The Dragon Stone

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Location:
Australia

Description:
Bunyips generally are said to live in the water and have control over the water. The appearance of the bunyip varies alot between stories. Some bunyips are scaley and some are furry. It is possible that bunyip is being used as more of a general term for large water creatures, rather than referring to one specific thing (much as Taniwha can be a lot of different animals, not all of which are mythical). Certainly some bunyips fit very comfortably in the dragon category, both in terms of appearance and abilities.

The Bunyip Baby
A group of men were out fishing. One of the men caught a strange looking creature. It was small and scaled, looking a bit like a fish. They decided to keep the creature, not realise that they had caught a baby bunyip. When the mother bunyip realised what had happened, she chased the men, causing a flood that washed the men away.

The Koala
A koala lived on the top of a mountain, coming down to the swamps every night to drink. One night she came across a bunyip. Rather than being scared, the koala greeted him cheerfully and invited him back to her home. The bunyip accepted, wanting a change from the swamp. He lumbered up the mountain to the koala's home. Once they arrived, she offered him food and the two talked.

This soon was a regular nightly routine. The bunyip would come to visit the koala and the two became good friends. The other koalas were concerned. Humans were afraid of the bunyip, but they were friends of the koala. They worried that if the humans saw koalas with bunyips, they would start to hunt the koalas too. They approached the koala with the bunyip friend with their concerns, but she dismissed them.

The other koalas then went to watch the humans, hoping for some guidance on what to do. They saw a medicine man with clay painted on his body and decided that was where the magic came from. One of the koalas told the others to paint him with the markings.

Once that was done, the painted koala went onto the mountain top. A koala baby was there; the baby of the koala with the bunyip friend. The painted koala held the baby and waited for the mother to return with the bunyip. As she returned, he quickly placed the baby on her back and told the baby never to let go. The magic of humans worked, and the baby held on as it had been told to. The mother tried to dislodge the baby, but she could not. Eventually the bunyip got bored of waiting and went back to the swamp.

The painted koala stated that this had to be done for the good of all koalas. To remind koalas they must not be friends with bunyips, the markings would stay on the fur of all koalas, and baby koalas would always cling on tightly. In this way, koalas will always be the friends of humans.

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