LITERATURE. 6r 



N.S.W. Waratah Legend. 



OR [CIV. 



/^r ONG, long, long time aj,'o . . . so long that, as my father used to say. if we were 

 •Jl to try to count tlie eyes which sliine above us on a summer night and think that 

 each one of tlieni meant r.ine moons, horn . . . and disappeared again forever, 

 we shouhl still have no idea of the time which has gone by since that happened which I 

 am going to teU. 



Long, long ago, God and his wife begat a son, destined to have allotted to him in 

 due time a portion of the universe to rule under his father's sway. 



The child, who was named War, on account of his beauty and strength, grew rapidly; 

 though the last born, he was the brightest star of all the family, th" pride and delight of his 

 mother Kari, and the wonder and admiration of all; but hi-. I.ithir Tiniu. who was old, 

 so old as almost to have forgotten what youth is, \va:- stern and moody with hiui, because 

 he was full of passion, life, and frolic. 



As soon as he was able to escape his mother's care, he began to roam about to all 

 the corners of heaven, rioting, revelling, scandalising all, l)oth old antl young, but always 

 forgiven, his wild conduct now submitted to on account of his youth, now for the sake of 

 his father, and always winning his way by his bright smile and irresistible charms. He 

 was, in truth, a wild youth, full of tricks, ready to follow madly any fancy of his mind, any 

 inexplicable whim of his powerful being, and whenever TimiU heard of sor:ie new freak of 

 his, which happened almost daily, he would look askance at him. and remain thoughtftd 

 and moody for the rest of the day, till at last the presence of the youth became unbearable 

 to him, and was a ceaseless cause of quarrel between him and his wife. 



■' Kari," said he to her, " thy son is a fine fellow — very fine." 



" Do I not know it;" answered the mother, " the finest of all the himilv. anrl, please 

 your Worship, some of them would be incomparable were it not for his dazzling beauty 

 which outshines them all. Quite right, my Lord, he is very fine." 



" AlmLOst too fine," quoth the father, " the wildest scamp, the most unruly madca]) 

 a mother of thy rank might win." 



" What dost thou mean, my Lord? I do not understand thei*." 



" Dost thou not? J fear that thou understandest me but too well ... I never 

 thought to be disgraced to such an extent. Hast thou not eyes to see? Art thou .-:o destitute 

 of understanding as not to realise that that fine son of thine is un\\orthy of his father? Say, 

 does he take after me ; does he not spend his life from morn to night, and from dark to dawn, 

 revelling in the most unjustifiable of conduct. \\"hen everyone has retired to rest he steals 

 softly away, leaving us to sleep, and goes, no one knows where, to cause disturbance; 

 amongst my peaceable subjects, who bear with his follies out of consideration of me. 

 During the day it is the same thing over again, as soon as everyone has gone to his laljours ; 

 he only waits for thee to have f.cd in high fallutin on thy cloud chariot to visit our empire, 

 or I know not where, hidden in the midst of that feathery couch, and drawn by those black 

 birds I gave thee when I v.as young. Ah, yes ! I was young then, and proud to see thee 

 travelling through space like a whirlwind, thy black diamond-e^-ed birds springing from 

 star to star, their legs as strong as my will, balancing on their wings darker than the void 

 of night, peeping their proudly crested heads aljove the mist of clouds, showing at times 

 their necks covered with pearls of all the shades of azure, all the corals of the ocean. Yes, 

 and they can do no wrong, those birds of thine ; thou wilt have no word said against 

 them, and never could I obtain any redress even when one of the brutes plucked out the eyes 

 of my kangaroos ; they are always right ; it was done in self-defence ; they were quite 



