Here is the fantastic story of an ancient Vietnamese legend in which, between myth and imagination, there are some biological truths….
A story of love, betrayal and blood
In a village of huts lived two young married happy and in love. He went out every day to get food, she stayed home to clean and cook. One day the bride became seriously ill and died.
The desperate groom did not have the courage to bury her and to separate himself from her, he left the village and went to live with her in a Sampan on a large expanse of water (Sampan is a flat boat used as a pile-dwelling).
The Swamp Genius saw the groom and took pity on his pain, appeared to him and tried to convince him to resign himself to fate. At the rejection of the groom, the Genius proposed the possibility of bringing the bride back to life with the hope of never having to regret it.
A new life with two drops of blood
He punished the groom and dropped two drops of blood on the body of the bride who immediately came back to life more beautiful than before. The two, happy, forgot to thank the Genius and continued their life in Sampan.
One day the groom returned home and found his beloved and desperate, he began to look for her everywhere. He found her in another Sampan and begged her to go home. The bride refused.
The groom became angry and accused her of ingratitude, it was only thanks to him that he had been able to live a second time!
A legend without a happy ending
The bride replied that what she had to give him back was just a drop of blood and with the pin in her hair she pricked a finger from which a drop of blood came out. Even before the drop fell to the ground, the woman died and turned into ashes. Every grain was dispersed by the wind and fell into the water where it turned into a small gray creature: the first mosquito larva.
That’s why mosquitoes sting!
Every night the bride, transformed into a mosquito, torments us with her whiny hum, then stings us in the continuous search of that drop of blood that can give her life back.
What is “true” about this legend?
Each fairy tale has a basis of reality: the water element is indispensable for the life of a mosquito larva and to sting is only the female to look for the “drop of blood” that will give life to a new generation of mosquitoes.
