A traditional Aboriginal Dreamtime story where the Rainbow Serpent awakens and travels across the earth, carving mountains and valleys before returning to create lakes and rivers. The tale ends with a warning: tribes who care for the land will keep it, but those who disobey face punishment.
Chapters
The Rainbow Serpent the following story is based on a traditional Aboriginal Dreamtime story involving the Rainbow Serpent. Long, long in the Dreamtime, the Earth lay flat and still. Nothing moved and nothing grew. One day, a beautiful snake awoke from her slumber and and came out from under the ground. This snake was known as the Rainbow Serpent. She travelled for a very long time, far and wide. As she made her way across the land, her body formed mountains, valleys and riverbeds. The Rainbow Serpent was the Dreamtime creature who had shaped the earth. After all of her traveling, she grew tired. She curled up and began to sleep. After some rest, she returned to the place where she had first appeared and called out to the frogs, come out. The frogs woke up very slowly because they had so much water in in their bellies. The Rainbow Serpent tickled their stomachs and the water began to fill the tracks that the Rainbow Serpent had left. This is how the lakes and rivers were formed. After this water, grass and trees began to grow. All the other animals that lived in rocks on the plains, in the trees and the air began to wake up and follow the Rainbow Serpent. They were all happy with the earth. The Rainbow Serpent said, those who obey will be rewarded. I shall give them human form, but for those who don't, they will be punished and turned to stone. The tribes of people lived together on the land given to them by the Rainbow Serpent. They knew that the land would always be theirs as long as they took care of it. They believed that no one should ever take it away from them. And that's the end of the Dreamtime story about the Rainbow Serpent.
