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 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.