Wahn the Crow Loses His Fish
An Australian Aborigine tale retold by
Dan Norder, ©1999, all rights reserved.
In Australia, long ago, the Dreamtime covered the land.
This was a magical time, when animals walked as men and the great
ancestors of today's aborigines shaped the world as they saw
fit.
 But
the Dreamtime never completely went away. Those who keep their
dreaming lines connected to the past through the use of ancient
rituals and force of will can still experience some of the mystery
of what it was like when the world was young. The story of how
Wahn the Crow lost his fish is just one of many tales of the
kind of magic that was, and still may be, around.
Wahn the Crow was exceedingly clever. He possessed great magic
power and was also a master of misleading others. He had a very
strange nervous laugh which sounded like, "Wah! Wah! Wah!"
This laugh could be heard whenever he was upset or amused. Wahn's
biggest failing was that he always felt others were trying to
wrong him in some way and would take steps to have revenge upon
them.
One day Wahn found a fish in the river. Not being particularly
hungry at the time, he placed the fish in a nearby pond and left
it while he went away to do other things.
While he was gone, Garaga the Crane and his two boys came
along and found the fish. By this time it had grown into a large
and delicious-looking catch. Seeing no one about and no indications
that anyone planned on eating the fish, Garaga took it along
with him and then hung it on a tree to dry near the place where
they would stay for the night.
A short time later, Wahn came by and saw Garaga the Crane
and his sons around a fire with a large fish hanging in a tree
nearby.
"Hello, Garaga." Wahn said. "What are you and
your boys doing this fine night?"
"Greetings, Wahn," replied Garaga. "We have
found a fish and plan on cooking it pretty soon. There is more
than enough to go around if you'd like to join us."
"How kind," the crow replied, "but I think
I shall take a nap first."
Wahn walked a short distance away and lay down. He thought
the fish was his, but since it was bigger than the one he had
left, he wanted to find out for sure. So he fell asleep on the
ground and released his dream spirit to go to the pond where
his fish had been. His spirit flew off, and, finding the fish
missing, came back to let Wahn know.
Wahn woke up and angrily sneaked over to the tree. By now
the fish was no longer there either. He approached the fire and
saw that Garaga had cooked the fish and was ready to eat it.
"There you are," the crane said. "I was just
about to send my boys to fetch you. This fish is all cooked and
ready to be shared. Here, take the finest part for yourself since
you are our guest. The rest is more than enough for my sons and
me to eat."
But Wahn refused to take a portion of the fish. Why should
he, Wahn the Clever Crow, settle for just a piece of the fish
he had saved for himself, he thought. So he sat there with a
friendly smile on his face while he plotted a way to get back
at the cranes who had stolen his meal.
After they had finished eating, Garaga and his sons went to
sleep. Wahn walked over to the tree upon which his fish had been
placed to dry and found a large, thick stick. Taking it, he walked
over to Garaga and his two sons. After satisfying himself that
all the cranes were quite deeply asleep, Wahn clubbed Garaga's
leg with the stick and ran away.
Garaga awoke with a yell but could not stand because he was
in such pain. "Father, Father," his sons cried, "what
is the matter?"
"I am in horrible pain and have a huge bruise upon my
leg. It could not hurt worse if it were broken!" he said.
"Go check on Wahn the Crow to see if he had anything to
do with this. I have no idea why he would do such a thing, but
no one else is around."
The sons ran over to Wahn, who was pretending to be asleep.
The two young cranes shook him, and he groaned as if he were
awakened by the motion.
The sons asked if he had been up and about, and he lied and
said he had been sleeping. They asked him if he had heard any
strange sounds or noticed anything peculiar, and he replied that
he had not.
Very much confused, the sons brought Wahn to Garaga, where
the clever crow convinced the crane that he was just as puzzled
as the rest of them.
"This is all very strange and worrisome," Garaga
said. "Perhaps there is some sinister magic at work in this
area tonight."
"That is quite possible," Wahn replied. "Maybe
it would be better to make camp on the other side of the river.
Some spirits cannot cross water, and there doesn't seem to be
much else to try."
"How very clever," Garaga said. "I would not
have thought of that, but you are right. I have heard that some
spirits are unable to cross water. I am unable to swim with this
sore leg, so let us build a canoe from the nearby tree."
So the boys made a canoe and put their father in it. Wahn
told the boys to swim ahead and that he would help Garaga cross.
As the boys headed across the river for the other side Wahn found
the head of the fish that the cranes had eaten. He sang a few
words of magic over it and placed it where the water met the
land.
Since Garaga was separated from his sons, Wahn saw this as
his opportunity to have revenge upon the fish-stealing crane.
He laughed, "Wah! Wah! Wah!" and flipped Garaga's canoe
so he fell out into the water.
The two boys heard the laughter and then saw Wahn overturn
the canoe. They quickly jumped back into the water to try to
save their father. Seeing this, Wahn picked up the fish's head
and waved it in the air.
"Wah! Wah! Wah!" he said. "Those who steal
from Wahn, shall come to harm anon."
And as the boys swam toward their father, the river suddenly
became wider and wider. The more they swam, the farther away
the other side of the river became, and the farther away from
both Wahn and Garaga they were.
"Wahn is using magic upon us," one boy said to the
other.
"It's true, we would have reached the shore by now,"
cried the other.
And while they still pressed on, Wahn's spell made it impossible
to cross the river. Finally they realized they had better start
swimming back to the other shore before they they became too
exhausted to swim themselves. And so they turned around, made
it back to land and vowed to tell everyone about the evil things
Wahn had done.
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