Banjo Paterson

Frying Pan's Theology

Frying Pan's Theology - meaning Summary

Childlike Explanation of Nature

A brief comic dialogue in which a pony-riding boy asks an older Aboriginal man, Frying Pan, what makes it snow. Frying Pan answers with a warm, rustic myth: God shakes a big flour bag from a bullock dray and the flour becomes snow. The poem uses plain, colloquial speech and childlike logic to turn unfamiliar weather into a familiar rural image, mixing humor with sympathetic cultural storytelling.

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Shock-headed blackfellow, Boy (on a pony). Snowflakes are falling Gentle and slow, Youngster says, "Frying Pan What makes it snow?" Frying Pan, confident, Makes the reply -- "Shake 'im big flour bag Up in the sky!" "What! when there's miles of it? Surely that's brag. Who is there strong enough Shake such a bag?" "What parson tellin' you, Ole Mister Dodd, Tell you in Sunday-School? Big pfeller God! "Him drive 'im bullock dray, Then thunder go; Him shake 'im flour bag -- Tumble down snow!"

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