Catfish got up at the place Muluwa and set off in this direction. He went along, he left some awful thing (monster?) behind. He got up and left. The tide took them (the Catfish people) along, it was coming back out.

Note: The catfish species in question is a fork-tailed (not eel-tailed) type, Hexanematichthys ?leptaspis. The most common term is nan^guru, which is also the name of the narrator (a member of the mambali-semimoiety group, originally Warndarang-speaking, based at the place Wanmari, and called n^galmiyarajara by the Nunggubuyu). The narrator begins with the NA class forms for 'catfish', as appropriate, but then shifts to Pl.

They went along, looking back over their shoulders. (They said,) "We are going far away. This is just saltwater. It (the tide) is coming back in." It (the tide) wentout, it took them back. There (they saw) some dugong grass (a kind of flat sea-grass eaten by dugong). They sang its song.

Note: Brief encounters with various plant and animal species are typical of this kind of myth (dealing with cult totemic beings associated with circumcision and/or mortuary rituals). When the Catfish group sings a song for a given species, they are creating a portion of the ritual that is still performed by living Aboriginals. Indeed, in conjunction with recording these narratives I also recorded much of the non-secret singing (in Warndarang and Mara).

They went along. They saw a marine catfish (fork-tailed, perhaps Netuma thalassina). They saw it and sang its song. They went along. They looked and there (they saw) it floating along, a flatback turtle. They sang its song. They looked and there was a perchlet. They sang its song.

Note: Johnnie guessed wrong in anticipating the noun class of yirdhi as N^gARA, then uses the correct NA class forms.I do not understand the final word. Johnnie gave the Mara equivalent as dajur+u-mindini, but I do not have dajur in my Mara vocabulary.

They looked, and there was a coconut floating past. They sang its song. They looked: there was a jellyfish. They saw it. Catfish sang the song of jellyfish. The tide went back out, driving them along. They went along.

They looked back. "Yes, we have left the Wadiri people behind!" They sang the song for them (the Wadiri): "rajuwanbaga..." They did that, they performed the circumcision song cycle. They left them (the Wadiri) behind and went along. Some dugong grass floated past. (They sang:) "majamaja, gandurugandu, buluyuruyuru..." They sang its song. They went along. It (the tide) carried them along behind it.

Note: The Wadiri, also known as Yanyula (Anyuwa, etc.), are an ethnolinguistic group ('tribe') now living mainly at Borroloola community, and were originally concentrated on the Gulf coast near Borroloola and on the offshore islands there; the Mara and Warndarang separate them from the Nunggubuyu. The mythical events narrated in this text begin with the departure of the Catfish beings from the Wadiri region and end in Warndarang country; they briefly skirt past coastal Nunggubuyu territory on the way.

They looked (and saw) a green turtle floating along. They saw it and sang its song. They went along and saw something, whatchamacallit, not an island--the mainland, solid ground. They sang for it, that mainland. Then they came this way, northward. The tide drove them along.

* ANA_der- prefix /uG-/ plus rulbu 'back(bone)'.

** Compounding initial /aG-/ 'ground' plus wadbir 'dry'

They said to each other, "The tide is going. We will go along quickly." They went along. There, they saw it (tern). They sang: "girigigiwu, n^galn^galanguyi." They went along, they saw a flatback turtle floating past. There, they did that. Who are those people coming here? They saw it, the flatback turtle. They went along, they saw whatchamacallit.

Note: The sentence "Who are those people coming here? has nothing to do with the narration. As we were recording the text a couple of people walked by, and Johnnie broke away from the narrative to ask me who it was.

(They said,) "Hey! The tide is going in. Where will we go?" The tide took them along, floating, as it came in, westward. They said, "This place is Wulumin^ygira." They went along to the north. The tide was going hack out. They saw the place Magala:ba (Bickerton Island). "This place is Bickerton, Magala:ba." The tide came in, driving them westward.

Then whatchamacallit, this (place). From the east the tide came in and drove them along, it carried them powerfully, deep (into the land), toward the country. (They said,) "This place is Wubiringin^ya. Hey! Where is the place Majandula? Maybe that is it over there, we are heading for it."

They went along and saw another place. "This is Wuluminjira, we are approaching Wuluminjira." They all stopped and looked. Over there was Majandula. "Hey you! Coming up here is an island, what is it? Maybe Majandula." They went along and they all stopped there. "This is Majandula, we have arrived."

Again the tide came in and made them float. They went along. (One of them said to the others,) "Hey! What place is this?" (The others said,) "That is Wuban^gidiyu. This is Wuban^gidiyu, isn't it?" Then the tide went back this way. They went along. "Hey, that place is Wuluminjira. Isn't it? That whatchamacallit is there, we are heading for it." "Yes!"

They saw Green Turtle and sang for it. (Turtle asked them,) "Who are you?" "This is us, Catfish people. It is us, we are going." "Where are you going?" (The Catfish answered,) "We are going to Wanmari and Burunju. And where are you going?" (The Turtles answered,) "We will go up onto the dry land at Wuyagiba, we will do that (and go) to Wanmari and Burunju." (The Catfish said,) "Really?" They got up and continued going.

They went along and went onto the land at Mayanjiyanji. They looked (and saw) some devils. It (a devil) saw them. (The devil said to the other devils,) "Over there! Some people! These people have come from the south, from Muluwa." It said that, it saw them (Catfish people) and called out to them, "Hey! Who are you?" It went along there. (One of the Catfish people said to the others,) "Hey! There is someone over there, it shouted. Here come some people." They went. Who is that man?

