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As for the crow, as in all
Indigenous Australian totems, it is known for its cunning and intelligence, a trickster too, and old spirit with prescient knowledge or carrying old knowledge of many lifetimes (like reincarnation). Very powerful too, as in the totem itself is one of the ones with powerful
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people have a legend that says that as spirits of the dead approach the afterlife, they are attacked by crows carrying digging sticks. The crows are said to be angry with all people because people often chase them away from campsites when they scavenge. The spirits are saved by hawks and falcons.
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Crow caught and hid a number of snakes in an ant mound then called the women over, telling them that he had discovered ant larvae were far more tasty than yams. The women began digging, angering the snakes, which attacked. Shrieking, the sisters struck the snakes with their digging sticks, hitting
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The various groups of
Western Australia offer two versions of the same story about the Crow and the Magpie. The crow and the magpie are brothers, both born with pure white feathers. Both were vain and would argue as to which was the most beautiful. Perched in a tree, they began to argue and then
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The people with the crow as their totem will tell you the brothers fell into a fire below, the Crow getting burnt all over, the Magpie only partly burnt. Those whom have the magpie as their totem will tell the story the same, but that the brothers fell into thick black mud, and the magpie only
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them with such force that the live coals flew off. Crow, who had been waiting for this, gathered the coals up and hid them in a kangaroo skin bag. The women soon discovered the theft and chased him, but the bird simply flew out of their reach and perched at the top of a high tree.
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yams. One day Crow found a cooked yam and, finding it tastier than the raw vegetables he had been eating, decided he would cook his food from then on. However, the
Karatgurk women refused to share their fire with him and Crow resolved to trick them into giving it up.
139:. Crow instead offered to cook it for him. Soon, a large group had gathered around Crow's tree, shouting and demanding that he share the secret of fire with them. The din frightened Crow and at last he flung several live coals at the crowd. Kurok-goru the
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quills in the deserted nest of a kangaroo rat and enticed Swamp Hawk to jump on them. The quills stuck and grew into Swamp Hawk's feet, but the bird was pleased with this as he found he was now able to catch rats more easily.
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which burnt Crow's feathers permanently black and threatened to consume the entire land, until Bunjil's efforts halted its spread. The
Karatgurk sisters, meanwhile, were swept into the sky where they became the
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picked up some of the coals and hid them behind his back, which is why to this day firefinches have red tails. The rest were gathered up by Bunjil's shaman helpers, Djurt-djurt the
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natural magic, and depending on the language group's own mythology the holder of the totem will either carry great respect, or suspect.
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Aboriginal mythology: An A-Z spanning the history of the
Australian Aboriginal people from the earliest legends to the present day
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Some accounts have Crow ultimately leaving the earth altogether, having been called up into the heavens where he became
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Bunjil the
Eaglehawk, who had seen all of this, asked Crow for some of the coals so that he could cook a
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story features Crow's role in bringing fire to mankind. According to oral storytelling by the
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have been observed in various
Aboriginal language groups and cultures across Australia.
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323:(1980) Comp. Jennifer Isaacs, Lansdome Press, Sydney, NSW, pp. 107–108, reproduced at
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348:(1981) Eddie Bennell and Anne Thomas, Rigby, Australia, pp. 19–20, reproduced at
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Trickster, culture hero and ancestral being in
Australian Aboriginal mythology
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107:, in the Dreamtime fire had been a jealously-guarded secret of the seven
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now stands. These women carried live coals on the ends of their
396:(1994) Mudrooroo, Thorsons, London, pp. 35–36, reproduced at
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slightly stained his feathers, the crow covered in the mud.
159:(the stars are said to represent their glowing fire sticks).
192:. Deciding to play a trick on the other bird, he planted
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Australian
Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History
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Crows attacking spirits on the way to the afterlife
274:(2 ed.). Social Science Press. p. 32.
184:In another legend, Crow was travelling down the
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8:
403:, New South Wales Government, archived from
372:"Ancient tales of Perth's fascinating birds"
355:, New South Wales Government, archived from
330:, New South Wales Government, archived from
38:Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology
346:Aboriginal Legends from the Bilbulman Tribe
272:An Introduction to Aboriginal Societies
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303:Native Tribes of South-East Australia
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422:. Rosenberg Publishing. p. 29.
249:. London: Thorsons. pp. 35–36.
420:Aboriginal People and Their Plants
76:, the other being the more sombre
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319:The Kanatgurk and the Crow, from
72:) and is regarded as one of two
378:. Fairfax Media. Archived from
370:Hancock, Peter (5 April 2014).
295:Howitt, Alfred William (1904).
470:Heroes in mythology and legend
344:The Crow and the Magpie, from
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52:and ancestral being. In the
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450:Australian Aboriginal gods
327:The Kanatgurk and the Crow
305:. p. 456 – via
147:and Thara the quail hawk.
376:The Sydney Morning Herald
123:, allowing them to cook
352:The Crow and the Magpie
111:women who lived by the
83:. Legends relating to
418:Philip Clarke (2007).
270:W. H. Edwards (1988).
95:One common Aboriginal
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394:Aboriginal Mythology
382:on 25 January 2015.
180:Crow and Swamp Hawk
150:The coals caused a
245:Mudrooroo (1994).
56:nation in central
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298:"Chapter 8"
256:978-1-85538-306-7
141:fire-tailed finch
30:Corvus coronoides
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91:Crow steals fire
74:moiety ancestors
26:Australian raven
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105:Kulin nation
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50:culture hero
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113:Yarra River
460:Wurundjeri
444:Categories
307:Wikisource
281:1876633891
190:Swamp Hawk
101:Wurundjeri
168:fought.
117:Melbourne
109:Karatgurk
97:Dreamtime
78:eaglehawk
46:trickster
157:Pleiades
152:bushfire
58:Victoria
214:Yanyuwa
202:Canopus
194:echidna
125:Murnong
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392:Crow,
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137:possum
115:where
81:Bunjil
64:(also
221:Notes
62:Waang
54:Kulin
44:is a
424:ISBN
276:ISBN
251:ISBN
212:The
85:Crow
66:Wahn
42:Crow
70:Waa
68:or
36:In
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