Bunyip
The bunyip is a legendary animal that, according to Aboriginal stories , lives in the rivers, water holes and swamps of Australia .
description
The appearance of the bunyip varies considerably in the various traditions. If it is described in some representations as a large snake with a beard and mane, other Aborigines describe the being as a semi-human animal with thick fur and a long neck with a bird's head. Another version is the bunyip with long walrus tusks. Legend has it that bunyips can lurk in any watering hole and wait there for careless animals or people to pull them into their wet resting place and devour them there. The fearsome roar of the bunyips is said to be heard especially at night.
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Myth and Reality
Although cryptozoology is also concerned with the bunyip , most Australians consider the bunyip to be a pure mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology . One theory of the cryptozoologists says, however, that the terrible bunyip could also be an extinct species of marsupial, the diprotodon , which found its way into mythology before its disappearance and was reinterpreted there as an evil spirit lurking under the cover of the water has been. A widespread theory that can be traced back to the 19th century, however, considers the myth to be a joke by the Australian natives at the expense of the initially inexperienced European settlers in the country.
literature
- Robert Holden: Bunyips: Australia's folklore of fear. National Library of Australia, Canberra 2001, ISBN 0-642-10732-7 .
