This book of stories, transliterating European type fairytales into a Warlpiri Dreamtime, Tanimi context is a labor of love. Warlpiri has some three thousand living speakers, a connection of seventy thousand years linking to some fossilised find in the Middle East who had lived some 70k years ago. Having migrated to Australia they have lived lives and created new customs. The Dreamtime is (in Warlpiri, Jukurrpa) is sacred and teaches customs. But because it is sacred and necessary for ceremony, it would be profane for me to touch it or spread it outside of ceremony.
To get around the Problem of the profane, I am working with European fairytales. But, I don’t want to spread lies or exaggerations. So, each fairytale is listed a certain way. There is the title and introduction. Then the Jukurrpa recreated tale. Challenges of transliterating to Warlpiri culture. A ballad of the Warlpiri tale. How to play the music for the ballad. A summary of music play so I can encode it for AI creation. A list of visual prompts to show the story. A concise retelling of the original fairytale. Finally a call to action of readers to respond to the story. And so, the beauty of Warlpiri Jukurrpa is slightly unveiled. There are no stories of murder, or kissing. There is the community, ancestor spirits and a tapestry of dot art, showing individuals and the eternal sky.
I’m an evangelical Christian and I’ve written of my love of God in all my previous writings. I do so here, but not explicitly. This is not about me.