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One evening, Frog Man was hunting
ducks in the lagoon. He was standing in the water tying ducks
to his waistband and getting ready to wade back to his wife
on the bank when from the corner of his eye he suddenly saw
a great, grey looming shape. It was Bunyip. Frog Man started
splashing wildly to shore. His wife had also seen Bunyip and
frantically pulled her husband up from the water as he reached
her. But, as she did so, Bunyips long arm reached out and
his claws closed fast around her. Frog Man pulled at his wife,
but Bunyip tucked her under his arm, turned and disappeared
back into the lagoon. Frog Man desperately searched the darkening
waters, but he could find no trace of his wife.
At first light next morning,
he gathered some of his little creature frogs, tied them to
a long pole and stuck it into the mud as bait. The frogs thrashed
their arms and legs and croaked trying to free themselves
while Frog Man hid in the reeds with his spear. He set up
the pole again and again with fresh frogs when the others
stopped croaking and died. He never caught sight of Bunyip,
who always came to take the frogs at night when Frog Man could
no longer keep his eyes open from sleep.
Then, early one morning Frog
Man saw a huge shape part the mists of the lagoon and Bunyip
appeared, reaching out his claws to the pole of frogs. Behind
him, Frog Man could see his wife, her hair straggling across
her face, staring vacant-eyed. Frog Man hurled his spear deep
into Bunyips flesh and Bunyip groaned; then Frog man hurled
his throwing stick into one of Bunyips eyes. Bunyip howled
and turned, blundering back across the waters.
Come to me! Frog Man called
to his wife, but to his horror she took no notice of him,
turning instead to follow Bunyip across the misty waters.
Bunyip had cast a spell over her to bind her close to him.
Frog Man made after the pair, following them to the other
side of the lagoon, where Bunyip hauled himself up the bank
and climbed a gum tree, glaring down one-eyed from the top.
Frog Mans wife stood at the base of the tree as if frozen.
Frog Man called to her again: Come with me now. You are safe.
She put out her arms, but couldnt move. Frog Man took a step
towards her, but he froze too: he had stepped into the circle
of power which tied his wife to Bunyip.
Day turned to night, days and
weeks passed, and the seasons came and went. The petrified
bodies of Frog Man and his wife stood beside the lagoon like
stumps, arms outstretched to each other in longing. Above
them the single eye of Bunyip glared from the leaves of the
tree. Then one day a great storm came, blowing the tree down
and breaking the spell. Frog Man and his wife were at last
reunited.
Frog Mans descendants never
touched the little frogs again, leaving them for Bunyip to
eat, so the beast wouldnt molest them. And where the Murray
River now flows, it is said that the moon is the eye of Bunyip
that once stole the wife of Frog Man.
Adapted from
A.W. Reed, Aboriginal Fables (Sydney: A.H. & A.W.
Reed, 1965)
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