Note: The "Who is that man?" at the end has nothing to do with the story; someone went past us on a motorcycle during the recording session.The term badirin^ya 'devil, ghost' (see texts 8 and 9) can he applied loosely to Dreamtime 'people' who are not specifically associated with particular animal species. Here both the Catfish people and the new group of 'devils' are referred to as wuruj 'human(s)'. 'Devil' can take either WARA or ANA class agreement for the singular; verb forms like wan^ggu=na-n^y 'it (devil) saw them (Catfish people)' above clearly have ANA; I am not sure whether wara-badirin^ya (last line of preceding page) is a specifically Pl form here or just a variant of ANA class ana-badirin^ya. I should add that in texts like this where several groups (e.g. Catfish people) are involved and in which each group consists of a set of homogeneous, undifferentiated individuals, the distinction between Sg and Pl is often blurred morphologically.

* An unusual reduplicated punctual (Past₁) verb. As it stands the prefix appears to be ANA_a /wu-/ rather than 3Pl or WARA /wuru-/, although the latter would be more correct. Two lines up is wu-wadi-n^y, which should be wa:='di-n^y

(A devil said,) "There are people here. You all, where are you going?" (Catfish people said,) "To Burunju and Wanmari." (The devil said,) "Is that so?" They (Catfish) went up on the shore at Wuyagiba. They left it (Wuyagiba) behind. (The devil said,) "Goodbye! You go!" (Catfish people said to him,) "Where will you be?" There he goes now! (The devil answered,) "I am staying here. "Is that so?" "Goodbye!"

Note: "There he goes now!" is another extraneous comment on the motorcycle rider going past.

They (Catfish people) said that to the devil. They went along. What the heck is the name of that place? They went onto the land, what the heck is its name? From Wuyagiba they came along this way, like that. They went (and stopped at) Wuyimaragu. They floated along there, like that. They did that at Mawuradgu, at Awunbunji, at Amala.

Then they headed for (a place,) whatchamacallit? (They said,) "Hey! What is this place? It is Yiyandawaj." They said that at Yiyandawaj. They did it at Awunbunji. They hit it (solid ground). They left behind their dugout canoes (and proceeded on foot). There was solid ground. "We are going this way," they said. They did that at Wulgu. "I call this place Wulgu. There are some people of the Murun^gun clan over that way (not far away) so we will go this way."

Note: The Murun^gun people referred to are the Ngandi-speaking Nun^yjirpi clan who belong to the Murun^gun semimoiety (a constellation of clans of the Mandha:yun^g moiety cutting across 'tribal' boundaries in the region). The Catfish people are of the Mamba:li semimoiety, which (in Nunggubuyu terms) is the other semimoiety within the Mandha:yun^g patrilineal moiety. The Catfish people are trying to avoid running into the Murun^gun. The specific place near Wulgu where the Murun^gun (Nun^yjirpi) were staying was N^gunan^yin, as Johnnie told me later.

* /aG-/ 'ground' (not ANA_p prefix a-) plus wadawadad 'strong'

They changed direction, this way. They went along (and stopped at) Gungunja. This place Gungunja, (and) Yiriwiriyi, (and) Ma:labiri, this place which stretches out flat to the horizon, Yiriwiriyi. That place is Abanaraya." They went along. "Hey! That place is Abanaraya." They went along. Here was the place Walan^galba. They went along.

There they (Catfish people) saw some young, uncircumcised boys (of their own Mamba:li semimoiety). (They boys asked them,) "Where are you all going?" "To Wanmari. (And) you?" (They boys said,) "We are staying here." "Is that so?" They said that. They (Catfish people) stopped there, at Wanmari. "No! We are going over there, to Burunju. All right!" There the file snake spoke to them, "You yourselves (should stay at Burunju)." On the other hand, Green Turtle went back, along this way, to the beach at Wuyagiba.

They (Catfish people) shouted to him (Green Turtle). Along here, in the throat, he was jabbed by blades of a sharp grass (Imperata cylindrica). He hit it (i.e. broke it off) and tried to eat it. Along here, in the throat, it jabbed him. "Where is it? Along here, in the throat, it has jabbed me. That grass (Imperata) is no good! I ate it, but now I am going back (to the coast)! I am going back to the beach, to Wuyagiba!" (Catfish people said,) "Yes! Go (that way)! Just we will go along."

Note: Green Turtle has been accompanying the Catfish people during the latter part of their travels. At Wanmari, Green Turtle (accustomed to soft seaweeds and sea-grasses) tries to eat a conspicuously sharp-bladed grass, Imperata, with predictable unfavorable results. Green Turtle then returns hastily to his coastal habitats, while the Catfish people continue to Burunju.

They went along (and stopped at) a billabong. They stopped together and spent the night there. (Next day:) "Let's go this way, like this! All right!" They went along. They did it at this whatchamacallit place, what is its name? They call it that, like that, Warajal. This place is Warajal, there is white clay (for body painting) there. They left it there, white clay, and some trees.

Then from Warajal they came this way, heading for it (Burunju). They went along, and there was a billabong. They looked ahead. "Coming up here are stone (hills), there! That must be Burunju." They went along. There was a wide river there. They went along.

They all went along. This place was Burunju. They looked back, like that. They stopped. "Here we will stay. That is all," they said. This place, Burunju. "Is that so?" Look at N^galagin^yi coming this way! Burunju. Yes! There they stayed, at Burunju. That is all.

Note: "Look at N^galagin^gi coming this way!" is another extraneous comment as the man by this name came toward us.(N^galagin^yi, incidentally, was my Anindhilyagwa informant.)