Guwaabal 4 Garrbaali / The Shingleback Lizard

Winangala! Listen to the story continuously in Yuwaalaraay by clicking on the loudspeaker symbol (left). Note that the MP3 sound file is quite large (100Kb) and may take some time to download. Alternatively, listen to the each sentence by clicking the 'play' button in the column below.

In the right-hand column the story is broken down into individual sentences. The first line is in Yuwaalaraay, the third is an English 'free' translation. The second line is an 'interlinear' translation; it shows the various parts of each Yuwaalaraay word (verb, noun, suffix etc). By examining this line you can see how words and sentences are built in Yuwaalaraay. Go back to Version 1 or go to the Notes page to find out the background to the story.

00		Garrbaali bulaarr Dhinawan shingleback lizard two emu The Shingleback Lizard and the Emu
01		Yilaalu garrbaali, dhinawan, guwaa-la-y-la-nhi. long.ago shingleback emu talk-each.other-continuous-Past Long ago the emu and shingleback were talking.
02		Giirr nhama garrbaali bamba banaga-y-la-nhi. really that,the shingleback hard run-continuous-Past That shingleback lizard used to run fast then.
03		Waal-bala nhama dhinawan banaga-y-la-nhi, no,not-contrast that,the emu run-continuous-Past yiyal yanaa-y-la-nhi. just,only walk-continuous-Past But the emu couldn't run, he used just walk around.
04		Giirr dhinawan-du guwaa-y: really emu-doerto say-Past So the emu said:
05		"Yaama ngali wunga-y, gambaay?" question we2 dive.swim-Future sweetheart "Will we go for a paddle, sweetheart?"
06		"Ngaayaybaay." okay "Okay."
07		Garrbaali-dju-bala guwaa-y. shingleback-doerto-contrast say-Past The shingleback said.
08		"Giirr ngali-badhaay, ngali-nginda, yanaa-waa-y, really we2-might we2-you(1) come-moving-Future gungan-di wunga-y-gu." water-circumstance dive.swim-Future-to Yeah, we might go, me and you, to dive in the water.
09		[Dhinawan-du guwaa-y.] emu-doerto say-Past [Emu said.]
10		"Ngaayaybaay." okay "Okay."
11		Garrbaali-dju-bala guwaa-y. shingleback-doerto-contrast say-Past Shingleback said.
12		Giirr yanaa-nhi nhama bulaarr gungan-gu. really come-Past that,the two water-to So the two of them went to the water.
13		Nginda waanda wunga-waa-ya," you[1] first dive.swim-moving-command Garrbaali-dju-bala guwaa-y. shingleback-doerto-contrast say-Past "You swim first," Shingleback said.
14		Giirr nhama dhinawan wunga-nhi, yilaa dhurra-y, really that,the emu dive.swim-Past directly come-Past ngiyama-nga wila-nhi, baga-ga. there-then sit-Past river bank-in,at,on So the emu dived around, then he came out and sat down on the river bank.
15		Yilaa-bala Garrbaali dhunbil dhuwima-nhi, then-contrast shingleback sinew remove[own]-Past baga-ga wiima-y. river bank-in,at,on put.down-Past Then the shingleback took off his sinews and put them on the riverbank.
16		Yilaa ngiyama-nga Garrbaali wunga-y-la-nhi. then there-then shingleback dive.swim-continuous-Past Shingleback was diving around there.
17		Dhinawan-du-bala guwaa-lda-nhi: emu-doerto-contrast say-continuous-Past And emu kept on saying:
18		"Ngadaa, ngadaa, ngadaa, ngadaa, gi-gi-la-ya" down down under down get-continuous-command "Down, go down, go under, down, stay down!."
19		Giirr nhama wunga-y-la-nhi ngiyarrma, really that,the dive.swim-continuous-Past there And he kept on diving down,
20		yilaa-bala barraay ngaama dhinawan ngarra-lda-nhi. then-contrast quickly that.the emu look-continuous-Past but quickly looking again at the emu.
21		"Wunga-ya, wunga-ya, yaluu-badhaay wunga-ya." dive.swim-command dive.swim-command again-maybe dive.swim-command "Dive down, dive, how about you dive down again."
22		Dhinawan-du-bala guwaa-lda-nhi. emu-doerto-contrast say-continuous-Past The emu was saying.
23		Yilaa-nga nguu wunga-nhi. then-now he/she dive.swim-Past So he dived again.
24		Yalagiirrmawu-bala dhinawan-du nhama dhunbil then-contrast run-for.self-Past emu-doer.to that,the sinew dhiyama-y, banaga-ali-nyi. pick.up-Past run-for.self-Past Right away the emu picked up those sinews and ran away with them.
25		Nham-bala nguu-nga gungan-di dhurra-y, garrbaali. that,the-contrast he/she-then water-from come-Past shingleback Then he came out of the water, that shingleback.
26		Ngiyarrma nguu, yu-gi-la-nhi, garrbaali, there he/she cry, weep-continuous-Past shingleback dhunbil-nginda. sinew-wanting He was crying there for his sinews, the shingleback.
27		Nham-bala dhinawan banaga-ali-nyi. that,the-contrast emu run-for.self-Past But the emu had run away with them. [So these days the emu runs fast, and the shingleback lizard crawls around slowly.]