Whale and Serpent

“…This is an old story. Older than everything. When the world was new, the lore was created, and the whale and the serpent looked about and saw the ocean.

I will look after the land because that is my home, but who will look after the ocean?

I will look after all the salt water, said the whale, because the fish and the turtles, the crabs and the weeds, the coral and the caves all need care.

But you will need to return to the land every now and then, said the serpent, to bring back your lore.

I will, said the whale. I will beach myself on the sand, I will come back to the land to regurgitate the lore so that the lore can be complete and the land and the sea can know each other.”

Bruce Pascoe, Whale and Serpent in Salt: Selected Stories and Essays. p. 134.
Pub. Black Inc. 2019