I went to primary school seventy odd years ago but sorry...didn't get the joke...Ohh! I see... I'd need to be Australian...that must be why.
Here for those of you lacking in cultural references... i.e. Australiana This is the creepy story included in my primary school reader. I think about grade two. If you read this you will forgive me many future stupid remarks as I was seriously traumatized at an early age with the story of the Hobyas sometimes spelt Hobbyas.
The Hobyahs
Once upon a time, creatures of the night, called hobyahs, roamed the Australian bush. Deep in the bush where the hobyahs lurked was a hut made of bark- a humpy. In that humpy lived a little old man and a little old woman. They had a little yellow dingo who was the best guard you could ever hope to find.
One night the Hobyahs came. Out from the gloomy gullies creep, creep, creeping. Through the grey gum-trees; run, run, running. In the ghostly moonlight; skip, skip, skipping on the tips of their toes.
The Hobyahs said, “Hobyah. Hobyah. Hobyah. Pull down the hut, eat up the little old man, and carry off the little old woman.”
But little yellow Dingo knew they were there. He howled and howled and howled. The hobyahs were so frightened they ran home as fast as they could.
The little old man woke up and cried: “I can’t sleep with that Dingo howling all night. If I live through this night I will take off his tail.”
So in the morning the little old man cut off little yellow Dingo’s tail. That night the Hobyahs came again. Out from the gloomy gullies creep, creep, creeping. Through the grey gum-trees; run, run, running. In the ghostly moonlight; skip, skip, skipping on the tips of their toes.
The Hobyahs said, “Hobyah. Hobyah. Hobyah. Pull down the hut, eat up the little old man, and carry off the little old woman.”
But little yellow Dingo knew they were there. He howled and howled and howled. The hobyahs were afraid. They ran home as fast as they could.
The little old man tossed and turned and cried. “I can’t sleep with that Dingo howling. In the morning I’ll cut off one of his legs.”
So in the morning the little old man cut off one of little yellow Dingo’s legs. That night the Hobyahs came again. Out from the gloomy gullies creep, creep, creeping. Through the grey gum-trees; run, run, running. In the ghostly moonlight; skip, skip, skipping on the tips of their toes.
The Hobyahs said, “Hobyah. Hobyah. Hobyah. Pull down the hut, eat up the little old man, and carry off the little old woman.”
But little yellow Dingo knew they were there. He howled and howled and howled. The hobyahs were so frightened they home as fast as they could go.
The little old man tossed in his sleep and cried. “I can’t sleep with that Dingo howling all night. In the morning I will take off the rest of his legs.”
So in the morning the little old man cut off every one of little yellow Dingo’s legs. That night the Hobyahs came again. Out from the gloomy gullies creep, creep, creeping. Through the grey gum-trees; run, run, running. In the ghostly moonlight; skip, skip, skipping on the tips of their toes.
The Hobyahs said, “Hobyah. Hobyah. Hobyah. Pull down the hut, eat up the little old man, and carry off the little old woman.”
But little yellow Dingo knew they were there. He howled and howled and howled. The hobyahs were afraid. They ran home as fast as they could go.
The little old man sat up in his bed and yelled, “That Dingo keeps waking me up with his howling. In the morning I’ll take off his head.”
So in the morning the little old man took off little yellow Dingo’s head. That night the Hobyahs came once more. Out from the gloomy gullies creep, creep, creeping. Through the grey gum-trees; run, run, running. In the ghostly moonlight; skip, skip, skipping on the tips of their toes.
And the hobyahs said: “Hobyah. Hobyah. Hobyah. Pull down the hut, eat up the little old man, and carry off the little old woman.”
Because little yellow Dingo could not howl any more, there was no one to frighten the hobyahs away. They pulled down the hut. They took the little old woman away in a bag. They did not eat up the little old man because he ran away and hid behind a tree.
When the hobyahs arrived home, they hung the bag on a hook. They poked at the bag with their long skinny fingers and cried: “Ha! Ha! Little old woman. A tasty meal you will make.”
But by this time the sun had come up so they went to sleep. Hobyahs, you know, slept all day.
When the little old man found the little old woman gone, he was sorry. Now he knew why little yellow Dingo had been howling at night and he knew what a good guard dog he was. And because this was long ago in the days of magic, the little old man was able to put Dingo back together again. He gave Dingo back his tail, and he put back Dingo’s legs and he put back Dingo’s head.
Dingo was all one piece again. He sniffed the air and picked up the scent of the Hobyahs and went straight to their home deep in the gloomy gully. The hobyahs were fast asleep. Dingo heard the little old woman crying in the bag. He used his teeth to pull the bag open. The little old woman jumped out and ran away as fast as she could. Dingo did not run away. He crept inside the bag to hide. When night came, the hobyahs woke up, and they poked at the bag with their long skinny fingers.
They cried, “Ha! Ha! Little old woman. The time has come to eat you up.”
Out of the bag jumped the little yellow Dingo. He ate up every one of the hobyahs. And that is why there are no hobyahs anymore.
So if you venture out into the Australian bush at night you’ll be safe from Hobyahs… but…keep a careful look-out for
other creatures of the night.
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Actually this story has been doctored. The original had the hobyahs with long long fingers and long hooked noses and there were illustrations of these frightening creasures. And the dog was a little black and white dog and after keeping the little old man awake the first night he had his front legs cut off. And the second night his other legs and other bits on other nights until his head was cut off. I suppose this is when political correctness began.
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