Weemulee the Owl

Weemulee the Owl

Long ago in the Dreamtime, Weemulee the owl and Willanjee the cyclone were two young hunters who were close friends. Although they hunted and ate together, chatted to one another and shared the same camp, Willanjee was always invisible and Weemulee found this hard to understand and was constantly trying to see his friend. This constant staring caused his eyes to grow gradually larger and rounder.

One day, near sunset, when they were both out hunting, Weemulee climbed a tree and caught a fat possum in a hollow branch. He threw his catch down to his invisible friend and they headed for their camp where the two hunters had a great feast. When it was finished, Willanjee rolled himself up in a kangaroo skin and lay beside the campfire. Weemulee's curiosity had reached its climax and decided to take a closer look at his friend while he was sound asleep with a comfortably full stomach.

When all was quiet, Weemulee moved forward with his eyes opened to their utmost extent. He carefully lifted up one corner of Willanjee's kangaroo skin. The result was sudden and disastrous. That moment out burst a tornado of wind and scattered everything in their camp. Weemulee was swept into an adjacent hollow tree forced up the trunk and out into the open again. He was blown a long distance across a plain all the time straining his eyes hoping to see his strange friend. At last Weemulee caught hold of a tough acacia tree and clung to it until Willanjee, the cyclone, had gone past. Ever since that terrible experience in the raging wind, the eyes of Weemulee and other owls remain large, round and staring.

Michael J Connolly
Dreamtime Kullilla-Art