The Rat and Squid#1030-19

Created 2010
"One day a rat went down to the sea-side and he could see an island, not very far away. He thought and thought about how he could get across to that island.

A squid came along and said 'What's on your mind rat?' The rat told him he'd like to go across to the island but he didn't know how to get there.

The old squid scratched his head and then said: 'Rat, I think I could take you there - you'd better jump on my back and I'll swim with you, across to that island.'

So the rat jumped onto the squid's back and away they went. But the swell gradually increased more and more, and every time it came it brushed all the whiskers back from the squid's mouth and head.

The old rat laughed every time it happened, and when the squid ask, 'what are you laughing at?' The rat kept saying 'Nothing, nothing funny.' Anyway, they went ashore then and started to make a fire with fire sticks, then they sat down to have a meal. Rat then asked the squid, 'do you want to know what I was laughing at? It's because every time the swell came it brushed your whiskers right back!'

So the squid picked up his spear and speared the rat right in the backside, and that's how the rat got his tail - through the spear.

That old rat then picked up a piece of charcoal and hit the squid right on the back, and that's how the squid got his black ink!"

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I was born in the old hospital which later became the Church. It is now the Library. I grew up in the dormitory but it was horrible and the missionaries were mean and nasty. I went to school and when I was 18 I went and worked as a domestic on a cattle property called Muttaburra near Longreach. I had my daughter Rosemary while I was working on the station and then brought her back to Mornington Island. I worked as a teacher's aide at the school for many years. I enjoy painting at the Art Centre with the other artists. We have fun and I enjoy the company. I like to paint all the old time stories I heard as a child. Stories like Squid and Rat, Sea and Rock. I feel proud when I finish a painting. I also teach Lardil language at the school which I love and I'm also a Church Elder. I now live in Mt Isa for health reasons and can only stay for 1 wk on Mornington Island and its only for funerals that I go back.