forthwith to take the eggs. But at the very time when he was doing this the Emu returned to her nest. The Crow then commanded the Emu to go away. She refused to go away. The Crow then, very angry, took his spear and killed her. He carried away the eggs. His friends took the body of the dead Emu, and prepared to roast it for food. They cut the choicest pieces for the Crow, but he took only the head, which he carried up into a high tree, and there he talked to the head. He told the head all that was proper for an Emu to do in time of danger, when man threatened the Emu, and that an Emu could not save her eggs when any man wished to take them. All that was told by the Crow was heard by the Emu; and to this day the bird attempts not to defend its nest.
The Eagle, the Mopoke, and the Crow.
Many of the traditions of the Aborigines of the River Murray and of those of Gippsland are very similar in their outlines; but the Mopoke occupies a more prominent position in the stories of the Gippsland people than in the legends of the Murray tribes. The Murray blacks say that the Crow killed the son of the Eagle. This deed made the Eagle very angry; and, to be revenged, he dug a large hole, and made a trap, and carefully covered it up, so as, if possible, to catch his enemy. Attaching a string to his trap, he retired to a distance and waited. At length the Crow approached the trap, and entered it; the string was pulled, and he was caught. The Eagle killed the Crow. After a time the Crow came to life again and disappeared. The Gippsland people say that the Eagle left his son in charge of the Mopoke while he with his wives went to hunt kangaroos. The Mopoke put the young one in a bag, and sewed up the bag and left him. The Eagle during his hunting excursion became uneasy about his son, and finally returned to ascertain how he had been treated. When he came to know what had been done, he grew very angry. He at once made a search for the Mopoke, and found him, after some trouble, sitting in a tree. The Eagle, when he saw his enemy, used guile. He exhibited no anger. He spoke gently. He determined to kill him by subtlety. He slyly requested the Mopoke to go into a hole in the tree to look for an opossum. The Mopoke obeyed, but returned without any. He was told to go again, and he obeyed; and as soon as he was in the hole, the Eagle closed the hole, and made the Mopoke a prisoner. The Mopoke cried aloud when he found himself fastened up, and he used these words:—
| Wun-no | nat | jel-lowen | gnong-ona | wok-uk, | ||||
| When | I | cut | a hole | Mopoke, |
which means, "When will the Mopoke cut a hole?" He was determined to get out, and, finding all means fail him, he at length, in great sorrow, broke his leg and took out one of the bones, and very patiently bored a hole sufficiently large to creep through. He got free. Again the Eagle met him, and they spoke together, and the Eagle and the Mopoke made a solemn agreement and a treaty of peace. The conditions were as follows:—The Eagle was to
