How mosquitoes left Kambara

Once long ago, a small island in the Pacific called Kambara was infested with mosquitoes. The island people were constantly at war with these pesky insects and grew weary of being bitten especially at night. All day long the women of the tribe pounded tree bark into fine-mesh screens to keep the mosquitoes out.

One day it happened that a prince from the island of Oneata sailed throughout the south Pacific in search of treasures for his people. He landed on Kambara and the chief welcomed him as an honoured guest. After a great feast, the prince was shown to a sleeping room. It was surrounded with beautifully painted mosquito screens.

Tell me, O chief of Kambara, said the prince, ‘’Why do you hang such wonderful cloth all around the room? ‘’.

  ‘’ For the mosquitoes ‘’, replied the chief.  Mosquitoes ? What are mosquitoes ?, asked the prince. ‘our little friends of night. They are small flying insects and they sing us to sleep every night,’ said the chief. He was too embarrassed to tell the truth.

 How nice, said the prince, ‘We have nothing like mosquitoes in our country’.

‘Too bad’, said the chief .We have more than what we need.

The prince yawned and just as he began to fall asleep, the night air was filled with hum and buzz of thousands of hungry mosquitoes flying outside the curtain. ‘Such a soothing sound, he muttered’, a rare treasure indeed. The next morning the prince asked the chief if he could take some mosquitoes back to his country with him. ‘You would have to take all of them ‘, replied the chief. ‘since they are a close knit family and could not stand to be separated’ . ‘But what about your people?’ asked the worried prince.’ Wouldn’t they be unhappy if I took all of your lovely mosquitoes?’.

Yes, they would replied the chief, ‘’ but if were to give us something in return I think they would be satisfied  “I have a magic conch shell in my ship, said the eager prince  “ you blow it like a trumpet and the fish swim to the shore and let themselves be caught.Your people will never grow hungry” . It is a bargain, said the chief of Kambara happily, “our mosquitoes for your magic shell”.

The people of Kambara set a trap for the mosquitoes, using a huge basket so tightly woven that even the smallest of the mosquitoes could not get out. They placed a freshly killed pig in the basket and the chief waited behind a nearby tree with the lid. The Sun began to set and the mosquitoes came out in droves in search of victims and it was not long before every mosquito on the island was in the basket enjoying the feast. The chief jumped out from behind the tree, popped the lid on the basket and tied it tightly with long vines.  With the basket in his ship, the prince sailed back to his country. He thought how happy his people would be with the beautiful sounds of the mosquitoes.The chief of Kambara was also happy. He blew on the conch shell and his people began gathering in the fish for celebrating a feast.