“How strong is the lion?  Twenty children like you could not break one strand of that great rope.  But the lion broke five complete ropes.  He is the strongest of all animals.  He catches many creatures for his food, but once he lost a battle with one of the least of the wilderness creatures.  Do you know what it was?”

“A bird could fight and then fly away.  Was it a bird?”

“No, my son.”

“A man is stronger than a lion.”

“No; do you not remember the woodcutter who could put down five strong men?  One night a wilderness lion caught and killed him.”

“Then what was the smallest of all creatures of the wilderness that battled with a lion?”

The father said, “I will tell you the story:  Once in the summer time the Lion was very thirsty.  But the sun had taken all the water near the Lion’s home and he went to many places seeking for it.  In time he found an old well, but the water was not fresh.  As the Lion was very thirsty, he said, ‘I must drink, even though the water is stale.’

“But when he reached down into the old well, he found that it was the home of all the Mosquitoes of the wilderness.

“The Mosquitoes said to the Lion, ’Go away, we do not want you.  This is our home and we are happy.  We do not wish the lion, the fox, or the bear to come here.  You are not our friend.  Why do you come?”

“The Lion roared and said, ’Weak and foolish things!  I am the Lion.  It is you that should go away, for I have come to drink.  This is my wilderness, and I am king.  Do you know, weak things, that when I come out from my place and send forth my voice, all the creatures of the wilderness shake like leaves and bow their heads to me?  What are you that you should have a place you call your home and tell me that I may or I may not?’

“Then the Mosquitoes answered, ’You are only one.  You speak as if you were many.  Our people had this old well for a home before your roar was heard in the wilderness.  And many generations of us have been born here.  This home is ours, and we are they that say who shall come or go.  And yet you come and tell us to go out of our own door.  If you do not leave us, we will call our people, and you shall know trouble.’

“But the Lion held his head high with pride and anger and said, ’What are you, oh, small of the small?  I will kill every one of your useless people.  When I drink, I will open my mouth only a little wider, and you shall be swallowed like the water.  And to-morrow I shall forget that I drank to-day.’

“‘Boastful one,’ said the Mosquitoes, ’we do not believe that you have the power to destroy all our people.  If you wish battle, we shall see.  We know your name is great and that all animals bow their heads before you; but our people can kill you.’

“The Lion jumped high in his rage and said, ’No other creature in the wilderness has dared to say these things to me—­the king.  Have I come to the vile well of the silly Mosquitoes for wisdom?’ And he held his head high, and gave the mighty roar of battle, and made ready to kill all the Mosquitoes.