‘My grandfather found a snake’s egg …’ begins this story. He feeds and cares for the hatched snake. At first, Grandfather follows the snake – then when it’s grown, the snake follows Grandfather. No one knows that it is there until the day a stranger attacks Grandfather and the snake strikes back.
Each double spread has text on one side and a full colour painting on the right. Simple pen and ink and watercolour drawings illustrate this story with the man and his snake in a generic southwest landscape.
The text is in both Noongar language and two translations into English. The Noongar appears first, with literal English translation of each word or phrase underneath. This enables the reader of only English to feel the grammar and style of the original oral story. The story as picture book text (to be read aloud in English) appears at the bottom of the page.
The American linguist Gerhardt Laves recorded stories told to him by Noongar men Bob Roberts and Freddie Winmer at Albany Western Australia in 1931. Laves’ family returned the stories to Australia with his papers, fifty years later. AIATSIS has guardianship of them and worked with the University of Western Australia to bring them back to the Roberts and Winmer families. Along with other community members, Kim Scott extensively workshopped the stories as part of the Noongar Language and Stories Project over several years, resulting in six published picture books.
An essay at the back of the book has more detail about the development of the stories into published form, including workshopping in local schools. In this book, it is noted that: ‘One disgruntled member of our community said we are just giving our stories away, and we shouldn’t do that. But they have not yet been with us when we give breath to the ember of stories, and bring them alive. Stories grown from the exchange of breath, from moving to and fro, from investment and exchange; that is, they grow from story business.’ Readings of the book in both Noongar and English are available through the project’s website.
A glossary is provided with this note: ‘We rely on the spelling conventions of the now defunct Noongar Language and Cultural Centre and Education Department of WA although dialect differences may make some of our choices unorthodox.’
Series: Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
