Kondole

Kondole was the sole owner of fire. The people invited him to join them for the evening rituals, hoping that he would bring the fire with him to provide them with light. The selfish Kondole, however, hides the fire and arrives without. Angered, they try to force him to retrieve his fire and share it with them, but being bigger and stronger, Kondole refuses. Finally, a man named Riballe becomes so angry that he spears Kondole in the neck. Instantly, nearly all the people are transformed into animals and birds. Kondole runs into the water and becomes the whale, spouting water through the spear wound he received in his neck.

Riballe took Kondole's fire and placed it in the grass-tree, where it still remains, and can be brought out by rubbing.

References

Sources

  • Roberts, A.; Mountford, C.P. (1969). The dawn of time: Australian Aboriginal myths in paintings. Syndey: Angus & Robertson Ltd., p. 40.
  • Woods, J. D. (1879). The Native Tribes of South Australia. Adelaide: E. S. Wigg & Son, pp. 59-60.