Kapiri said to him, "Do not turn round like that, you will rub off the paint." And as he said this he secretly rubbed off part of the pattern and ran away. Pirinti ran after him in great anger, but Kapiri was too nimble to be caught, so Pirinti shouted out to him not to dare to come into his ravine again, but to stay where the kulva grows, and Kapiri replied that in that case Pirinti must keep to the rocks and holes in the hills. Since that time there have been no Kapiri north of Oodnadatta, while at the Cooper, where the kulva grows, there are no Pirinti.
Notes by M. E. B. Howitt.
Kapiri and Pirinti are varieties of lizards.
Kulva is a hakea.
VII.—Markanyankula. a Legend of the Wonkanguru and Urabunna.
The Mura-mura Markanyankula lived in Antyritya with his wife and many children. He used to gather nardoo and clean it by shaking it in his bowl, so that the refuse separated, then he packed it in kangaroo and 'possum-skin bags, put these in a larger bag, and started off on his wanderings, carrying the burden on his head.
The first place he came to was Arufolkandu on the Macumba River, where there was a level piece of ground. He loosened this ground and scattered the nardoo seed on it, so that when rain came it might grow and the people have plenty of food and not suffer any hunger. He also scattered nardoo in another place, and travelling on, came to Utyia, where he saw two decrepit old women, and said to them, "Look round about when the rain falls." When rain fell they went out as the Mura-mura Markanyankula had told them and looked about. They found the two places where he had scattered seed, where it had made the whole country green; the fruit was not ripe, but the women ate it and became healthy and strong. When the seed was ripe they gathered it into heaps and had plenty of food when the dry barren time came again.
After telling the old women what to do, the Mura-mura went to Pandi, where a great number of men were collected to sing
