At the beginning of the world, emus could fly. They were the biggest birds in the air. They loved everything they saw; they saw smoke and whirl winds. Everyone seemed happy, but soon things started to change. The emus thought that they were the biggest and fastest birds that could fly. They boasted and bragged day after day, week after week, month after month. The birds and the people grew tired of hearing the boasting.  

The emus grew meaner and meaner. They decided to play a trick on the little birds when they next flew with them. When the little birds came, they dived at them. This went on for a very long time. The little birds decided to have a meeting about how the emus were bullying them. The people saw this and said, "Don't let them scare you".

But what could they do. They were stronger and bigger. The wedge tailed eagles and hawks decided to scare the emus out of the sky. But even they weren't powerful enough to chase the emus out of the sky. When the little birds appeared the next day, the emus started to laugh.

"Your little plan didn't work, not even the hawks could chase us out of the sky." The little birds went to the animals to get some help, but the animals couldn't find out a way to stop the emus scaring them. They went to the galahs to get an answer to the problem.

"Wait til the nesting season then go in and crack all the eggs".

The little birds said,

"We wouldn't like them to break our eggs, but that's the only way we can do it". The birds didn't have to wait long; soon the emus laid their eggs and the little birds hid in the bushes waiting for the emus to stretch.

The emus stretched and the little birds swooped in, but the emus saw them and chased them away. The little birds went to the galahs, but the galahs had run out of ideas, they told the little birds to go to the men. So the little birds went to tell the men and the men said,

"We don't know what to do, so tell our leader when he comes back in a month. A few months later a messenger came and said,

"He will meet you under mulga tree".

They knew that he was a very important man.

Then he started singing and the emus came. That night it was very quiet as the emus ran to their homes. At day break, the emus tried to fly. But they couldn't because their wings had grown shorter.

"You boastful emus, listen to me, you won't ever fly again. From now on, you will only walk and run".

Suddenly the emus understood the meaning of the special song. The little birds laughed and laughed till they nearly fell off their branches. They flew around happily and had their room again. They loved how they watched the emus walk and run. The emus never boasted and harassed the little birds again.

 

Retold by Cherie and Katie