The Mura-mura Makatakaba travelled all the time towards the south carrying the hot coals which he had got in the Wiluma country and in time reached the Macumba country, where he came to a camp of people who were rubbing up and eating paua from the seeds of one of the gum trees. He was hungry, and asked for some of the food; but they took no notice and laughed at him because he was nearly bald, with a long lock of hair hanging down behind, and had a small pointed beard. They also ordered him roughly away, and took no notice of his threats, when he said, "Do you think I have no wolkadra in my armpits?"
But they only shouted at him, "Yidni kutchi, yidni worana." Which means, "Are you a Kutchi? are you a Worana?" And they took up spears to throw at him.
The Mura-mura went sadly away with his finger on his lip, thinking of revenge. He did not go far away, but took a couple of coals out of his bag and set fire to the grass, saying to the flames, "Spread with great quickness." He put out the fire with his hands and went near to the camp again. There he took out more coals and again set the grass on fire, and in a moment he was standing in the midst of the flames. The people in the camp tried to escape, but the quickly-spreading fire burnt them all up.
The old Mura-mura went on from camp to camp, but the people were all unfriendly to him and made fun of his bald head, so he avenged himself by burning them up.
Notes by the Rev. O. Siebert.
Kadiwonkuru comes from kadiwaru, lizard.
Makatakaba means "fire" in Wonkanguru. The Yaurorka name for this old Mura-mura was Kadiwonkuru, and the Dieri called him Kadiwaru (lizard) or "the Kadiwaru." The name Makatakaba was given to him later when he burned up the Wonkanguru and Ngarabana in their camps. It is only the latter part of the legend that is known to these two tribes, and is sung at their ceremonies.
Wityguru-wimpa from wityguru, a whirlwind, and wimpa, a track.
Paua is food made from the seed of various plants. It is collected, cleaned, and stored away in pits, which are closed by a cover made of rushes and smeared on each side with clay to hold them together. The paua when taken out of the pits is placed in
