Thus, because the human race changed from being all kindness to the
rest of the creatures, both great and small, into being cruel and savage,
all these various creatures have combined to bring dreadful diseases among
men in revenge for their own wrongs."
"That is too bad," said Minnehaha. "Why could they not have kept on loving
each other all the time, instead of things being as they are now?"
Sagastao, who had laughed at the idea of the mosquitoes coming to a
council, and of their having anything to complain of, said, "I would like
to know what mosquitoes lived on in those good old days you speak about.
Now they are after me lively enough." And he slowly lifted up his hand, on
the back of which a couple were rapidly filling themselves with his blood.
But Mary, who, Indian like, was wise and observant, only said, "Wait a
minute or two and I will show you." Then she quickly hurried back into a
swampy place and soon returned with a thick juicy leaf, to the under side
of which several mosquitoes were still clinging, with their bodies
distended with its juice.
"There," she said, as she carefully held the leaf sideways, "that is what
most of the mosquitoes still live on. They attack our race in revenge for
our being so cruel as to kill so many of the animals, large and small, but
this, as you can easily see, is their natural food."
This appeal to the eye quite silenced the children, who had considered the
whole story as only an Indian legend to be amused with.
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