Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

One morning in the jungle, a little mosquito landed on Iguana's shoulder and began to brag.

"Iguana! You won't believe what I saw! A farmer was digging yams as big as ME!" she buzzed, spreading her tiny arms wide.

Now, everyone knows that yams are much, much bigger than mosquitoes. Iguana rolled his eyes. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," he grumbled. "I don't want to hear another word of such nonsense."

Iguana was so annoyed that he found two small sticks and pushed them right into his ears. "There!" he said. "Now I won't have to listen to any more of Mosquito's silly stories."

But with sticks in his ears, Iguana couldn't hear anything at all. So when Python slithered by and said, "Good morning, Iguana!" Iguana walked right past without a word.

Python's eyes went wide. "Why is Iguana ignoring me?" he whispered. "He must be angry. He must be planning something terrible!"

Python was so frightened that he slithered as fast as he could to the nearest hiding place — which happened to be Rabbit's burrow.

"SNAKE!" screamed Rabbit, leaping straight out of her hole with her ears flat against her head. "A giant snake is in my house! Run! Run!"

Rabbit bounded through the jungle, her white tail bobbing, her eyes as big as coconuts.

Crow saw Rabbit racing through the trees in a panic. "Something terrible is happening!" Crow squawked, flapping into the sky. "Danger! DANGER!" he cried, his voice echoing through the whole jungle.

Monkey heard Crow's alarm and leaped from branch to branch, chattering with fright. But Monkey was moving so fast and so carelessly that he crashed right through the treetops — and a heavy branch snapped and fell down, down, down toward the owl's nest below.

The falling branch struck the nest where Mother Owl's baby was sleeping. When Mother Owl flew home and found her little owlet hurt, she let out a cry so sad that the whole jungle went quiet.

Mother Owl tucked her wings around her baby and wept. She was so heartbroken that she could not do her most important job — hooting to tell the sun it was time to rise.

And so the next morning, the sun did not come up. The jungle stayed dark.

One day passed in darkness. Then two. The animals shivered in the cold. The flowers closed their petals. The birds couldn't find their food.

"Where is the sun?" they all cried. "Why won't Mother Owl wake the sun?"

King Lion heard the cries of his animals and shook his great mane. "Enough," he said in his deep, rumbling voice. "Bring everyone to the clearing. We will find out what happened."

One by one, King Lion questioned the animals.

"Mother Owl, why won't you wake the sun?" — "Because Monkey broke the branch that hurt my baby." "Monkey, why did you break the branch?" — "Because Crow frightened me!" "Crow, why did you sound the alarm?" — "Because Rabbit was running in a panic!" "Rabbit, why were you running?" — "Because Python crawled into my burrow!" "Python, why did you hide in Rabbit's burrow?" — "Because Iguana was ignoring me!" "Iguana, why did you ignore Python?" — "Because Mosquito told me a silly lie, so I put sticks in my ears!"

Every head turned. "MOSQUITO!" they all shouted together.

But Mosquito had heard the whole thing, and she was so ashamed that she hid. She hid behind leaves, under rocks, inside flowers — anywhere she could squeeze her tiny body.

Mother Owl, seeing that the animals understood what had happened, finally dried her tears. That evening she hooted long and clear, and the very next morning, the golden sun rose over the jungle once more.

But Mosquito never stopped hiding — or feeling guilty. And that is why, to this very day, mosquitoes buzz in people's ears. They're whispering, "Is everyone still angry at me?"

And do you know what people do? SLAP!