The Origin of the Yarra Yarra
(Ever-flowing)
Long years ago, before the white men came to the Sunny South, there lived a little black boy with his mother and father near the happy hunting grounds among the Baw Baw Mountains. Barak was the little boy’s name.
Barak was all very much of everything about him. He was very fat and shiny, his eyes were very black, his hair very frizzy, his nose very flat, and his lips very thick, his laugh very jolly, and his heart very kind.
One day his mother said to him, “Barak, your mother is sad; honey is the only medicine that will make her happy. Go, find the wild honey and bring some in the honeycomb.”
Barak being very kind, went to look for honey for his mother. A long, long way he went before he found a honey tree, and when he found one he sat down under it and cried, for a big, big bear was licking his paws after having eaten all the honey.
“Boo hoo! Boo hoo!” cried Barak. “Mother is sad because she has no honey, and you have eaten it all up.”
“Good little fat boy,” said the bear, “there is another honey tree behind this one. I am very thirsty, and the water is a long way from here; bring me some water, and I will climb the tree and give you honey.”
Barak dried his tears and smiled.