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WIRINGI, THE BAD BOY.

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Wlr-lng-l was the naughtiest little .leera (boy) among

all the Waddia-booloo (northern people) boys.

Every boy in camp knows there are certain things he must

never do, or some harm will come to him by magic. He must

not go into forbidden shady groves that are guarded by a ran-

ji (spirit) or the ran.ji will put sickness into him and he will

die. He must not touch the magic ornaments hanging from the

necks of the .jalnga-Kooroo (Magic Men), or pluck the yirgili

(edible seed) flowers, for then he will send all the yirgili

seed back to Jlmbln (country underground), and there will be

no yirgill for his people to eat. There are many other rules

that he must remember, but above all, he must never mock taloor-

(Old Men), He may mock his mothers or sisters, and if

his fathers are in a good humour they will laugh at him, or

they may tell him he must not do that, but whether he heeds the

warning or not, he will not be beaten for mocking his mother,

Wiringl, however, saw in old Beedurn, an easy person to

mock, for Beedurn had caught some evil magic that stiffened his

arm. Wiring! would walk about the camp holding his arm Just

like Beedurn,

His father said to him, "If you do that, you will get

mlr-roo~roo (magic)I"

But Wiring! had been doing so many naughty things, and had

not been mir-roo-roo-ed that he only laughed at his father

and mocked Beedurn again and again.

All the taloor-gurra (Old Men) in camp warned Wiringl,

they could not help being amused at the funny, clever way hecould mock old Beedurn, Beedurn's anger against the bov

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greater every day. He told the bad little .jeera to stop, butWiring! put his tongue out and went on with his mocking.

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At last Beedurn's brother-in-law said to himself.

V "I must punish this .I'eera who will not stop mocking Bee-

durn, and we must let the other .jeera see that they must not

K^•:VcV•h.^V'V•^mock taloor-gurra,"

But he did not tell anyone what he was going to do.

' One morning he went away to a ran.ji beega (forbidden shady. :;C'. c: ,•

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/ i'V>;• arms and legs, with a goom-bera (sharp stone).

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grove, and took with him a warran-guj.1 i (nose-bone)♦ He

marked it with dots for .1eera< s eyes, and lines for jeera's

• beega, and sang this mir-roo-roo (magic) into the bone :

When he had finished the markings, he held the warran-

gu.i.ji close to him, sat with his legs crossed in the ran.ti

, Warran-guj.ji biddoor ga-ree-nalf Warran-gu.1.1i bid-door ga-ree-nal

Bid-door ga-ree-naal

: V He sang this over and over again. At last he spoke the boy'sz^: .' "

• " name softly to the warran-gu.1 .ji, and, sticking it into the. . 'r"

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" f ,i: • bark of a tree, he came back to the camp.

Jeera went on mocking Beedurn for a little while, but

by-and-by he lay down. Then all the taloor-gurra knew he had

go't mir-roo-roo, but, as they all sent mir-roo-roo, none of

"1 • ^ them knew which mir-roo-roo it could be,

•r • ^• By-and-by Beedurn's bra>ther-in-law went again to the

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ran.li beega, and looked at the tree where he had stuck the

warran-gu.1.1i. It had broken off, and the broken part was ly

ing on the ground, and he knew the jeera would die. He took

the two pieces of warran-gujji and put them in the fork of

the tree.

Very soon Wiringi died and was buried in the fork of a

tree.

The other little jeera never again disobeyed the great

laws, though there were many litjle rules that they defied

but they were not pixnished for these.

Sometimes a little jeera will puff out his stomach and

•fcv cry,

1 "Ngai dafdall Ngai dardall" (I am sickl I am sickl)Another little jeera pretends to be jalnga-gooroo (Magio

v.-. - Jirlngi 3,

f.vJS^Nl- ' Man), and comes over to the sick boy bringing a koora-barl

or koorab-bura (magic stick). He turns the sick boy over,.r-, » , - TT-. ,y ..

V "• T-,rc•• puts the baa-loo(stick) on his back, then on his side, then

swollen stomach, and the lump goes quickly down.

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"Jooa maabu? (TJou all ri^t?)" the little .^alnga-gooroo

asks him,

"Ngowail" the patient says. "Ngai maa-bu'." (Yes, I am

all right)'.'

Sometimes the little .jeera will have a sham fight with

spears made of rushes, and toy shields and boomerangs. After •

a short fight, one little .jeera falls down, pretending to be

dead. A young .jalnga-gooroo comes over, puts a finger in

each of the "dead" .jeera' a ears, and shouts to him,

"Wanjalla ngail" (Look at me)."

The "dead" boy opens his eyes, looks at the .jalnga-gooroo.

and is made alive again.

These and other games may be played by the .jeera without

offending their elders, but as soon as the little boy ceases

to be .jeera, and becomes niroma-mu (the name given to him

after his nose has been pierced) he is never allowed to play

those games. For when he is nimma-mu, his childish games

and fun are over, and from that time he must learn to be a

man.

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