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Summary ‘The Spear of Death’ In the far-off Yamminga times, so long ago that death was not yet known to the yoongar, the men and women of the earth, an old man and woman lived at Ngangalup with their only son. Each day the old man went out hunting for food. One morning he stalked an emu across the plain, and when he came near it he cast his spear. But the spear missed the emu and flew far, far away, and so the old man lost his quarry, and thought he had lost his spear, too. But as he looked into the distance, shading his eyes with one hand, to see where his spear had gone, he suddenly beheld it returning at full speed, and coming straight towards him. He dodged the spear as it reached him, only to find that it turned and came towards him again; and when he dodged it a second time, once more it threatened him, so that he had to keep dodging it again and again; and each time he hoped that it would go away and leave him alone. He knew that if he misjudged the direction of the spear by only a fraction, it would go straight through his body and kill him. After a while the old man grew very tired with this continual dodging of the spear; then his son came running to him, and when the young man saw what was happening, he said ‘Let me take your place, father, for you are growing very tired.’ Although he was exhausted, the old man replied, ‘No my son. You might be speared, for you are not so experienced in the arts of hunting as I am.’ ‘Let me take you place for only a little while, so that you can rest,’ the boy pleaded.
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