Story of The Blue-Tongued Lizard Man and the Crested bellbird man

The blue-tongued lizard man lived in a land with lots of food and water but was alone. He got very lonely and decided to leave his land in search of a friend. He traveled a long way and found another land but there was nobody there either. All the time he looked for footprints of another human to be his friend. He then came to Kata Tjuta but didn’t find anyone there either. He could see Uluru nearby so he continued toward it, always looking for footprints. When he got to Uluru, he walked around the base. He found many animal tracks but no human. Then, he did find some human tracks but they turned out to be his own where he started. So, the blue-tongued lizard man decided to make a camp. He saw a cave high in Uluru. It was a cave within a cave and he made a camp and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, the crested bellbird man also lived far away from Uluru, about a day's journey. One day, he was out hunting Emu. He used a spear and speared an emu, which was in a large group of emu. Once he did that the emu scattered. He knew he'd hit the emu but didn't kill it. But, he knew that he could find the emu. The long shaft of the spear would drag the ground and create a long line beside the tracks of the emu that was hit. So, the crested bellbird man found the tracks with the line from the spear shaft and followed them. The tracks took him far away from home to Uluru. When he finally found the emu, he killed the emu by clubbing him on the back of the neck. He then proceeded to clean and cut up the emu into pieces and laid them out. He had worked hard all day for his prize but it was late. He knew he couldn't make it home before dark so he made a camp at the base of Uluru. He made a fire and went to sleep without eating any of his meat that he had laid out.

As the crested bellbird man slept, the blue-tongued lizard man awoke and began looking again for tracks. As he got around to the other side of Uluru, he came upon the crested bellbird man in his camp. He was very excited to think that he may have a friend. He tried to awake the crested bellbird man but he was sound asleep and didn't wake up. The Lizard man decided to go back to his camp but halfway there he got another feeling, this time in his stomach. He was hungry. So, he went back to the crested bellbird man's camp. The blue-tongued lizard man made many sets of tracks leading out of the crested bellbird man's camp. He then, picked up the emu meat, leaving one drumstick for the crested bellbird man and went back to his cave.

Later, the crested bellbird man's fire died and it began to get cold outside, so the crested bellbird man woke up. He looked around and discovered that his emu meat was gone except for one drumstick. He also noticed the tracks leading in and out of his camp. He began following the sets of tracks one at a time. Each one led out of his camp and then back in. After a long time he followed the last set of tracks, which did not lead back to camp, but led around Uluru to the other side, just below a cave near the top. The crested bellbird man yelled up to the cave, something like, "Hey, mate! In the cave!" The blue-tongued lizard man poked his head out of the cave and the crested bellbird man told him of his situation and asked him if he'd seen anyone with his emu meat. The lizard man said that he didn't know anything about it. "I've come a long way to find a friend but don't know anything about any emu meat."

The crested bellbird man said, "Well, I've followed the tracks from my camp and they lead here. Are you sure?" and the blue-tongued lizard man still denied knowing anything. The crested bellbird man said, "Ok, I will go and double check the tracks." So, the crested bellbird man went back to his camp and checked all the tracks again which all led out and back into the camp except for the one which led around Uluru to the spot beneath the cave. This time, though, he took with him a fire stick which is a stick frayed on one end and lit with fire. The flame goes out but the ends still smolder and as long as you keep it moving in the air, the embers stay red and ready to make fire.

When he got back to the spot beneath the cave he yelled up to the lizard man again and told him that he'd double-checked those tracks. He said "So, just give me back what is mine." The blue-tongued lizard man again denied his actions saying "I don't know anything about your emu meat. I have come a long way in search of a friend and have not seen anyone else." Just then, the crested bellbird man waved his fire stick in the air harder and put some dry grass on it to make a nice flame. He then set fire to the grass at the base of Uluru, which created a lot of smoke that climbed up the side of the rock. The smoke was so heavy that it got into the cave where the blue-tongued lizard man was. He began to choke and fell out of his cave, down the side of Uluru where he died. The emu meat also fell out of the cave to the base of Uluru. The blue-tongued lizard man and the meat turned to stone. To this day, you can still see the emu meat and blue-tongued lizard man at the base of one side of Uluru and the drumstick that was left by the crested bellbird man on the other side.

There are several morals to this story. The one that may be just as applicable today is simple: don't climb Uluru. There is nothing up on Uluru - no food, no shade, no water - and you can die from falling from Uluru. It is actually their law not to climb Uluru except for special spiritual ceremonies. In the last several decades, tourists come and climb Uluru. The Anangu don't understand why they do this and ask them not to. Sometimes tourists fall from Uluru and die and that makes the Anangu very sad. It's like someone dying in your back yard. They will not stop you from climbing but hope their message spreads so that people will stay safe by not climbing Uluru.

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