Raven does many great things. But even he makes mistakes. And his greatest blunder was the creation of mosquitoes.
In the days when the world was new, Raven had been called by the tribes. A creature was devestating the villages, carrying off men and devouring them.
"Ga!" said Raven, "I'll see to this."
He flew into the depths of the forest, and, taking the shape of a man, lay down and pretended to be dead. Soon, the thud of giant feet came through the brush. Above Raven was a roar of laughter
"Mankind makes it too easy for me!" said the creature, "Now they're dying right in my path!"
The creature lifted up Raven in one hand and began to strut away, throwing him over its shoulder. And that is when Raven pulled out the knife he had kept hidden, and plunged it into the creature's back. The creature screeched and writhed. But to Raven's surprise, it laughed as well. "You may kill me, but I'll only get up again. I'll eat men until the end of time."
"I think not." said Raven. Just to be sure, he pecked out the monster's eyes and ate them. He hacked the giant apart and burned the body. Then, gathering up the ashes in a sack, he flew it high into the air for the winds to scatter. But as he opened the bag of ashes, thousands, millions of tiny insects came boiling from it. Thousands, millions of tiny voices made up one voice.
"I will eat men until the end of time! A little at a time, forever!"
The insects swarmed, and a few even got under Raven's feathers to suck his blood. Try as he might, Raven could not kill them, nor could he gather them in the sack once more.
Because of Raven's mistake, to this day mosquitoes eat of our blood. They need no eyes, for they find us by scent. And they will be here until the end of time.* This story, first recorded in 1883, might be a Tlinget story, or might be a later tall tale. Sometimes the story is simply about a man, and not Raven at all. My retelling comes from several sources, including the story in Richard Edores' American Indian Myths and Legends
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