Bahloo the Moon and the Daens

As recorded by Katie Langloh Parker (1897)

From the Eulayhi people of northwestern New South Wales.

Bahloo, the moon-man looked, down at the earth one night, when his light was shining quite brightly, to see if any one was moving. When the earth people were all asleep was the time he chose for playing with his three dogs. He called them dogs, but the earth people called them snakes, the death adder, the black snake, and the tiger snake.

As he looked down on to the earth, with his three dogs beside him, Bahloo saw about a dozen daens, or people, crossing a Creek. He called to them saying, "Stop! I want you to carry my dogs across that creek."

But the people, though they liked Bahloo well, did not like his dogs, for sometimes when he had brought these dogs to play on the earth, they had bitten not only the earth dogs but their masters; and the poison left by the bites had killed those bitten.

So the people said, "No, Bahloo, we are too frightened! Your dogs might bite us. They are not like our dogs, whose bite would not kill us."

Bahloo, the moon man. Image from scienceillustrated.com.au.

Bahloo said, "If you do what I ask you, when you die you shall come to life again, not die and stay always where you are put when you are dead. See this piece of bark. I throw it into the water."

And he threw a piece of bark into the creek. "See it comes to the top again and floats. That is what would happen to you if you would do what I ask you: first under when you die, then up again at once." 

"If you will not take my dogs over, you foolish daens, you will die like this," and he threw a stone into the creek, which sank to the bottom.

"You will be like that stone, never rise again, Wombah deans!"

But the people said, "We cannot do it, Bahloo. We are too frightened of your dogs."

"I will come down and carry them over myself to show you that they are quite safe and harmless."

And down he came, the black snake coiled round one arm, the tiger snake round the other, and the death adder on his shoulder, coiled towards his neck. He carried them over. 

When he had crossed the creek he picked up a big stone, and he threw it into the water, saying "Now, you cowardly daens, you would not do what I, Bahloo, asked you to do, and so forever you have lost the chance of rising again after you die. You will just stay where you are put, like that stone does under the water, and grow, as it does, to be part of the earth."

"If you had done what I asked you, you could have died as often as I die, and have come to life as often as I come to life. But now you will only be people while you live, and bones when you are dead."

Bahloo's "dogs" (snakes). Pictured is the death adder. Image from dangerous-snake-pics1.blogspot.com.au

Bahloo looked so cross, and the three snakes hissed so fiercely, that the people were very glad to see them disappear from their sight behind the trees.

The people had always been frightened of Bahloo's dogs, and now they hated them, and they said, "If we could get them away from Bahloo we would kill them."

And thenceforth, whenever they saw a snake alone they killed it.

But Babloo only sent more, for he said, "As long as there are people there shall be snakes to remind them that they would not do what I asked them."