Mabel Juli

Gija Language Group

"Karrngin Ngarrankarni"

120 x 45cm

Ref No: WAC33304

sOLD

In the Ngarrankarni (Dreaming) Karrngin, the moon was a man. One day Karrngin came back from hunting kangaroo and saw a girl sitting with her mother. She was very beautiful with long black hair and he fell in love with her instantly. This woman was Darwool, the black-headed snake. She was also Karrngin's mother-in-law and so it was taboo for him to marry her.

When the old people asked him 'Who do you want for a wife?' he answered 'Doyen, doyen' (that one, that one) pointing to Darwool.

But they said 'No, no, she's your mother-in-law you must marry one of these promised girls, these Nyawanas - Darwool's daughters.'

Again they asked him who he wanted to marry and he once more said 'doyen, doyen'. The people then told him 'You must go away.'

Angrily he left and walked some distance before he sat down on top of a hill. He cursed the people crying out 'Nungai budenarr (you mob die) ngyammon mullin ngynbingin (only I will live forever). Today, you can see him every month as the new moon, he comes back to life at this time.