Aboriginal Stories of Australia

by Alexander Wyclif Reed

'Aboriginal Stories of Australia' is an enthralling collection of traditional tales that date back to the beginning of time. Learn how Whi the sun goddess introduced life to the world, why the emu cannot fly and how the kangaroo got his tail. Packed with myths and legends about creation, these stories retell how people and animals were made as well as how the moon and stars came to have above us.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Australia, Folklore

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Alexander Wyclif Reed (1908 – 1979), also known as Clif Reed and A. W. Reed, was a prolific New Zealand publisher and author.

As an author he was known most commonly as A.W. Reed.
Reed wrote many books on topics such as myths, language, and place names of both Māori and Australian Aboriginal cultures.

With his uncle Alfred, he established the publishing firm A. H. & A. W. Reed.

Reviews

[Claudia - BookButterflies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich habe mir drei dieser Büchlein über Aborigine Legenden in Australien zugelegt, weil ich auf meiner Tour (besonders im landesinneren am Uluru) ein paar Geschichten gehört hatte und gerne mehr lesen wollte, weil sie mich interessierten. Auf Nachfrage in einem Buchladen wurden mir dann die Bücher von A.W.Reed empfohlen.
Leider muss ich sagen, dass ich mich ein wenig durchgequält habe. Manche Geschichten waren ganz nett, einige aber eher langweilig. Sicherlich interessant zu lesen, wie die Aborigine sich manche Dinge erklärt haben...
- Warum Emus nicht fliegen können
- Warum der Kuckuck sein Ei in fremde Nester legt
- Wie bestimmte Flüsse entstanden sind
usw.

...allerdings ist der Schreibstil sehr sachlich und aus einer Erzähler-Perspektive. Irgendwie konnte ich mich da nicht so richtig einfühlen. Auch sind die Geschichten nur manchmal für meine Augen mit einer Moral gespickt. Viele der Legenden sind einfach nur sehr grausam. Viele Menschen (oder Menschen/Götter in Tiergestalt) werden sehr grausam ermordet oder auch einfach mal gegessen.

Wer sich auf sachliche Weise für die Geschichten interessiert hat hier sicherlich eine gute Reihe gefunden, aber ich hatte mir es vielleicht zu "romanhaft" vorgestellt.

Die anderen beiden Bücher aus der Reihe "Animal Tales" und "Tales of the dreamtime" werde ich deshalb aussortieren. Somit sind immerhin 3 Bücher von meinem SuB verschwunden :)

[Klara · Rating 1 out of 5]

not a fan... 1.5/5 - had potential

[Kevin Doherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed First Nations tales generally but I must remember it was first written in 1965. my favourite part was how certain animals came to be…depictions of women are sometimes less favourable however. Enjoyable nonetheless if you do not dwell on that aspect.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was an interesting read. Not as good as I was hoping but kept me entertained and I liked learning how different the origin of mankind, animals and the gods were in Australia.

[Kai Nielson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories, but they were poorly written. I cannot imagine that this collection does justice to the original tales, and that is really a shame.

[Fiona Rennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting stories but not particularly well written in my opinion. It has ignited a deeper interest in to aboriginal stories though.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fascinating to see how the mythology and the Pantheon of the Aborigine is so different from ours, for example even if the most important gods are as usual the sun, the moon and the star, they are not so mean as our Zeus; in the mean time the animals are crazy and sooo bad to each other....

È affascinante notare come la mitologia e il Pantheon degli dei degli aborigeni australiani siano differenti dai nostri, se per esempio anche qui il sole, la luna e le stelle sono gli dei piú potenti non sono certo cattivi come i nostri che si sono fatti la guerra da sempre e per ogni futile motivo; invece gli animali sono dei pazzi assetati di sangue....