is said that the sun at one time lived in the former hole, but found its way to the other, and continued to follow that course.[1] Another legend is that at that place a Mura-mura became the sun, and went up into the sky.[2]
The Wiimbaio said that at one time the sun never moved, and that Nurelli, being tired of an eternal day, ordered it to go down to the west, by the following song:[3]—
| Yukawarri | yarara-yahama | wendilye | ||
| Sun | wood-yours | burn |
| Yuntho-yunthoma | wendilye | tul-tul. | ||
| entrail | burn | away away. |
The Wotjobaluk say that the sun was a woman who, when she went to dig for yams, left her little son in the west. Wandering round the edge of the earth, she came back over the other side. When she died she continued to do this.
The Wurunjerri also think that the sun is a woman, "the sister of every one," who goes round by the sea every night and returns next morning by the other side.
At first there was no moon, so that the Dieri old men held a council, and a Mura-mura gave them the moon; and in order that they might know when to hold their ceremonies, he gave them a new moon at certain intervals."[4] Another legend, however, tells how the Mura-mura Nganto-Warrina climbed up a tree to collect grubs. His sons, who had a grudge against him, caused it to grow up to the sky, where he is now the moon.[5] According to the Wiimbaio, the moon did not die periodically, as it does now, until Nurelli ordered it to do so by the following song:—
| Pitka-malimba | pina | paithanba | pina | bulga-bulgara. | ||||
| Die you | bone | whitened | bones | dust-dust-to.[6] |
The Kulin account is that the moon was once a man who lived on the earth. He wished to give the old Kulin a drink of water, so that, when they died, they could after a time return to life again; but the Bronze-wing pigeon would not agree to this, which made the moon very angry.[7]
In one of the Wotjo legends it is said that at the time
