Atondido Stories
Bougoodoogahdah the Rain Bird
Bougoodoogahdah was all old woman who lived alone with her
four hundred dingoes. From living so long with these dogs she
had grown not to care for her fellow creatures except as food.
She and the dogs lived on human flesh, and it was her cunning
which gained such food for them all. She would sally forth from
her camp with her two little dogs; she would be sure to meet
some black fellows, probably twenty or thirty, going down to the
creek. She would say, "I can tell you where there are lots of pad-
dy melons." They would ask where, and she would answer,
"Over there, on the point of that moorillah or ridge. If you will
go there and have your nullahs ready, I will go with my two
dogs and round them up towards you."
The black fellows invariably stationed themselves where she
had told them, and off went Bougoodoogahdah and her two
dogs. But not to round up the paddy melons. She went quickly
towards her camp, calling softly, "Birree, gougou," which meant
"Sool 'em, sool 'em," and was the signal for the dogs to come out.
Quickly they came and surrounded the black fellows, took them
by surprise, flew at them, bit and worried them to death. Then
they and Bougoodoogahdah dragged the bodies to their camp.
There they were cooked and were food for the old woman and
the dogs for some time. As soon as the supply was finished the
same plan to obtain more was repeated.
The black fellows missed so many of their friends that they
determined to find out what had become of them. They began to
suspect the old woman who lived alone and hunted over the
moorillahs with her two little dogs. They proposed that the next
party that went to the creek should divide and some stay behind
in hiding and watch what went on. Those watching saw the old
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