_Haida_
Sun was fond of gambling. After he had gambled at one place and
another on Toets Island he launched his canoe. He wore a ragged
marten-skin blanket.
When Sun reached that place where he was going, he went up into the
woods. When he got far into the woods, something before him made a
noise, but the noise was not like that of a bird. Following it, he
came to a narrow trail. Sun went along this and came to a pond. When
he reached it, a log was there, with the top cut off, and a nest
made of moss at the end of it. This was a quiet place. And there
were nests near one another in the moss near the lake.
While Sun was looking at the moss hanging from the branches of the
trees above him, a long, thin bird flew out. It flew straight
towards him. It made a noise like _M-mmmmmmm_. It had a long bill.
And it sat on the moss nest at the end of the log. This was the
place where it sat. It was its nest. The bird was Mosquito. The
inside of its nest was green.
Then Sun went to look for a stick and he broke off a stick with his
feet. The bird’s nest was upon the moss. Then Sun walked to it upon
the log. He walked slowly to it. He held the stick in his hand. When
he got near, he struck it. Then Sun saw it was dead, and he took it
up, but it was very light.
Just as Sun turned, a humming sound arose on the other
side—_Hm-hm-mmmmmmmm_, it sounded. Mosquitoes came out from inside
the moss. These were small ones, like ashes. What Sun had come to
was a Mosquito town.
Then they bit that man. He ran very fast, but he kept his large
Mosquito. When he got far from the lake, he knew they were following
him for that. Then he tore it in pieces and threw it about. He said,
“You will bite even the last generation of people.”
Because Sun tore it in pieces, the big mosquitoes came to be in the
world.
Then he escaped to his canoe.