The Greedy Mosquito

Once upon a time in a palace of a king, lived a family of bedbugs under the bed of the king. They were a happy lot as they got their fill of sweet royal blood every night without any effort. The king usually did not sleep immediately after lying down on his bed, but once he fell asleep, he was a really sound sleeper. The bedbugs were very careful to come out only after checking if the king was asleep and this was going on for quite some time.

One day, a mosquito chanced to get into the royal bedroom and perched on the underside of the bed. The wisest bug named Mootpooch came out and saw the mosquito. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”, asked the bug. “I am the Kosuku, the mosquito who lives in the nearby village”, said the mosquito. “I happened to come by this way and I have heard my father say that royal blood is the tastiest. So I thought I would have a taste of it.”

Mootpooch looked pensive. He said, “Look Kosuku, my family and myself have been living here peacefully for so long. You look very young and impulsive. I will just give you one piece of advice. Just wait till the king drifts into deep sleep and then I shall give the signal and thereafter you can have the blood to your heart’s content because if the king wakes up in between, it will be hell for all of us.”

Kosuku nodded his head in agreement and was waiting impatiently on one of the royal curtains waiting for the king. After a while the king came and sat on the bed. He said his daily prayers and meditated for some time and then lay down on the bed. Kosuku was peeping out of the curtain now and then. The king had started sleeping just then when the impatient Kosuku went near his ear and sang an “Oingggggg….” Almost immediately, he bit the king on his ear. The king tossed around and at once Kosuku aimed at his arm, biting furiously, getting intoxicated with the taste of royal blood. He bit here and there and Mootpooch, who had just come out was alarmed at what was happening. He tried to signal to Kosuku to stop but Kosuku was in no mood to listen to anybody. Suddenly the king sat up and SWAT, SWAT; the king’s huge palm smashed Kosuku. The king’s sleep gone, he called in his attendants and told them to thoroughly check the bed for any more mosquitoes and the attendants removed the matress, catching Mootpooch’s entire family unawares when all of them had assembled for their dinner and SWAT,SWAT,SWISH, SWISH went the attendants’ heavy dusters crushing the whole family of Mootpooch.

The greed of Kosuku, the mosquito, thus caused the destruction of himself and all the bugs!!!

Greed Kills!