One afternoon, Mugra-ba, the black-breasted magpie, was grinding a grain of dunbar grass on a dey-url stone. He poured the flour into a bark virri. There was a fire nearby to bake cakes. Having prepared the flatbreads, Mugra-ba sang:
Mugra-ba lingo, go-oh, go-oh,
Mugra-ba lingo, go-oh, go-oh.
Every Daen, having heard this call, came and, having eaten, went to bed. When Mugra-ba was convinced that the dark-skinned people had fallen asleep, he went to his ham-pi hut, took the birra-ga spear, carefully returned and killed the sleeping ones. He was a cannibal, boiled his victims and ate them.
Uya the parrot and the little yellow-green parakeet Gigerigar were great virinoons. Having heard about the murders of Mugra, they decided to punish him. They told their families about this, and they shouted:
- You are virinuns! Kill him! Kill him! Burn it! Burn it!
Before setting off, Gigerigar painted himself yellow, put on a belt and attached to it on the sides, back and front, veiva, or pieces of marsupial rat skin. On his head he put on a white bandage called a nulu-gale, and on his forehead a garbei, or bandage of twisted possum sinew. Uya tied his hair in a wolla-bun-di, or knot, dyed his cheeks and chest red, and wore bandages on his head and forehead.
Each took a spear and a bundi. Approaching the Mugra-ba camp, they heard him singing:
- Come closer, come closer, I have nothing to eat. The parrots stayed put and waited. Both wives
The Mugras were hunting, and he sent his two children to see if the strangers were fat. When the children returned to their father, he asked:
-Are they fat?
“Yes, they are fat,” the children answered. Mugra-ba took the durri off the fire, took them and the children to the strangers and gave each of them three flatbreads. Uya and Gijerigar asked:
“Did you call us to give us these cakes?”
“Yes,” answered Mugra-ba, “eat them, they are delicious.” They took the cakes and ate two of them, leaving the third.
When they had eaten, Mugra-ba said:
- Now go to bed. You will get a headache if you don't sleep after eating. Lie down, lie down, one here and the other there,” and he pointed first to the right and then to the left.
They lay down, placing spears and bundis near them.
To dispel their suspicions, Mugra-ba also lay down, and soon they heard his loud snoring. They pulled bandages over their faces, pretending that they were also sleeping, but through the holes they watched Mugra-boy. Gigerigar touched Ui's leg with his toe, as if to say:
-Can you hear him snoring?
Mugra-ba did not notice this and thought that his guests had fallen asleep. After a while, he got up on all fours and looked at them carefully to make sure that they were really sleeping.
They saw that he was watching them, and first one and then the other began to snore. Their snoring became louder, and Mugra-ba decided that they were really sleeping. Then he got up and ran to his hut for a spear.
Gijerigar touched Ui's leg again and asked quietly:
-Are you awake?
“It’s okay, I see him,” Uya answered.
They looked towards the hut and saw Mugra-bu running with a spear in his hands. When he was within spear-throwing distance, they jumped up, grabbed their spears and shouted:
“So that’s what you’re doing, old man?” Is this how you trap the Daens? First you feed them, and then you kill them! We know everything about you, and now it's your turn.
Uya and Gijerigar threw spears at him, one pierced his side, the other his chest, and he fell. They ran up and hit Mugra-bu bundi on the head and face. After making sure he was dead, they returned and killed his two boys, dragging them and placing their bodies on top of their father's body.
Uya and Gijerigar consulted whether they should wait for both of his wives or go back. Uya said:
“Let’s wait for his wives and kill them too.” That's what they decided.
Seeing their wives returning, they hid in the hut. When the unsuspecting women approached and stopped to lower the gulai full of yams and fruits from their shoulders, two men jumped out, grabbed the women and hit them in the neck from behind. So both wives were killed.
Their bodies were placed on top of the others. Uya and Gijerigar brought wood and burned the bodies. Then they threw firewood and branches lying around on top of the burnt bodies, making a burial mound.
When they left, a bird flew out and sang:
Mugra-ba, go-ox, go-oh,
Mugra-ba, go-oh, go-oh.
It was the cannibal Mugra-ba in the form of a bird, black with coal and white with ashes, through which she made her way to get out from under the pile of firewood.
When Uya and Gijerigar returned to the camp, the Daens asked how things were.
“We killed everyone—a man, two women and two boys.”
Then everyone exclaimed joyfully:
- Well done! Well done!
Subsequently, Uya and Gijerigar themselves were turned into birds. The Uya genus of parrots has a crest and red spots on each side of the beak and on the chest - the same as Uya painted on himself when he was going to kill Mugra-bu. Among the green plumage of Gijerigar parrots you can see yellow stripes, the same as on the first Gijerigar on the day of the murder. But now, in the form of a bird, they do not answer the call that they often hear in the bush:
Mugra-ba, go-oh, go-oh,
Mugra-ba, go-oh, go-oh.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru