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. HOW BIRDS AND FAIRIES CAME TO BE (Algonquin) ONCE--oh, a very long time ago--there were no birds and no fairies upon the earth. Now I will tell you a story of their beginning, as the Indian grandmothers tell it to the Red children. Ten beautiful sisters lived in the lodge of their father, and no maidens in all the tribe were so good to look upon as they. Young warriors came and sought them in marriage, and one by one the sisters went away to the lodges of their husbands, until only one was left in the lodge of her father. This one was Oweenee, the youngest of all, and the most beautiful. Many warriors had sought her favor, but she was not easily won. Her sisters mocked her, but she cared not for that. “I shall know when the right suitor comes,” she said to her own heart, and went about her duties in her father’s lodge. One day an old man came to the lodge door and talked with the youngest sister, and though he seemed old and bent with years, her heart told her, “He is the one for whom you have waited.” And so, when he asked her to go to his lodge and be his wife, she consented. Her sisters mocked her more than before, but they and their husbands went with Oweenee and the old man along the path. The married sisters led the way, and the old man, whose name was Osseo, and the youngest sister, Oweenee, walked behind, and the girl was kind and thoughtful, and watched the steps of Osseo with care.