

They went looking (on the mainland) for drinking water. They looked, and there they saw her (the daughter). (Young Meat Ant, the daughter, said,) "Oh dear! There are people here!" (They said to her,) "Where are you from?" (i.e. her clan affiliation, etc.) (She said,) "My mother is here with me, but she went that way and get some fish." Meat Ant (the daughter) said that.

* Based on yan^gi-mayi 'what country?' from yan^gi 'what?'. To this is added Gentilic /nuN-/ to give nun^y-jan^gi-mayi 'person of what country?', and 2Sg_a prefix /nuN-/ at the beginning. This form is a common question used to establish the social identity of a stranger

After that Silver Gull and Swamp Pheasant grabbed her. They (the two men) were both of the Yirija moiety, while she was of the Mandha:yun^g moiety, Meat Ant.

Note: The point is that the men were not in the proper relationship to the young Meat Ant to legitimately marry her. The fact that there are in opposite moieties by itself would favor their marriage, but as Laran^gana explains in the next segment their specific kin relationships are not proper.

And they (the two men) called her mother-in-law (a taboo relationship in which contact of any kind is forbidden). They were like those people (at Numbulwar) of the Yirija moiety. They (the two meat ant people) were like that, a Mandha:yun^g pair, but they (the two men) were Yirija. They were wrong, not (proper).

Note: Laran^gana's explanation here is somewhat confused and not fully articulate, but the gist of it is that the two men were not in the proper kinship relation to the meat ant girl to have legitimate sexual relations with her.

They (the two men) went along, they took her that way. Back where the green turtle (whom they had killed and butchered) was, (where) they put it (the canoe). They put her in.

She (the meat ant mother) came along looking for her (the daughter). "I wonder where she went? Where did she go, huh?" She rushed along this way and that, on foot.

She (mother meat ant) looked. She went along with her feet doing like this. (Then she saw them.) One of them was there, the other there, the two men, Swamp Pheasant and Silver Gull.

Note: The deictic forms glossed 'there he comes', in this context, mean 'there he is (was)' with the specification that Meat Ant is moving toward them.

They had gotten (kidnapped) and carried away (the daughter). She (the mother) looked for her. They had put her (the daughter) in (the canoe). Then she (the mother) came running along, holding a yamstick (sharp digging stick).

They were all along there. She (the mother) came out and landed on the ground (after leaping). They (the two men with the young Meat Ant) were paddling along out of her reach. She shouted, "Hey! Come here! Come onto the shore! Come here! Bring her to me, that (girl)!"

They paddled along that way, (in) the hark canoe. A canoe made from stringybark, they had made it. They built it, the old people (now dead).

Note: Until a few decades ago the Nunggubuyu made simple canoes from strips of bark from the stringybark tree, Eucalyptus tetradonta. In recent times, more durable dugout canoes (mana-ran^gag) have been used; they were introduced by the Macassans.

They paddled. They put her (the daughter) in. Gull and Pheasant paddled along there, to the island of Minindhiri and the island of Riljiwulun^ga. They stayed there, their camp was there.

They (the two men, with young Meat Ant) paddled along, they kept paddling. (The mother, back on the shore, shouted,) "Hey! Gome back! Bring her to me, that girl!" (But they said,) "No!" (The mother shouted,) "Oh dear!"

* The stem is /=yura-/, not /=jura-/

They were still paddling, they were (going) over that way. They took her (the daughter) away. (The mother, still on shore, shouted,) "Oh! Look, my daughter!" But the daughter was not looking. She (the mother) called out again once, "Hey! Look!"

Note: The mother_i wants her daughter_j to see her_i stabbing her_i own eyes (see next segment).

* From bu-gu-nu:-' 'to there', normally an adverbial noun without pronominal prefixes, but here with 3MDu_a wini-.

** /malG-/ 'times' plus an^yja:bugij 'one'

She (the daughter) looked like this (at her mother). Then suddenly she (her mother) jabbed at her own eyes. Here, in the eyes, she hurt herself (with the point of the yamstick). She died. There is one stone here, and another over here (representing the two men), that is a dreaming (totemic site). Also over there she (mother Meat Ant) is standing in the form of a stone. That is all.