Note 26 — Chapter IV · MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Reading edition
An Aka-Čari legend relates how the birds and beasts and fishes arose. “Maia Dik (Sir Prawn) once got angry and threw fire at the people (the ancestors). They all turned into birds and fishes. The birds flew into the jungle. The fishes jumped into the sea. Maia Dik26 himself became a large prawn which is still called by the same name.” In connection with this legend it must be remembered that it was Maia Dik, according to one legend, who first discovered the use of fire. One version of the story said that he made fire by striking a piece of paraŋo wood. Then he threw the burning wood about amongst the ancestors and they turned into birds and fishes.