extraction.australian_legendary_tales.origin_narran_lake

---
record_id: extraction.australian_legendary_tales.origin_narran_lake
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/indigenous-australian/project-gutenberg/australian-legendary-tales-parker.md
passage_locator:
  label: The Origin of the Narran Lake
  start: lines 574
  end: lines 662
  translation: K. Langloh Parker collection, Project Gutenberg eBook
  notes: Colonial English collection of Noongahburrah / Euahlayi-context material;
    cultural protocol review needed before interpretive reuse.
canonical_text:
  quote: ''
  summary: Byamee's wives enter a spring, are taken through an underground watercourse
    by kurreahs, and Byamee pursues, kills the kurreahs, restores the women, and declares
    that the water-filled hollows will become Narran Lake.
  language: English
  quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
  text: Byamee sends his two young wives to a spring for water.
  category: action
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: obs:2
  text: The women enter the spring and are drawn through an underground watercourse
    toward the Narran River.
  category: action
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: obs:3
  text: Byamee follows the watercourse and wounds or kills the kurreahs.
  category: action
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: obs:4
  text: The water the kurreahs carried fills hollows in the ground.
  category: setting
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: obs:5
  text: Byamee declares that the water-filled place will become Narran Lake.
  category: speech
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
figures:
- id: fig:1
  name_or_label: Byamee
  description: Powerful figure who pursues the kurreahs, restores his wives, and names
    or establishes the future lake.
  role_refs:
  - role:1
  - role:2
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: fig:2
  name_or_label: Birrahgnooloo and Cunnunbeillee
  description: Byamee's two young wives who enter the spring and are taken through
    the watercourse.
  role_refs:
  - role:3
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: fig:3
  name_or_label: kurreahs
  description: Water-associated beings who take the women through the underground
    watercourse and whose bodies release water into hollows.
  role_refs:
  - role:4
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
roles:
- id: role:1
  label: pursuer and restorer
  assigned_to:
  - fig:1
  basis: Byamee pursues the kurreahs and restores the women after cutting open the
    dead beings.
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: role:2
  label: landform origin speaker
  assigned_to:
  - fig:1
  basis: Byamee states that the water-filled place will become a lake.
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: role:3
  label: taken through watercourse
  assigned_to:
  - fig:2
  basis: The women enter the spring and are carried away through an underground passage.
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: role:4
  label: water-carrying beings
  assigned_to:
  - fig:3
  basis: The kurreahs carry or draw away the spring water and fill hollows when killed.
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
symbols:
- id: sym:1
  label: spring
  literal_form: clear water spring
  associated_figures:
  - fig:2
  - fig:3
  taxonomy_refs:
  - water
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: sym:2
  label: underground watercourse
  literal_form: hidden passage leading toward the Narran River
  associated_figures:
  - fig:2
  - fig:3
  taxonomy_refs:
  - hero_descent
  - water
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
- id: sym:3
  label: Narran Lake
  literal_form: water-filled hollows made into a lake
  associated_figures:
  - fig:1
  taxonomy_refs:
  - world_center
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
scenes:
- id: scene:1
  label: Byamee establishes Narran Lake
  summary: The passage explains the origin of Narran Lake through Byamee's pursuit
    of water beings, the rescue of his wives, and a declaration that the hollows will
    hold water and water-fowl.
  figure_refs:
  - fig:1
  - fig:2
  - fig:3
  symbol_refs:
  - sym:1
  - sym:2
  - sym:3
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
  label: landform origin through sacred action
  taxonomy_refs:
  - world_center
  basis: The narrative explains how a named water-place becomes Narran Lake.
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
  confidence: medium
  cautions: The atlas taxonomy does not yet have a precise landform-origin motif;
    world_center is only approximate.
- id: motif:2
  label: hidden watercourse boundary
  taxonomy_refs:
  - hero_descent
  basis: The women pass through an underground watercourse and Byamee follows across
    the hidden boundary.
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
  confidence: low
  cautions: This is not an underworld-descent narrative in the usual sense; review
    before broad comparison.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
  claim: The passage belongs in a landform-origin comparison set because it narrates
    how a specific lake comes into being through sacred pursuit and released water.
  claim_level: same_function
  target: landform origin and sacred geography motifs
  evidence_refs:
  - ev:1
  counter_evidence_refs: []
  confidence: medium
  limitations: This should be compared only with careful place-specific and community-specific
    metadata, not as a generic global myth.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
  type: summary
  locator: The Origin of the Narran Lake, lines 574-662
  quote_or_summary: Byamee pursues water beings through connected water holes, kills
    them, restores his wives, and declares that the water-filled hollows will become
    Narran Lake.
  source_text_path: texts/public-domain/indigenous-australian/project-gutenberg/australian-legendary-tales-parker.md
  rights_note: Public-domain US text; colonial collection and living-culture protocols
    require careful review.
confidence:
  extraction: medium
  motif_candidates: low
  comparison_claims: low
  notes: Literal narrative arc is clear; cultural interpretation must be reviewed
    with care.
reviewer_status:
  status: draft
  notes: Draft extraction; requires cultural-context review before public interpretive
    use.
extracted_by: Codex
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: Seed extraction for Indigenous Australian place-origin and sacred geography
  material; avoid generic "Dreamtime" flattening.