Mosquito Long-nose returned to the flock, shouting across the entire
marsh, "I certainly did frighten him! He will never come again."
The mosquitoes wondered. They were perplexed and asked, "But what about
Mishka? Where is he now?"
"I don't know, brothers. He surely got scared when I told him I'd eat
him up, if he did not go away. You know I don't like to jest, so I just
said, 'I'll eat you up,' I'm afraid he perished from fear while I was
coming back here. Well, it's his own fault."
The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. They were discussing how to deal with an
invading bear. There never had been such a noise in the marsh before.
They buzzed and hissed and finally decided to chase the bear away from
their domain.
"Let him go home into his forest and sleep there. The marsh is ours.
Our fathers and our grandfathers lived in this very marsh. It is ours."
One sensible old mosquito advised them to leave the bear alone. "Let
him have his sleep," said she, "when he wakes up, he will leave the
marsh of his own accord."
But the rest of the flock just flew at her. The poor old thing was glad
to get away and hide.
"Come on, brothers!" shouted Mosquito Long-Nose, louder than the rest.
"We will show him who we are!"
The whole flock followed Mosquito Long-Nose. They came to the spot
where Mishka was lying as still as death.
"Didn't I say he died of fright?" boasted Mosquito Long-Nose. "It's a
pity! He was a fine, strong bear!"
[Illustration]
"Brothers, he is only asleep," piped a tiny mosquito, flying close to
Mishka's nose and being almost blown to pieces by the wind from the
bear's nostrils.
"The shameless rascal!" squealed the Mosquitoes in chorus. "He crushed
five hundred of us ... swallowed another hundred ... and now he sleeps
as if nothing had happened."
But shaggy Mishka slept soundly as if nothing had really happened. He
was whistling through his nose.
"He is pretending to be asleep," said Mosquito Long-Nose. "I'll show
him who I am. Hey, Uncle, enough of this make-believe!"
And with this, Mosquito Long-Nose flew at the bear, aimed at his black
nose and pierced it with his mosquito-sting. Mishka fairly jumped,
grabbing his nose with his paw; but Mosquito Long-Nose was already too
far away.
"Well, Uncle, you did not seem to like that," squealed Mosquito
Long-Nose. "Go away or it will be the worse for you. I'm not alone.
With me, is Grandfather, Mosquito Longer-Nose, and my younger brother,
Mosquito Longest-Nose. Better go away, Uncle."
"I will not go away!" shouted the bear, sitting down on his haunches.
"I'll crush you all to death!"
"Oh, uncle, you're boasting foolishly."
Once more, Mosquito Long-Nose flew at the bear and this time he aimed
at his eye. Mishka groaned with pain, and slapped his paw over his
face, trying to catch the mosquito. Again he failed and he only
scratched his face in the effort. Mosquito Long-Nose was meanwhile
buzzing by close to his ear and threatening Mishka, "I'll eat you up,
Uncle."