Yihamma And Chilo

• Kate Woollams, Grade 4, St Joseph's School
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

A long time ago in the Dreamtime, there were two little Aboriginal children, one a boy Yihamma and a girl Chilo. They were getting their shell hook rods ready to fish in the river. Once they were ready they sat at the river’s edge starving with hunger. In half an hour they caught seven fish, three crabs and two lobsters. They were so impressed that they caught so many creatures they decided they would come back later and have a go again.

A little while later they came back ready to fish. They were sitting at the river’s edge again under the dark rainy looking clouds, suddenly litres and litres of rain came down, and their shell hook rods got swept away in seconds. They could just see white fast raindrops splashing on the ground all around them. Quickly and suddenly they also got swept into the river. The children panicked so bad, they started crying.

About ten minutes later, the two children were lying on the river bank. When Yihamma opened his eyes (firstly squinting).
He saw a huge crowd around them and saw Chilo open her eyes too and looked at Yihamma frightened. She mouthed to him, are you OK, he nodded gently. A man in between both Chilo and Yihamma said, “We will take care of you and teach you whatever you want to be.” The man finally smiled. So did the children.
After about three days the men and some women helped out to build their hut, beds, and also a fireplace. A nice woman from the hut next to them taught Chilo how to build the fireplace and how to use it. They tried it on fish then crabs and then lobsters.

For the next few days the men and women of the camp let them rest for those few days. It was nice, but different sitting on a bamboo made bed, instead of sticks, ants, leaves and rocks under their backs.

So from then on Yihamma and Chilo’s life was good, a bit complicated at first, but it got a lot easier than it was. Yihamma became a warrior, and as for Chilo, she became a cook, taught by the nice women she met when she was making and using the fireplace. They met lots of good friends as well as being a strong warrior and an outstanding cook!