Mun U.ka (the White Snake Man)

Mun U.ka, the White Snake Man, is a serpent ancestor of the Wik-Mungkan of western Cape York, distinct from Taipan the great rainbow-snake. He is the male protagonist of a paired myth, recorded by Ursula McConnel from the narrator Lampas, in which he appears together with the Black Snake Woman Min Tuktaiyan. Serpent ancestors of this kind belong among the pulwaiya, the totemic forebears whose stories underpin clan cult and identity.

Domains

• snakes

Powers

• to multiply its species at the totemic increase-site

Epithets

• pulwaiya

Relations

• companion: Min Tuktaiyan (the Black Snake Woman)

Sources

• McConnel, Ursula H. Myths of the Munkan. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1957.
• South Australian Museum, AA 191 Ursula Hope McConnel Collection, Series AA 191/16 'Texts, mainly in Wik-Mungkan', item AA 191/16/17, 'Myth of the White Snake Man Mun U.ka and the Black Snake Woman Min Tuktaiyan', recorded from Lampas.