The Whale Man and His Canoe
Australian Aboriginal Legend
Back in the dreaming, when the world was young, ice smelted. The water levels rose and some if the land began to disappear. All the animals wanted to escape to the other side, but no one had a canoe big enough to carry them, except the Whale Man.
The Whale Man was a big fella and he had a huge canoe, but he wouldn’t loan his canoe to anyone. So the animals all met and decided to try to get hold of the Whale Man’s canoe. That way they could go across the waters to reach the land on the other side before it was too late.
So it was arranged. One day, when the Whale Man was walking down the beach, dragging his canoe behind him along the water’s edge, the Starfish Man approached him. ‘Hey brother!’ he said. ‘I see some sea lice on your head. Why don’t you come over here to these rocks where I’m sitting and put your head in my lap. I’ll scratch and get rid of some of them and make you feel good’.
The Whale Man agreed to do this, but because he loved his canoe, he hung on tightly to the bark rope.
The Starfish Man scratched around Whale Man’s ears and made him feel good for a little while. When he was doing this and the Whale Man was preoccupied, the Koala Man sneaked up behind them and cut the bark rope with his knife. He quietly pushed the canoe away and all the other creatures silently crept into the boat. Then they gently pushed it into the water and began to paddle off, as quickly as they could. The Koala Man did all the paddling, which developed the muscles on his arms and made hem very strong.
Meanwhile, every so often the Whale Man asked, ‘How’s my canoe there, brother?’
With one hand scratching the Whale Man’s head, the Starfish Man tapped a piece of wood onto the side of the rock they were sitting on with the other hand. ‘See, that’s your canoe.’ This was repeated a few times, but somehow it didn’t sound right.
sensing that something was wrong, the Whale Man suddenly jumped on his feet. He looked across the waters to see his beloved canoe disappearing over the horizon, and realized he’d been tricked.
This deception made the Whale Man extremely angry. He struck the Starfish Man, who managed to counter with one tremendous blow. The force of the impact opened a hole in the Whale Man’s head, but Whale Man was very powerful. He pounded the Starfish Man until he fell senseless onto a rock, from which he slid onto the sand. There he lies to this day, all squashed out in the water.
Whale Man quickly turned, dived into the water, and swam swiftly after the disappearing canoe. By the time he’d reached the other side, Koala Man and all the other creatures had long since disappeared. Before they left, they pushed the canoe off into the water and it floated away.
It’s still floating out there, somewhere, around the coast of Australia.
Whale Man never gave up hunting for his canoe. To this day, he swims around and around Australia, still searching the oceans for his stolen canoe.
You can see him swimming out there, spouting water trough the hole in his head, made by the Starfish Man when they fought that day, way back in the Dreamtime.
