Verotchka's Tales Part 2

It happened at noon, when all the mosquitoes hid in the marsh to escape the heat.

Mr. Long-Nose settled under a leaf and fell asleep. His sleep was disturbed by a despairing shout.

"Wow! Wow! Help! Help!"

Mosquito Long-Nose jumped out from under the leaf and called:

"What happened? Why are you screaming?"

A whole swarm of mosquitoes flew about, buzzed and shrieked--apparently for no reason at all.

"Oh, my! Just think what happened! A bear came into our marsh, stretched himself out full length and fell asleep. And as he lay down, he crushed five hundred of us; and as he opened his mouth, he swallowed a hundred of us. Some trouble, brothers. We hardly escaped being crushed to death ourselves."

Mosquito Long-Nose grew furiously angry--angry at the bear and at the foolish mosquitoes, who were shouting to no purpose.

"Stop your squealing!" shouted he. "It's all very simple. I will go and chase the bear away. Your noise is foolish."

Mosquito Long-Nose grew even more angry and flew away. He reached the marsh and there lay the bear in the very thickets where the mosquitoes had lived from the beginning of time.

The Bear lay stretched full length, snoring and whistling like a trumpeter.

"The beast! Grabbed the place that doesn't belong to him ... killed off so many mosquitoes ... and now he sleeps so soundly! It's outrageous!"

"Hey, Uncle, what are you doing?" shouted Mosquito Long-Nose through the forest. He shouted so loudly that he grew afraid of himself. Fuzzy Mishka opened one eye and saw nothing. Then he opened the other eye and all he could see was a mosquito hovering over his nose.

"What do you want, Comrade?" grumbled Mishka, getting angry, and justly so. There he was all ready for a nap when along comes this good-for-nothing squealing at him and waking him up.

"Hey, Uncle, get away! Get up and go away in a friendly fas.h.i.+on!"

advised Long-Nose.

Mishka opened his eyes, looked at Mr. Impudence, snorted and grew furiously angry.

"What do you want, you good-for-nothing?" growled Mishka.

"Leave our quarters or I'll eat you up, fur coat and all."

The bear was very much amused. He turned over on the other side, covered his face with his paw and fell asleep, snoring immediately.

II

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!"

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"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 s.h.a.ggy 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."

III

Mishka grew angry and angrier. He grabbed a birch tree and tore it up by the roots, aiming it at the mosquitoes. He waved it and waved it until he grew very tired, but he did not succeed in killing a single mosquito. They just swarmed and buzzed a little beyond his reach. Then Mishka took a huge stone and hurled it at the Mosquitoes, but all in vain.

"Well, Uncle," squealed Mosquito Long-Nose, "I'll eat you up after all."

The battle raged between Mishka and the mosquitoes. There was much noise; one could hear the bear's growling from afar.

IV

He tore up many trees, he dug up many stones. He always aimed at Mosquito Long-Nose, who seemed to be right over his ear. But the bear's paw always missed its aim, while his face was scratched and bleeding from his own claws.