When someone insulted the daen Varrunna, he left his hunting grounds and wandered.
One night when he undertook this journey, it was raining heavily. The next morning he saw many fallen leaves. “There must be possums here,” he thought and pointed his stick at the nearest hollow tree. He found the opossum and went to the fire for coals. By throwing coals into hollow trees, he made all the possums jump out. Then they started shouting:
- Neya-ler Naddu-veygi. I'm a spirit possum.
Varrunna realized that these were Naddu-weigs - spirits who took the form of possums. They had wings and long claws. They jumped out and flew towards him. Fortunately, he himself was a virinun and could turn into his spirit - the bustard Gumble-gabbon. In the form of a bustard, he flew away from danger, and then returned to his usual form.
He barely had time to do this when he saw a very strange man - without eyes, with a forehead in the shape of an ax. His name was Nalu-yuun-du. He cut with his forehead like an axe, and did not have to carry an ax with him. His eyes were replaced by a nose.
He seemed friendly, gave Warrunna a wirri bark cup filled with fresh honey, and invited him to sit with him. But Varrunna did not like his axe-like forehead. Moreover, he could not understand when Nalu-yuun-du looked at him. Therefore, Warrunna said that he was very sorry, but he must hurry to his children who remained in the bush, and promised to return later. Taking the honey, he quickly left.
Then he saw an anteater running towards him. He carried the other on his back and shouted: “Go-oh, go-oh, go-oh!”, which meant: “Come.” The anteater said he had brought his brother to Warrunna for lunch and hoped he would stay and eat. Warrunna never refused food. He took the anteater, but said that his children were not far away and he must go and bring them.
Varrunna left, but instead of returning, he hid, ate well and fell asleep. But one of his ears was awake. He wanted to hear if the anteater was following him and leave.
Having rested, he moved on. Not far away he saw the month Balu, shaking off caterpillars from a bira tree. Warrunna walked over and watched him, hoping to get some caterpillars.
Baloo shook the tree, then turned and pressed his back against it. The tree collapsed, harming Baloo and scattering caterpillars all around. Baloo began to collect them, but, noticing the hungry Varrunna, he ordered him to come up and also collect the caterpillars, which Varrunna hurried to do. Having collected as many caterpillars as he could carry, Warrunna said that he must go to his children and feed them.
-Where are they? - asked Baloo.
“Not far,” answered Varrunna.
“Then bring them and let them eat here.” There are enough caterpillars for everyone.
Varrunna hurried away with the delicious food he had received and, having retired to a safe distance, ate it with pleasure, rejoicing that he had no children and did not have to share with anyone.
Having rested, he went further and came to a country where there were many flies and mosquitoes of such a size that he had never seen. He broke a branch and drove them away as best he could, but despite this, they settled on him in clouds, and he wondered if anyone could live in this country. At this time, he saw strange objects moving in front of him. They looked like stumps overgrown with leaves—their trunks were covered with bark, and tufts of branches with leaves grew at the top and bottom.
As they came closer, Warrunna saw that they were people. Their eyes peered through holes in the bark that covered their faces. He thought that they had disguised themselves to protect themselves from flies and mosquitoes. They looked so strange that Varrunna became frightened and shouted:
- Balga-nannu! Balga-nannu! Short-backed ones! Ko-rospinnye!
Warrunna turned into his spirit Gumble-gabbon and flew away from this country, trying to leave it as quickly as possible. Having flown away, he lowered himself and took on his usual appearance.
The next ones he saw were emus without feathers and with them a toothless man, nicknamed Irra-dibu-la for this. This time Varrunna was really very tired and willingly accepted the toothless man's offer to rest with him and eat.
At night he was awakened by a strong blow. It was Irra-dibu-la who knocked out his front teeth.
“Now you will forever become my brother, because you, like me, have no teeth.” “You will stay here forever and be my comrade,” said Irra-dibu-la, smiling.
Seeing emus without feathers around, Varrunna agreed, but at the same time thought that he would leave at the first opportunity.
The next day, Irra-dibu-la invited Varrunna to go hunting with them, but he refused. Warrunna said his mouth hurt and he wanted to stay and sleep. When Irra-dibu-la and the emu were out of sight, Warrunna went in another direction and was already far away when they discovered it.
Soon he met a new tribe called the Billu. These people were similar to other dark-skinned people, only their legs resembled those of a hawk. The Billu were kind to Warrunna and gave him as many emu eggs as he could eat. Having had his fill, he said that he must return to his children.
-Where are they? - Billa was asked.
“Not far away, in the bushes,” answered Varrunna.
“They are probably hungry, just like you,” they told Bill. “Take the eggs, feed them and bring them here.”
Varrunna took as many eggs as he could carry and left, glad that he had escaped them so easily. Their legs showed that the Billu were too strange a tribe for him to stay with them.
By this time he had seen so many strange people and was so tired that he decided to return to his tribe. But he was afraid to retrace his steps for fear of meeting those from whom he had hidden, and decided to take a roundabout route. But even here he met strange tribes.
First he came to the place where he had once met the seven Mea-mei sisters, two of whom he kidnapped. True, they ran away from him when he sent them for bark. With a cry: “Birral! Birral! - They hit two pine trees with axes. These pines were their relatives and, hearing a cry for help, helped the girls escape from Warrunna. Clinging to the trunks, the girls rose with the pines until their top branches touched the sky, where the two girls found their sisters waiting for them. They are still there.
Warrunna went on and walked until he found himself at pools of clean water. Bending down to the water to drink, he saw several dwarfs walking along the bottom and catching fish. They were blind and did not see Warrunna, but they heard the sound of his steps and shouted:
- Where are you? Who are you?
Varrunna did not answer and quickly walked away.
Then he saw a tribe of frogs called Ban-yun Ban-yun. They say that these frogs, on the orders of Birra-nulu, purify the water during floods. When Warrunna came to their country, a flood began. By throwing hot stones into the water, the frogs cleaned it. Then they began to throw hundreds of sticks into the water, which turned into various fish as soon as they touched the water. This was the last strange tribe that Varrunna met as he walked back.
Night after night he told the people of his tribe, sitting around the fires, about everything he had seen. One old Virinun shook his head and said:
- Yes, yes. Here we go, here we go.
When Varrunna finished the story, the old man told how in ancient times one Virinun went to heaven to look for the greatest of all - Baiame. He saw what Warrunna had seen, and found Baiame, who paid no attention to him and appeared to be sleeping with his eyes open. When Wirinun returned, he warned his tribe that they should never do what he had done, since all these dangers were deliberately placed in the path of those who dared to go to Baiama before the time allotted to them.
Varrunna listened to all this and decided that he too would someday accomplish what the Virinun of yesteryear had done. What happened to him at this time is told in the legend of black swans.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru