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| Monday, November 28, 2005 |
| A Story for Myo |
To avert the possible threat of Grievous Bodily Harm, Ata has been forced to think of another story for Myo.
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I cannot think of any Ata & Mr Ata stories right now, Myo. At least, not any that can be published on the Internet without first checking with Mr Ata. And he is playing with Bosco in the kitchen. So it shall have to be an Ata story. Let's see... a story for Myo. Hmm. She has already heard about Ata and the Rat Poison, and Ata and the Chlorine Tablet Which Looked Like A Crown Mint (also known as The Chlorine Tablet Ata Should Have Known Could Not Possibly Have Been A Crown Mint). Ata and the Vending Machine? Ata and the Water Buffalo, Pts 1 and 2? Ata Stole the Smarties? Ata and the Missing Trampoline? Ata Gets a Sister? Ata and the People Who Lived in a Shed? Ata Drives Into A Ditch?
A little short story for Myo.
Once Upon a Time, when Ata was just a Kitten, she lived a long way from Anywhere. This was because her father was a pilot for a company which provided air services to remote areas. Naturally, this brought her into contact with a number of surprising and confusing characters. For example, Cabbage - who lived on a large boat with an assortment of children by at least one woman, who did not seem to attend any sort of school (the children, not the women) and visited the island on occasion. Or her father's Best Mate, who once claimed to have paddled a canoe from Australia to Indonesia, and told stories about setting fire to tarantula holes in Vietnam. Ata took swimming lessons in the sea until crocodiles began to be sighted at that beach. Ata's school was fairly large, although it had begun diminishing at the time Ata attended there. School Sports Days were held at a beach. For the...mmm... three years? Yes, three years of schooling that Ata completed at the local school, she was in the Non-Bilingual class - basically, every white child on the island, ages ranging from 5 - 13 or so. And some Yolngu children, whose parents wanted them taught in English. Ata now recognises this as Segregation for Convenience, but this is beside the point. Being a school in a setting of strong Yolngu culture, it was perhaps not unusual that Balanda parents and teachers wanted their children to have some exposure to traditional culture. For example, Ata's own mother taught some Yolngumatha (local language), and included occasional classes on kinship structure.
On one occasion, when Ata was about 7, a school Excursion was arranged. We were to go hunting. Basic instruction in bush tucker was considered important - if only to be sure the Balanda children did not eat something they shouldn't. On this day, some women were to demonstrate the catching of Goanna.
Has anyone reading this attempted to catch Goanna? No? Well, read carefully here.
The women located a Goanna, and chased it. It ran into a hollow log, out of reach of human arms. Reasonable Goanna behaviour. To extricate the obstinate lizard, the ladies lit a fire at one end of the log, and positioned themselves at the other open end.
It was only a short time before the fire had the desired effect. The Goanna shot out the end of the log - and straight up the leg of one of the women waiting at the other end. Straight up her leg, straight up her torso, and into her hair. Ata has a very clear memory of a usually dignified woman - in fact, group of women - dancing about shouting, trying to remove Goanna from hair. The Goanna, no doubt more panicked than the women, was eventually dislodged from its perch. Moving at what surely must have been approaching the speed of light, it bolted vertically up a Tree Trunk. Which brought us to an important facet of Hunting - learn when to quit. At that point, we quit. The men had had more luck with Turtle.
Ata returned home somewhat late, but having had a thoroughly enjoyable day. To find her mother in a state of high distress - during the day, a tree had fallen over and brought the power lines down, draping them over the fence Ata and her little brother would usually climb to come home. Her mother was terrified that Ata and her Brother would be electrocuted on their way home - to top it off, the school had not informed the parents of the class excursion, so Ata's mother was very concerned when Ata & Brother did not arrive home at the expected time. And there was no power for some days.
Many years later, Ata discovered that it is much easier to catch Goanna by tempting them with raw sausage meat. And that Goannas have bad eyesight, and easily mistake fingers for raw sausage meat. And that if you have a Goanna attached to your finger, it is a Very Bad Idea to shake it, as your finger will come off second best. On the other hand, much entertainment may be had by gently lifting the Goanna up so that it dangles in the air from your finger until it's jaws get tired.
The End. |
posted by Ata @ 6:53 pm  |
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| 7 Comments: |
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Thankyou Ata.
Good story.
Goanna attached to finger ... that reminds me of the parrot-attached-to-myo in walk-through wildlife enclosure story.
Lesson 1: parrot beaks are sharp and strong.
Lesson 2: never try to remove a parrot attached to your foot with your bare fingers.
Perhaps i should post the picture of parrot attached to foot?
No pix were captured of parrot attached to myofinger due to major amount of flapping going on (by myo, not parrot).
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Pictures? Pictures! Pictures! Show us your parrot!
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That sounded rather filthy, Ata. *grin*
I once woke up with bugs in my hair. *shudder* And I never slept in that room again.
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When is Ata and the Vending Machine coming out on DVD? How about Atavaria and the Temple of Doom?
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Hee hee, that's such an ocker story.
And your Ata and the Chlorine Tablet Which Looked Like A Crown Mint sounds a lot like my Ben and the Rat Poison Tablet Which Looked Like A Crown Mint. Oddness.
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I will let you know when I've sold the screen rights, Emano!
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more, I want more stories
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Thankyou Ata.
Good story.
Goanna attached to finger ... that reminds me of the parrot-attached-to-myo in walk-through wildlife enclosure story.
Lesson 1: parrot beaks are sharp and strong.
Lesson 2: never try to remove a parrot attached to your foot with your bare fingers.
Perhaps i should post the picture of parrot attached to foot?
No pix were captured of parrot attached to myofinger due to major amount of flapping going on (by myo, not parrot).