Wallaby, Cuscus and Dog

This is a short tale for kids, which I recorded from Jakson Yangas Vikapa, in Masanumbuk, Sepik, 2015. Different from a tumbuna story (ancestors’ myth or legend) reserved for the initiated men in the tambaran (cult house), this is a so-called “story nothing”, open to everyone.
Yangas is a Kwoma artist from Hamkwa Clan, and Sikau is a sub-clan of Hemkwa. Hamkwa means bird of paradise, and sikau means wallaby.

This story is from Hamkwa Clan, but everybody knows it.
The Wallaby is the big sister of the Cuscus. The Cuscus and the Dog were friends, until one day when the Dog tricked the Cuscus to cut off her own ears. He put his ears back, so the Cuscus thought he has short ears and cut hers too. When she finished, the Dog proudly raised his ears.
– Eiiii! He tricked me like this!
Later that day, she meets the Wallaby: Hey, the Dog tricked me to cut my ears! Hearing it, the Wallaby feels sorry for her little Cuscus.
– Oooh, what happened to your ears, my little one. You keep your mouth and stay easy. I’ll reply to the Dog! And the two keep it secret and wait.

Now, the Dog was strolling around feeling smart for what he did. He used to pass by the house of the two sisters.
One day, he comes to see the older one, the Wallaby. Looking at her, he thinks jealous: the Wallaby is so fat, her belly is hanging down…
– What are you eating to be so fat?
– I tell you what I eat, and you’ll be big and fat like me. Your belly will be hanging like mine. Just listen to me, you gonna be truly plumpy! You must be going with your mam and dad into the forest.
– Sure.
– So, when you go to work in the garden or to scrub sago, you must stay behind them. This soup, which I eat to make me fat, they make it and leave it behind. Naaa, you must go and eat this soup, and you’ll be like me.

It comes the day when he goes into the forest. They all go to work sago, and his father feels the call of nature and hides behind a bush. The dog has learned what his friend, the Wallaby, said. He follows his father to the hide, where he sniffs the shit. And he eats it, as the Wallaby told him. He eats it all, and in the afternoon they return to the village.
The next day he does the same. Again, and again.
One afternoon, when they come from the forest, the Dog visits the Wallaby.
– You know this food which you told me to eat? I do it.
– Good! Do you eat it all? You gonna be plumpy like me!
Then, she stands up, and beating with her tail: What have you done to my little one?! Ha?! She cut her ears! Now I return it to you. You eat shit! And she beats with her tail on the ground.
Turning to her little one, the Cuscus, she tells her: you climb on a treetop and stay there. I stay on the ground and face him. He will chase me, and try to fight with me or eat me.

And now, the Wallaby stays on the ground, the Cuscus on the trees, and the Dog is eating shit. The Dog keeps chasing the Wallaby, and she is beating with her tail on the ground. You hear it when you go into the forest. If you go to Wagu, or Washkuk, or to other places, you can hear her beating with the tail for her sister.
The story ends like this. It’s not a long story.