Dave Edgren narrates an Aboriginal Dreamtime tale where a bat kills a crocodile at a corroboree, then tricks hunters chasing him by cutting his tongue and staining their spears with blood to fake his death. The bat escapes to a cave whose spear-punched holes remain visible today.
Chapters
Hi, my name is Dave Edgren. I'm going to read you The Bat and the Crocodile, an Aboriginal story told by Jaco Delumio and Hector Sandilu, compiled by Pamela Lofts. The Bat and the Crocodile. This is the story the old people told us about Bat and Crocodile. It's from the Dreamtime. There was a lizard and he was very hungry. He thought Crocodile would be good tucker. Lizard wanted Crocodile killed so he could eat him. He wanted Bat to kill Crocodile. "Hey, Bat," he said, "that Crocodile reckons you smell awful. He doesn't want you coming round the corroboree tonight." "Ah well," said Bat. "If I'm too smelly, I'll just have to go back to camp." But Bat was really wanted to see that corroboree. He went back to the camp and picked up his spear and woomera. When Bat came back to the corroboree, everyone was singing away. Old Crocodile came out all decorated and painted up. "Build the fire to light up the place," said Bat. "I want Crocodile to dance close to the fire so I can see him better." Bat moved back into the shadows and started to hook up his spear. To his Woomera. Crocodile was dancing away and shaking his shoulders.
"Move closer to the fire," said Bat.
"I can't see you." Suddenly Bat threw his spear from that dark place. It speared Crocodile right through the heart. And killed him.
"He speared him! He speared him! Poor crocodile!" shouted everybody.
They were really wild with Bat and started to chase him. Bat went for his life up into the hills and escaped into a cave. Everybody poked their spears through holes at the front of the cave trying to get Bat. But Bat thought of a trick. He cut his tongue and put blood on each one of those pointy spears. Then he pretended to gasp for air. Everyone was outside listening.
"We got him!" they said. "Look, there's blood on the spears.
He's dead!" And they all cheered and headed back to camp. When they had gone a little way away, Bat popped up from the cave and started singing, "Who are you going to kill?
Who are you going to kill?
Who's the tricky one?
Who's the tricky one?" "Look, he's still alive!" they said.
Everyone rushed back up the hill with their spears. But that tricky Bat jumped into the cave again. He put more blood on those spears poking through and pretended to gasp for air. They looked at their spears again.
"There's a lot of blood here. He must be dead now," they said.
"Let's go!" Bat watched them. He waited until they were far away. Then he jumped out of the cave and sang his song again. They started to come back again, and he disappeared into the cave. It went on and on like that until Bat won the game.
"He's too clever for us," they said, and left him alone.
Bat is still up there in that cave where they left him. He lives there forever. You can still see the holes in that cave where the spears poked through.
