HOW MOSQUITOES CAME TO BE

A Tlingit Tale to Tell Around the Camp Fire

Hey Folks!

I just got back from camping for a few days. It ended up raining quite a lot, but fortunately I had a delightful book with me called American Indian Myths and Legends.

If you’re into folklore, or even if you’re not, I really can’t recommend this book highly enough.

It’s nothing short of a treasure trove of amazing stories, many of which are perfect for telling around a campfire.

In the weeks to come, I plan to share some of my favourites tales. Today I have a wonderful story about a Big Bad Giant which explains how mosquitoes came to be.

If you’re going to tell it around a fire, I recommend working on your Big Bad Giant voice and throwing in some Fee Fi Fo Fums.

Enjoy!

HOW MOSQUITOES CAME TO BE

[TLINGIT]

Long ago, there was a giant who loved to kill humans, eat their flesh, and drink their blood. He was especially fond of human hearts. “Unless we can get rid of this giant,” people said, “none of us will be left,” and they called a council to discuss ways and means.

One man said, “I think I know how to kill the monster,” and he went to the place where the giant had last been seen. There he lay down and pretended to be dead.

Soon the giant came along. Seeing the man lying there, he said: “These humans are making it easy for me. Now I don’t even have to catch and kill them; they die right on my trail, probably from fear of me!”

The giant touched the body. “Ah, good,” he said, “this one is still warm and fresh. What a tasty meal he'll make; I can’t wait to roast his heart.”

The giant flung the man over his shoulder, and the man let his head hang down as if he were dead. Carrying the man home, the giant dropped him in the middle of the floor right near the fireplace. Then he saw that there was no firewood and went to get some.

As soon as the monster had left, the man got up and grabbed the giant's huge skinning knife. Just then the giant’s son came in, bending low to enter. He was still small as giants go, and the man held the big knife to his throat. “Quick, tell me, where’s your father’s heart? Tell me or I'll slit your throat!”

The giant’s son was scared. He said: “My father’s heart is in his left heel.”

Just then the giant’s left foot appeared in the entrance, and the man swiftly plunged the knife into the heel. The monster screamed and fell down dead.

Yet the giant still spoke. “Though I’m dead, though you killed me, I’m going to keep on eating you and all the other humans in the world forever!”

“That’s what you think!” said the man. “I’m about to make sure that you never eat anyone again.” He cut the giant’s body into pieces and burned each one in the fire. Then he took the ashes and threw them into the air for the winds to scatter.

Instantly each of the particles turned into a mosquito. The cloud of ashes became a cloud of mosquitoes, and from their midst the man heard the giant’s voice laughing, saying: “Yes, I'll eat you people until the end of time.”

And as the monster spoke, the man felt a sting, and a mosquito started sucking his blood, and then many mosquitoes stung him, and he began to scratch himself.

—Retold from English source, 1883.

This is a Tlingit tale. The Tlingit are an indigenous tribe who live in what is now Alaska. They are a salmon people fairly typical of the Pacific Northwest. Like the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan, their form of government was the potlatch, also known as the feast system.

If you’re interested in the feast system, which I believe provides a clear model of how a stateless society could function, I refer you to the following article: