15. The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito

In olden times the people used to hunt in the winter and travel way up the mountains. Once upon a time there were ten brothers who went hunting. Their wives accompanied them. They went on and on far away from their home. They passed many mountains, valleys, and rivers, and after many days they finally came to the top of a mountain. They looked down into the valley, and, behold! there was smoke at the foot of the mountain. Therefore they said to one another, “Let us go down and camp in these houses!” for it was near the end of the day.

so they sid down on their snowshoes, and soon came to the end of a village. The people came out to meet them when they came down, and each family invited one of the strangers into their house. They said, “We are told that ten brothers with their wives have arrived, and the youngest brother has a young wife with a child.”

The chief of the village invited the youngest one into his house, and also his young wife with her child. When the chief gave them their supper, and while they were eating, the child began to cry. The mother was very hungry, and did not mind the crying of the child. Therefore a middle-aged woman who was seated on the other side of the fire asked the young mother to let her have the child while she was eating, and the young woman gave her the child.

The child kept on crying and screaming. Therefore the old woman put her mouth to the baby’s ear and sang this song: “A, a, a, ye! A, a, a, ye! ‘Thus sang the old woman into the baby’s ear. Then the child began to cry less and less until it stopped.

The child’s mother always looked over to her child while she was eating: and after she had finished, she went over. She thought her child was sound asleep. Soon after her meal she saw that her child was hanging on the arm of the old woman. She took her child from her, and, behold! it was dead in the arms of the old woman.

The young mother did not ery, but only wrapped the child in her marten blanket, and saw, when she examined it, that blood was oozing out of the baby’s ear where the old woman had put her mouth. Therefore the voung woman told her husband, “My dear, the inhabitants of this village are not real people; they are strange beings. Go to your brothers, and tell them what has happened to our child while we were eating our meal.”

So the young man went to his brothers and told them what had become of their little child, and gave orders to his brothers not to sleep, to avoid danger. He said, “While these people are asleep, let. us escape the same way that we came sliding down!”

Late in the evening the people of the village went to bed. The two young people were full of sorrow on account of the death of their child. Not long after the people had gone to bed, the chief arose again, and crept toward the young couple. Then they made a noise, and coughed when the chief was close to the place where they lay; and when the chief heard the coughing, he ran away and lay down again in his own place.

After a while another man in the house arose and came toward them. When he was near by, they coughed, and the man crept away from them. Thus it happened with all the brothers and their hosts.

hist before daybreak all the people of the village were sound asleep. Then the strangers went out secretly, and all met at the end of the village and went up the mountain. Before they reached the top of the mountain, they looked back, and, behold! a multitude of people came in pursuit, climbing the side of the steep mountain.

Then the few strangers were in trouble; and when they reached the sliding snow, they held a counsel, and they agreed that when their pursuers were close behind them, they would try to cause an avalanche to destroy them.

So the ten men and ten women worked hard in the snow. They used their staffs with mountain-goat horn at the points to dig across a large snowbank that hung on one side of the mountain; and when the multitude that pursued them was close behind them, they threw down a large piece of snow, and they all perished, and were swept away under the avalanche.

Then the ten couples had a rest on top of the snow, for they were weary after their labor; and while they were there, behold! another multitude of people came behind them, more than before, and the hearts of the ten couples failed.

Now, the youngest one said, “Let our hearts not fail us! Let us all have courage!’ and so they began again to work with their staffs, and dug out the snow; and when the many people who pursued them were near to them, they broke off a large piece of snow, which fell down over the people that pursued them, and they all perished in the avalanche.

Still another multitude of people were coming along, and they also perished in an avalanche. They had done this several times, and at last the chief came up to them alone. He was a short, stout man. He came up to them quickly, so that the ten couples had no time to loosen the snow.

His was the Mosquito Town, and the old woman in the chief’s house drank the baby’s blood through its ear. The chief’s name was Baboudina (7). He was pursuing the ten couples because his people had been destroyed by the avalanches. His proboscis was of pure crystal. He ran rapidly toward them, and killed the first one with his crystal proboscis.

Then he went to the other one, and the rest ran away from him, but he pursued them. Finally only one young woman was left. She was younger than all the others, and ran faster than they. She was the mother of the child that was killed in the house of Chief Baboudina. She ran more quickly than the chief; and when she arrived at a lake, she ran into the water; and while she was walking in the water, she saw a tree slanting over the lake. She went to it and climbed to the top. There she staid. As soon as she reached the top of the tree, behold! Baboudina was coming along, following the scent of her footprints right down to the water. Then he lost her tracks and looked about in the water.

At last he saw the young woman sitting in the water. Then he jumped in and tried to kill her; but he could not do it, for he only saw the young woman’s reflection in the water of the lake. He came out of the water again, and the water was full of dirt and mud.

He stood on the shore waiting until the mud cleared away. When it was clear, he saw the woman again sitting at the same place. He dived again, and tried to get her in the mud, but could not catch her. He came out again, and stood on the shore looking into the water, Waiting until it cleared, and soon the water was clear again. Therefore the woman laughed at hun, because he was so foolish; and as soon as the water was clear, he saw the woman laughing and scorning him, as he thought. Therefore he was very angry, and dived once more, and staid in the water a lone while. He came out again and was furious. He felt quite chilly because he had been in the water a long while.

He remained standing at the same place, waiting for the water to clear again. The sun had almost set before the water was clear. Then he saw the young woman laughing and scorning him. Full of anger because the young woman was mocking him, he jumped again into the water and kicked and beat the mud in the bottom of the lake. He staid there a long while; and when he came out again, he was very chilly.

Then he tied up all his long hair on the top of his head, and made it round like a ball. His whole body was shaking, for he felt so cold. The sun had gone down in the west; and he stood there, his body shaking, and the ball of hair moving quickly. His made the woman laugh very much when she saw it. When the water was clear once more, Baboudina saw the young woman laughing again, and he plunged in. He did not care about the cold. He forgot all about it, and he staid there twice as long as he had before.

Finally he came out of the water. He walked very slowly ashore, for he felt very cold. The moon was shining, the sky was clear, and the north wind was blowing, and soon he was frozen to death, His wings were frozen to the ground. The woman saw him lying there dead.

She did not believe that he was really dead. Therefore she took + rotten branch, and threw it toward the place where he lay; but he did not move. Then she came down from the tree and went to the place where he lay and kicked him, but he was quite dead.

Then she took her fish-knife made of shell, which she wore under her shirt about her neck, and cut him open. She took out his heart; but the heart had two eyes and a mouth, and was still living. It looked at the young woman, and the young woman was afraid of it.

She took it down to the bodies of her companions. When she came to the one who was last. killed, she swung the heart over him, and he arose again after she had swung it over him four times.

Then she went to another one and swung the live heart of Baboudina over his body, and he came to life. She went to all her companions who had been killed; and when they were all alive again, they were all very happy; and the young woman told them that she had killed the chief of the Mosquitoes, that he was lying dead by the lake.

Then they all wanted to go and see him. The following day they went there, and found the place where he lay dead. They examined the body, and saw that the proboscis was of pure crystal. Then they said to one another, “Let us burn him up right here!’ They started a fire, and put his dead body on the fire. His heart also was burned, and only the ashes remained there.

And some of the people blew into the fire where they had burned Baboudina, and blew the ashes of the dead chief’s body about. Then all the ashes flew upward, and thus the ashes of Baboudina became small mosquitoes. Therefore mosquitoes remain on earth now. After they had finished this, they all went home safely.