A Play Based on a Folktale from Northern Australia

RAINBOW B IRD

retold by Pat Betteley illustrations by Robin Muccari

C U L T U R E S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D F R O M

Elder: It is time to settle, child. You have been busy all day, walking to the waterhole and grinding up seeds to make damper.

Alinta: I do not want to stop moving, grandfather. The sun has gone down, and it is cold. If I stop, I will freeze to death.

Elder: Ah, but the fire is warm, young one. And I have a story to tell.

Alinta: A story? What about, grandfather?

Elder: It is about fire.

Alinta: Fire? I have known about fire since I was a tiny girl cradled in my coolamon.

CHARACTERS: Elder, Alinta, Kangaroo, Crocodile Man, Emu, Bird Woman

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Elder: Ah, you think you know, little one, but I will tell you of a time when people had no fire. (Alinta sits by the fire.) Long ago in the Dreamtime, the world was just being born. In that time, there lived a huge and mean Crocodile Man. He was rough and tough and had one thing nobody else had.

Alinta: Sharp teeth? Scaly skin? A powerful tail?

Elder: No, little one. Fire. He alone had Fire. He liked to hold it with his foot or balance it on his head. Sometimes he even breathed it from his throat!

Alinta: A fire-breathing crocodile? Did it burn him?

Elder: It did not, even though he liked to play with Fire. The Fire was his alone. Sometimes other animals would beg for Fire.

Kangaroo: Can you spare one of your firesticks so I can light my way at night?

Crocodile Man: Night is for sleeping, not jumping about. Stay in one place, and you will not need to see at night. I am the boss of Fire. I control Fire!

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Elder: With that, he snapped his fierce jaws at her, and she quickly hopped back to the forest. Next Emu came to call.

Emu: I shiver from the cold at night. May I stand close to Fire tonight to keep warm?

Crocodile Man: You have feathers. Use them! I am the boss of Fire. I control Fire!

Elder: He growled through his sharp teeth at her, and Emu quickly ran back to the eucalyptus forest. A Bird Woman lived in a nearby tree. Every day she looked down at Crocodile Man. One day she flew down to him.

Bird Woman: There are people by the river who want to cook their food. Would you share your firesticks with

them?

Crocodile Man: They can eat their food raw, just like you do!

Elder: The Crocodile knocked Bird Woman away with his tail.

Crocodile Man: I am the boss of Fire. I control Fire! Nobody will have firesticks but me!

Bird Woman: You are unkind. Creatures must help each other. If I

had Fire, I would share it with others. Even with a mean, cranky Crocodile!

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Elder: As time passed, Bird Woman watched Crocodile Man from her tree. She went about her business — catching food, eating it raw, and shivering with cold at night. But she was always watching and waiting. Finally, the moment for which she had waited arrived. Crocodile Man opened his mouth and yawned the longest, sleepiest, biggest yawn anyone had ever seen.

Bird Woman: This is my chance.

Elder: Bird Woman flew down and snatched the firesticks from the Sleeping Crocodile.

Alinta: What did Crocodile Man do next?

Elder: Nothing. There was nothing he could do. But Bird Woman had a plan.

Bird Woman: Now I can give Fire to the people.

Elder: And Bird Woman proudly flew around the countryside, putting Fire into the heart of every tree. That is why, to this day, people can make Fire using dry sticks and wood from a tree.

Alinta: To keep them warm at night.

Elder: Yes, and to cook their food with, and to light their way in the dark. But that is not the end of the story. Next, the Bird Woman did a dance, placed the firesticks into her tail, and became a beautiful Rainbow Bird. Then she flew straight to the Crocodile Man.

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Bird Woman: Your life will always be down in the wet and muck. I will fly high and stay dry in the fresh air. If you try to come up here, you might die!

Alinta: So that is why the Crocodile lives down in the swamp.

Elder: Yes. And even though Fire is gone, he still opens his mouth wide and growls, “I am the boss!”

Alinta: (drowsily) And Rainbow Bird?

Elder: If you are lucky, you can still see her flying through the day, taking fire to the trees in a blaze of rainbow bright feathers. Alinta, are you awake? (Alinta has fallen asleep by the fire.)

Word HelpDamper is bread.

A coolamon is a multi-purpose shallow vessel lined with paperbark, used to cradle babies.

An emu is a large, flightless Australian bird that resembles an ostrich and runs very quickly.

The eucalyptus is a type of tree or shrub that is very common in Australia.

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ISBN 978-0-8126-6761-5

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