When not working, the Aborigines sang, danced, and retold the myths passed down to them by their ancestors, sometimes to entertain themselves, sometimes to offer thanks to the heavens, and sometimes to express their fear of natural disasters. These orally transmitted myths and legends-which told of attacks on the sun, floods, and sacrificial offerings-were the earliest forms of literature.
土著民族在生活和勞動之餘，歌唱、舞蹈、講述祖先流傳下來的神話傳說，或自娛娛人、或抒發對上蒼的感恩、對天災地變的疑懼，如征伐太陽的神話、洪水和祭品的傳說等，這些口耳相傳的傳說和神話就是最早的文學雛形。