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Pošastni komar
029 The Monster Mosquito
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land · Charles M. SkinnerO besedilu
Pošastni komar
- Vir
- Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
- Avtor
- Charles M. Skinner
- Jezik branja
- Slovenščina
- Jezik izvirnika
- English
- Čas branja
- 2 min branja
- Obseg
- 2 strani
- Naslov izvirnika
- 029 The Monster Mosquito
O izvirniku
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
Obsežna zgodovinska zbirka ameriških legend, ki jih je Skinner zbral in avtorsko rekonstruiral. Bralni jezik je Slovenščina, izvirnik pa prihaja iz vira Myths and Legends of Our Own Land v jeziku English.
Besedilo
Pošastni komar
V New Jerseyju in na Long Islandu imajo precej velike komarje, toda če pripoved o njihovem poreklu drži, so se tako po velikosti kot po požrešnosti močno izrodili; ded vseh komarjev je namreč nekoč živel v okolici utrdbe Onondaga v zvezni državi New York in je, kadar ga je zgrabila lakota, planil na plano, požrl Indijanca ali dva in si z njunimi rebri očistil zobe. Rdečekožci niso imeli orožja, s katerim bi ga lahko premagali, a naposled je Nosilec neba uslišal njihove klice na pomoč, se spustil na zemljo in napadel žuželko. Ko je komar spoznal, da je naletel na sebi enakega, je odletel tako hitro, da ga je napadalec komaj še dohajal s pogledom. Obkrožil je veliko jezero, nato pa spet zavil proti vzhodu. Zaman je iskal pomoči pri čarovnicah, ki so ždele v vrtačah oziroma Zelenih jezerih (blizu Janesvilla v zvezni državi New York), in že je dosegel slano jezero Onondaga, ko ga je zasledovalec dohitel in ubil; v smrtnem boju je bitje nagrmadilo pesek v griče.
Ko se je njegova kri razlila po zemlji, se je spremenila v drobne komarje, ki so se zgrnili okoli Nosilca neba in ga tako neusmiljeno pikali, da je že skoraj obžaloval uslugo, ki jo je storil ljudem. Tuskarori pravijo, da je bil to eden od dveh pošastnih stvorov, ki sta stala na nasprotnih bregovih reke Seneca in pobila vsakogar, ki je šel mimo. Drugega je ubil Hiawatha. V njihovem rezervatu je kamen z odtisom postave Nosilca neba, ki kaže, kje je med zasledovanjem počival, južno od Syracusa pa so bile še do nedavnega vidne njegove sledi, ki so se izmenjevale s komarjevimi stopinjami; te so bile podobne ptičjim in dolge dvajset palcev. V Brightonu v zvezni državi New York, kjer so se ti odtisi pojavili, so jih Indijanci dolga leta spoštljivo obnavljali.
Izvirnik
029 The Monster Mosquito
Naslednje strani prikazujejo izvirno besedilo za primerjavo.
They have some pretty big mosquitoes in New Jersey and on Long Island, but, if report of their ancestry is true, they have degenerated in size and voracity; for the grandfather of all mosquitoes used to live in the neighborhood of Fort Onondaga, New York, and sallying out whenever he was hungry, would eat an Indian or two and pick his teeth with their ribs. The red men had no arms that could prevail against it, but at last the Holder of the Heavens, hearing their cry for aid, came down and attacked the insect. Finding that it had met its match, the mosquito flew away so rapidly that its assailant could hardly keep it in sight. It flew around the great lake, then turned eastward again. It sought help vainly of the witches that brooded in the sink-holes, or Green Lakes (near Janesville, New York), and had reached the salt lake of Onondaga when its pursuer came up and killed it, the creature piling the sand into hills in its dying struggles.
As its blood poured upon the earth it became small mosquitoes, that gathered about the Holder of the Heavens and stung him so sorely that he half repented the service that he had done to men. The Tuscaroras say that this was one of two monsters that stood on opposite banks of the Seneca River and slew all men that passed. Hiawatha killed the other one. On their reservation is a stone, marked by the form of the Sky Holder, that shows where he rested during the chase, while his tracks were until lately seen south of Syracuse, alternating with footprints of the mosquito, which were shaped like those of a bird, and twenty inches long. At Brighton, New York, where these marks appeared, they were reverentially renewed by the Indians for many years.
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