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Bunnyyarl the Flies
and
Wurrunnunnah the Bees

An Australian Aboriginal Folktale
by K. Langloh Parker

Once there were two groups of people, the Bunnyyarl (bunny-yarl) and the Wurrunnunnah (war-a-noo-nah). They were a family, and they lived in one camp. The Wurrunnunnah worked very hard. They always gathered food, even when there was already enough. They did this so that they would have enough later. The Bunnyyarl did not think about the future. They wasted their time playing. They never thought about getting enough food for later.

One day the Wurrunnunnah said, "Come out with us. We are going to gather honey from flowers. Soon the winter winds will blow the flowers away. Then there will be no more honey to gather."

"No," said the Bunnyyarl, "We have something to do here." And off they went, wasting their time. They knew that the Wurrunnunnah would share their honey with them.

The Wurrunnunnah went alone and left the Bunnyyarl to waste their time. The Wurrunnunnah gathered the flowers and stored the honey, and never more went back to live with the Bunnyyarls, for they were tired of doing all the work.

As time went on the Wurrunnunnah were changed into wild bees, and the lazy Bunnyyarls were changed into flies.