Fairy Tales Told in the Bush

Excerpt: Of these Fairy Tales told to children in the Australian bush “The Magic Gun� and “The Underground River� are original but the others have been brought from the old country not in book form but in the memory of a lover of fairies and children. “The Origin of the Yarra Yarra� was told to the writer by old King Barak the last King of the Yarra tribe a few days before his death. These tales as told here charmed the writer in the “Sixties� when Melbourne was a place of bush and swamp. They now charm little slum children in the so-called “slum parts� of the city of Melbourne “The Palace of Truth� and “The Magic Gun� being always asked for when stories are to be told.