Narrah’s Pearls

• Brianne Gatehouse, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2011

In the Dreaming, night had no beauty and was plain apart from the moon. One day a man from the West named Narrah Pindari, came to the Wagaru Tribe looking for a home. They accepted him as one of their own. He was now a citizen of the Wagaru Tribe. It was a wonderful place, full of nice people, delicious food and most of all he now had a family.
The place was lush and beautiful but not so much at night. The sky was plain. So the people decided to hold a tribal meeting to consider how they could beautify the night. They could not decide what was missing and argued all night.
The next day they decided to hold another meeting, but the arguing continued and they were left with no ideas that everyone could agree on. There were plenty of ideas as the Wagaru people were very artistic, but not everyone could agree that these ideas were possible and they wanted whatever they decided to do to be perfect.
The village elder was frustrated and announced, “We shall let Narrah decide what to do”. Narrah was up all night, tossing and turning in his hut trying to think of something that everyone would be happy with. After hours of nothing but looking at the moon he mumbled to himself, “The sky needs something. It needs.....”, and with that he fell asleep.
Narrah awoke the next morning in a great mood. He was hoping the tribe would approve of his idea. He excitedly walked over to the village elder’s hut and just as he was about to ask if anyone was in there the elder came out with a huge smile spread across his face and asked, “Do you have a plan Narrah?” Narrah replied, “I think I might have an idea. I would like you to call another meeting please.” It was arranged immediately.
As the people gathered there was a hum buzzing from the crowd. The tribe was impatient and they continued their arguments from the day before. The elder and Narrah waited for the tribe to settle but they did not. Suddenly a loud voice came from the shadows behind them, and yelled, “QUIET!!” Every member of the tribe looked into the shadows in confusion and annoyance. Wanamalalau, the Nungkari (nun-curry) or witch doctor walked out of the darkness with a serious look on his face. “Narrah has something to say”, he yelled and with that a hush came over the tribe.
Narrah always had faith in the Nungkari but now he knew for sure he could rely upon his help. He had not told anyone of his plans not even Wanamalalau, but somehow he knew to be at the meeting and his attitude seemed to display he already agreed with what Narrah wanted to propose.
Narrah explained that he felt the sky should be decorated with pearls. There was a hum of excitement from the rest of the tribe as he sent the children of the tribe to dive for the oysters, the older members were to open the shells and collect the pearls. This way everyone in the tribe worked together and contributed in the work of making the night sky beautiful. Narrah and the Elder placed the pearls in patterns on the sand and as usual The Nungkari arrived just in time to cast his spell on the pearls. The young men began to dance and the didgeridoo hummed. The pearls began to sparkle as the doctor chanted and slowly they lifted from the sand, spinning and shinning and then suddenly they flew high into the sky and that is where they stayed.