Читать книгу Filipino Children's Favorite Stories - Liana Romulo - Страница 8

Why Mosquitos Buzz Around Our Ears

A long time ago, in a fishpond not far from the rice fields, there lived a giant crab named Maga. Maga was no ordinary crab. He was King of Crabs, and everyone was afraid of him. Not only was he always in a crabby mood, he was almost twice as big as his crab cousins. When Maga was mad, his big claws would go Snap! Snap! and everyone—the fish, fireflies, worms, frogs, mosquitoes, snails, birds—would run away.

One night, Maga couldn’t fall asleep, which wasn’t at all unusual. As everybody in the pond kingdom knew, Maga always had trouble sleeping. They also knew that if anyone dared wake him from his sleep, Maga would get very angry. That night he crept in and out of his house restlessly, trying to make himself tired enough to sleep. His house was a hole in the mud that led into a deep, dark tunnel underground. Finally, he gave up and decided to call for his old sheriff, who lived in a crab hole nearby. “Cagang!” he yelled into the quiet darkness. “Cagang!”

A while later Cagang arrived at Maga’s side. Though Cagang was the sheriff, he was an old and brittle crab, and he could barely outrun a worm. “Yes, sir,” he said, his grey feelers twitching. “What can I do for you, sir?”

“Gather up all the frogs you can find and bring them here,” Maga said crankily. “I can’t sleep, and I want them to sing to me.” Several minutes later, Maga was back in his house, listening to the frogs sing.

“Kokak, kokak,

sit back, sit back.

Blideet, blideet,

now go to sleep,”

the frogs chorused.

Maga soon fell into a deep, deep sleep.

Snooorrrrkkkk …

Snooorrrrkkkk …

Whrrssh …

Whrrssh …

he snored loudly.

Cagang began to feel a bit sleepy, himself, so he, too, crawled into his own hole to go to sleep for the night.

“Kokak, kokak,

sit back, sit back.

Blideet, blideet,

now go to sleep,”

the frogs went on singing.

Then, suddenly, fat raindrops began to fall from the sky.

“Wha, ha, ha,” one of the frogs said, laughing. “The King’s snoring is so loud, it’s beginning to rain!” Then all the other frogs began to laugh, too. “Ha, ha, ha,” they said, holding their bellies.

The frogs were having so much fun, they didn’t even notice Maga come out of his hole. He was wide-awake and mad.

“Oh, no. Let’s go!” said the terrified frogs. In a panic, the frogs began hopping in all directions, trying to find places to hide. They leaped behind slippery rocks, into tall grass, and under water lilies in the murky pond.

Early the next morning, when the sun was just beginning to shine, Maga ordered Cagang to rally all the frogs for a special meeting.

“Why were you making so much noise last night?” he demanded, inching closer to the frogs and snapping his claws loudly.

The frogs clung together, shaking. They knew very well that Maga was strong enough to slice any one of them in half with a single stroke of his powerful pincers.

“I am the King!” he boomed, raising his claws high above his head. “You must never, NEVER disturb me while I’m sleeping!”

The frogs looked at each other worriedly, then finally the bravest frog stepped forward. “Sir,” he said as politely as he could, “we saw our friend the snail carrying his house on his shoulders, and so we started to laugh.”

Maga looked at him sharply, and the frog lowered his gaze ever so slightly. Even the bravest frog knew better than to challenge Maga.

Maga nodded thoughtfully. “I see …,” he said. “The snail made you all laugh.”

“Yes, sir,” said the frog.

“Well, then,” Maga said, his tone softening a bit. “I will pardon you this time, but the next time—”

Snap! Snap!

“—you’re all going to get it!” And with that, Maga dismissed the frogs and turned to the old sheriff. “I want you to find that snail and arrest him!”

A couple of hours later, the old sheriff returned with the snail, who started shaking when he saw Maga’s giant pincers. Snap! Snap! Maga’s claws went.

“You,” he said, pointing a claw in the snail’s direction. “Why were you wandering around last night with your house on your back?”

“S-s-s-sir,” stammered the snail, “the f-f-f-firefly was playing too close to my house, and I was afraid it would catch fire.”

Maga remained silent for a moment. “I see …” he said. “It was the firefly that made you wander on my property with your house on your back.”

He looked at Cagang, who was standing guard next to the snail. “Do you believe his story?” he asked.

The old sheriff nodded. “I think he’s telling the truth, sir.”

“Then let this snail go and arrest that firefly!” Maga ordered, his claws twitching with anger. “Find that firefly now!”

Cagang returned at noon, the firefly nervously fluttering beside him. “Whatever it is,” she said tremulously, “I swear I didn’t do it.”

“Be quiet!” Maga said, fuming. The heat from the sun was now beating down on his back, and he was growing madder and madder by the minute.

“Firefly, explain why—”

Snap! Snap! Snap!

“—you were carrying fire near the snail’s house last night.”

The firefly’s wings suddenly went still, and her face dimmed. She was so scared, she couldn’t move.

“I-I-I—” she began,

“Well, speak, firefly!” Maga said impatiently. “I haven’t got all day.”

“I-I-I—” the firefly tried again. “I had to turn on my fire to keep the mosquito away,” she explained. “He was trying to bite me.”

The firefly’s story seemed perfectly believable to Maga, but before he could give Cagang the order to arrest the mosquito, the old sheriff spoke up. “You want me to find the mosquito and arrest him, sir?” he said, sounding tired.

“Bring him to me now!” he raged, rapidly snapping his pincers.

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

Cagang dutifully took off in search of the mosquito, as the firefly fluttered away. Late in the afternoon, he returned with the humming mosquito.

“Well, hello, King,” the mosquito said. “Why have you invited me here?” Then he casually buzzed over to where Maga was sitting.

Maga didn’t like the mosquito’s tone one bit. He didn’t even seem afraid.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

went his claws threateningly.

Snap! Snap!

“Why were you trying to bite the firefly?”

The mosquito laughed, buzzing even closer to Maga. “I’m a mosquito, aren’t I?” he said cockily. “It’s what I do.”

“You will be punished!” Maga roared, his eyes bulging.

Then the mosquito flew swiftly up into the air and poked Maga right in the eye. He knew that the eyes were the only soft parts of the crab.

“Aaaah!” Maga cried, turning bright red.

“Cagang!” he screamed. “Kill that little bug!”

By this time, Cagang was truly exhausted. But he mustered up all his strength and raised his pincers. Snip! went one of his claws weakly. Snip, snip.

The mosquito laughed and laughed, even daring to fly in between Cagang’s claws just for the fun of it. In and out he recklessly flew until, suddenly, Cagang caught him with one deadly snip. The mosquito stopped laughing and fell to the ground, lifeless.

Then, out of nowhere came a battalion of mosquitoes with a humming roar. Bzzz, Bzzzz, Buzzz! Hundreds of the dead mosquito’s friends surrounded Maga and the poor old sheriff, poking them in the eyes with their sharp stingers.

Snip! Snap! Snap! the crabs fought back. But Maga’s powerful claws were useless to him. The mosquitoes were just too fast and too small.

Finally, Maga and Cagang gave up and scampered into their holes, with the mosquito battalion trailing close behind.

The mosquitoes could no longer get to Maga and Cagang, who were safely burrowed in their houses deep underground. But, today, a thousand years later, the mosquitoes are still waiting for them to come out. So, whenever they see the holes of our ears, they’re reminded of Maga’s and Cagang’s crab holes.

And that’s why mosquitoes buzz around our ears.