COYOTE MET MOSQUITO AND saw that he had a bag on his back. It was filled with blood, for he had been sucking on someone.
“What are you carrying?” asked Coyote.
Mosquito said, “Why, that’s blood.”
“What are you going to do with that blood?”
“Oh, that’s our food. We have no teeth so we have to eat blood.”
“How do you hunt? Where do you get blood?”
“When the people sleep, I suck it out.”
“How can you suck it out?”
“With this beak.”
“Oh, you can’t do it with that. You must have some kind of awl.”
“No, I’ve told you how I do it.”
Coyote kept bothering Mosquito and asking him again and again. Mosquito kept telling the truth, but Coyote didn’t believe it.
So finally Mosquito said, “I carry along a big thorn and I punch the man with it in the hands and face. Then I gather up the blood in this bag when it flows out.”
“See! You lied to me before. Now you have told the truth. What do you do with the blood?”
“I take it home and feed it to my little children. They have no teeth and cannot eat anything tough.”
So Coyote left Mosquito and went to his home.
He said to his wife, “Give me a water bag and an awl. I’m going to get some good food for the children. They have no teeth and can’t eat solid foods.” He told his wife, “Some people have killed a few deer and want me to gather up the blood.”
It was dark and Coyote who was staying out on the edge of the camp, came into camp quietly. He heard people snoring. He crawled into one of the tipis. It was the chief’s. He was sleeping soundly.
Coyote felt over the chief’s face and decided on the spot where he was going to get the blood. He stuck the awl into the man’s face.
The chief woke up and ran after Coyote. “What did you do that for?” he shouted.
Coyote ran away. He didn’t get any blood.
The next morning the people asked each other, “Whose awl is this? Who came around last night?” But no one claimed the awl.
Coyote was looking for Mosquito but he couldn’t find him.