The Meat Ants and the Fire single work   short story   Indigenous story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1978... 1978 The Meat Ants and the Fire
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A retelling of the traditional story of the Meat Ant People. The Meat Ant People were the only Dreamtime creatures who knew how to make fire. Having heard about the value of cooking meat, a young man travels across the land seeking fire. He locates and steals a fire stick and evades the Kabi People, who are turned into meat ants.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Aboriginal Legends : Animal Tales A. W. Reed , Sydney : Reed , 1978 Z1479347 1978 selected work short story Indigenous story

    A selection of Aboriginal legends about animals and men collected and retold by Reed, each prefaced by a non-fiction explanation of the content of the story. This book is not intended for children, but rather presents indigenous tales for general anthropological interest.

    These stories represent a broad range of traditional stories from across the continent. Reed acknowledges in his introduction that he writes from a Western perspective, that 'they are a product of the 1970s, written by one whose skin is a different colour, and whose environment is completely foreign to that of the Aboriginals who devised [the stories].'

    Reed organises the book into chapters with short introductions:

    • Chapter One : Reptile People
    • Chapter Two : Frog People
    • Chapter Three : Tree People
    • Chapter Four : Animal People
    • Chapter Five : Flower People
    • Chapter Six : Crocodile People
    • Chapter Seven : Star People
    • Chapter Eight : Crow People
         Sydney : Reed , 1978     pg. 26-28
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Last amended 10 Apr 2017 17:07:45
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