How Mosquitoes Came to Be

"How Mosquitoes Came to Be" by Julia Darrow Cowles is a whimsical children's tale that explores the origins of mosquitoes through imaginative storytelling. The narrative weaves together elements of nature, folklore, and creativity, inviting young readers to understand how these insects became part of the world. With charming illustrations and engaging prose, the book encourages curiosity about the environment and the interconnectedness of all creatures. Ideal for fostering a love for nature, this story sparks the imagination while imparting valuable lessons about acceptance and the role of every being in the ecosystem.

• Children
• Short story

								
IN the long-ago time, the Red Men tell us that their fathers were
greatly troubled by the visits of an enormous bird called Mosquito. No
one knew whence it came, or where it went. But always it brought
terror and destruction.

Sometimes it would fly over the growing corn and with the great force
of its wings beat it all to the earth. Sometimes it would swoop down
and strike a child playing beside the lodge. Again it would come
swiftly and throw a man or a woman of the tribe to the earth, and
leave them bleeding and torn.

At length its visits became so frequent that the people were afraid to
leave their lodges, and so a great council was called, to see what
could be done to get rid of the monster.

At this council one of the young braves said, “I will go out and try
to snare the bird. I will offer my life to save my people.”

The young man cut strong bands of rawhide. He said, “I will try to
throw one of these bands about the great bird, and snare him before he
ends my life. Then you must come and kill him.”

So the young brave started out, and when he reached a bare place on
the mountain side he sat down on the ground and sang his death-song
while he waited.

Presently, with a terrible cry, the great Mosquito flew down with his
enormous wings outstretched, and just as he buried his talons in the
young warrior’s flesh, the brave youth sprang erect, threw one of the
rawhide thongs about the foot of the bird and bound him to the rock.

The men of the tribe who had watched the conflict ran to the mountain
side and let fly their arrows. Soon the great Mosquito lay dead upon
the rocks.

There was great rejoicing in the village. The news was spread by
runners, so that braves both young and old came from neighboring
tribes to see the body of the monstrous bird.

“The body should be burned,” counseled one of the old men of the
tribe; but so proud were they of the young warrior who had given his
life to free the Red Men of this great foe, and so eager were they to
show the huge size of the monster, that they gave no heed to his
advice.

One day they noticed that small stinging flies began to buzz about.
Nothing like them had ever been seen before. Their number increased,
and then the people noticed that they came from the body of the great
bird. And the insects bit and stung them.

“It is a new plague,” said the Indians. “We should have given heed to
the counsel of the old man of the tribe, and burned the body, for we
know that all evil things are cleansed by fire.”

And so the little stinging insects were called mosquitoes, and to this
day they are a trouble and an annoyance to mankind.
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