Speaking, Talking, Telling

Spoken Language and Text Corpora

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Maggie Tukumba: Korlomomo and Berrerdberrerd

Maggie Tukumba is telling the story of Korlomomo and Berrerdberrerd, the crocodile and the rainbow bee eater.

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nunh --
that --
nunh ru:l kahnunh
that custom (of cooking meat with fire)
dubmi korlomomo ngurra-marnu-wey,
we would have been following the crocodile's way now
ngurra-ye-marnû-wey kanunh rul-no kaye-yungi korlomomo
it's that way which we would be following, which the crocodile laid down
nunh manjh ngong
like any sort of meat
njerrh-no ngurra-h-ngu-y
we would have eaten it raw
djenj
or fish
munguhdjam
or whatever
nunh mak --
we wouldn't --
nunh mak ngurra-kinji
we wouldn't have cooked it
kurlba-no-dorrungh ngurra-h-ngu-y njerrh-no ngurrah-dja-nguy
but would have eaten it dripping with blood, we would still just be eating (meat) raw
bah --
but --
walu-no ngorr kah-marnû-yunj kanunh
but (Rainbow Bee Eater) made that (new) way for us
berrerdberrerd-yih
Rainbow Bee Eater
kanh lad bukah-yeme-y
he snatched away the firestick from him (Crocodile)
dubmi mah ngarrah-dja-yongi
and we would still be living
wah-kah
in the water
nunh --
that --
nunda kah-yin ngarra-dulhmun
like now (in this season) we’re cold
nunh mak ngarra-dulhmini nunh ngarrah-njimini
but we wouldn’t be cold and we’d go in
wah-kah ngarrah-yongi yirrhwalûng
and live under the water
ka-rreh-barrhbuyi munu ngarrah- --
and when the new day would break we would just
ngarrah- --
we --
ngarrah-boni berrh-kah manjh, kung werrh ngurrah-yawey ngurrah-nguy mey berrh-kah
we would just go out of the water to look for animals, or honey, or ??, we would eat food in a dry place, out of the water
ngarrah-yawoyh-dudjmi ngarrah-daddangi
and (then) gone back under the water
yirrhwalûng wah-kah
under the water
kanihdja wadda ngurrah-buy
we would have stayed there
ngarrah-yongi
lived there
bah rul kanh bûkah-marnû-yunj kanh berrerdberrerd-yih
but he put that custom of his there (of the crocodile’s, i.e. of cooking food) when Rainbow Bee Eater
bûkah-yemey
snatched it from him
kanh berrerdberrerd-yi rul ngorr kah-marnû-yunj
that Rainbow Bee Eater established that custom for us
lad bûkah-yemey
he snatched the firestick from him
lad kanh ka-yidjnjaninj kanh korlomomo-yih
the firestick that the crocodile was holding onto
ngorr kah-balan-darahminj
he (crocodile) nearly managed to keep it from us
bah berrerdberrerd kah-dja-bo:ng bûkah-dja -- bûkah-dja-m --
but rainbow bird just dived (went) down and he.. he just
men-werreminj bûkah-dja-marnû-kedjakmi:nj dord bûkah-marnû-naninj
won him over, he just kept coming to him over and over, he groomed him for lice
bûkah-dolku-boyoboyohminj ka-njengu-yo dord bûkah-marnû-naninj, kenbo kah-dja-lng- --
he rubbed his back, he groomed him for lice while he was asleep, then he --
kah-nang kah-wulubminj ka-h-lng-njengu-donj
he saw that now he was fast asleep under the water
kanunh lad
the firestick
yerrerd! bûkah-warnu-mey
he snatched it off him
berrerdberrerdberrerdberrerdberrerd: bûkah-marnû-yininj bûkah-marnû-ye-dolkang nahda --
and called out Berrerdberrerdberrerdberrerd to him, as he flew
bilinjdjibbilinjdji karrh
way up into the sky taking it up away from him
kah-lng-mayahminj ka-warrabbaminj kah-kabarrHminj kah-kabarrHminj kahkeno korrehkun
then (crocodile) couldn’t work out what had happened, he staggered around groping about with his hands (for the firestick) but nothing
bûkahlng-marnû-ye-komhminj kah-yininj
(Rainbow Bee Eater) had already taken it away from him.
yelûng bonj kanunh rul kanh ngurrahlng-marnu-wan kanh berrerdberrerd
he made it so we would follow (Crocodile’s) custom (by cooking on fires), Rainbow Bee Eater did
manjh nunh kanh kanj-no ngurrah-kinj kunj kerninjh-no nunh kanh kardu bernuk nunh --
we cook the meat of animals, kangaroos, of whatchacallem, maybe of bush turkeys
bulikki nunh kanj-no kurlba nunh kanh ka-h-lng-dombun kanh mimal-yih
or of bullocks, the fire dries the blood out of their meat
mimal-yih kanh ngurrah-kinj nunh kanh kurlba-burnda-kah
we use fire to cook the meat and dry the blood out
kanunh ngurrahlng-ngun
and we eat it like that
djorlûng-no
cooked
kanh ngurrah-ngun bonj
that’s how we eat it, right
dubmi njerrh-no ngurrah-ngunguy
(otherwise) we would keep eating (food) raw even today
bonj
that’s all

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