"Say, Mary," said Sagastao, "the mosquitoes bit us badly to-day. Do you
know why it is that there are such troublesome little things? Is there any
story about them?"

"Yes. Wakonda, one of the strange spirits, sent them," said Mary, "because
a woman was lazy and would not keep the clothes of her husband and children
clean and nice."

"Tell us all about it," they both cried out.

Mary quieted them, and began the story.

"Long ago, when the people all dressed in deerskins, there was a man whose
name was Pug-a-mah-kon. He was an industrious fellow, and had often to work
a good deal in dirty places. The result was that, although he had several
suits of clothes, he seemed never to have any clean ones.

"It was the duty of his wife to scrape and clean his garments and wash and
resmoke them as often as they needed it. But she neglected her work and
would go off gossiping among her neighbors. Her husband was patient with
her for a time, but at length, when he heard that Wakonda was coming to
pay a visit to the people, to see how they were getting along, he began to
bestir himself so as to be decently attired, in clean, handsome apparel, to
meet this powerful being, who was able to confer great favors on him, or,
if ill-disposed, to injure him greatly.

"He endeavored to get his wife to go to work and remove the dirt that had
gathered on his garments. She was so lazy that it was only from fear of a
beating that she ever did make any attempt to do as he desired. She took
the garments and began to clean them, but she was in a bad humor and did