The Village of Vampires
By Nancy Bennett
Long long ago it is said that the animals had magical powers and could take on the shape of human beings. Sometimes they used this power for good, but other times they used it to harm people. So it was told to me, the story of the first vampires.
In a village far away from our longhouse the entire population was made up of blood suckers. They would sneak up and insert their long beaks and drain all the blood from an unsuspecting person. They got their victims by pretending to be generous. The people of the vampire village would lure travellers to come to a feast and be merry with them. While the visitors enjoyed themselves the blood suckers would attack. For this reason, those who knew of the blood suckers, shunned them and avoided the damned village.
A prince and a princess were off hunting one day and became lost. They smelt cooking fires in the distance and because they were hungry, they decided to head for the fires. This was a mistake for it was the damned village of the bloodsuckers.
The people offered food and drink to the two lovers, so much that they became tired. They were led to a place to rest. After the Prince and Princess were asleep, they too were drained of blood and their bodies thrown in a pile with other victims. The pile was large and bloodless.
A search party was sent to find the lost Prince and Princess. They too wandered into the camp of the bloodsuckers and were treated to food and drink. Later that night they were put in a shelter to sleep. While they slept the bloodsuckers snuck in and began to drain them of their blood. Leading the vampires was an old grizzled chief with eyes that shone red.
One young man, who was a light sleeper, woke up and saw what was being done. He crept along the edge of the shelter and ran into the hills. The chief of the bloodsuckers followed him, so fast he almost seemed to fly. The young man saw a deep lake and plunged into it, hoping to hide from the chief.
He saw the great beak of the chief and realized he could reach all the way into the lake bottom. This was not a good place to hide. So he grabbed the branches of a large spruce and pulled himself out. He climbed to the top of the tree and waited.
The chief came to the water's edge and looked down. He could see the reflection of the young man in the water and he thought "Aha! Now I have caught you!" He plunged his crystal beak into the water, thinking the young man was right below him. But instead his beak became stuck in the mud. He fought furiously to get it out. Finally he did.
But the young man was still there in the water, the chief could see him laughing at him! This made him very angry. He plunged his beak in again and again, each time getting it stuck and each time getting wetter and weaker. Finally the night came and the exhausted chief lay beside the water. In the darkness, he froze to death.
The young man snuck up on the chief to make sure he was dead. He took a knife and plunged it into his chest. He cut out the chief's heart. The heart had a face and was still alive and that surprised the young man, who knew it must be a magical thing. The young man returned to the village and when he showed them heart of the chief, all the bloodsuckers fled.
His friends were all dead and he did not know what to do. He sat and mourned his loss. The heart heard him singing and it spoke to the man. It said "Lay out the bodies of your friends on the ground and wave me over each one of them." The young man did as he was told as he believed the heart had supernatural powers. As the heart passed over each of the victims they awoke as if from a deep sleep.
The prince also regained his life and once he saw that the heart was still alive, he worried about the power of the chief. Perhaps his people would find the body and somehow restore it. Then the vampires would live to endanger more travellers.
The prince and the young man travelled to where he had left the chief's body. They broke it into small pieces, including the crystal beak. They lit a great fire and placed the body upon it. The people gathered at a distance to watch the flames as it consumed the evil chief. Soon there was nothing left but ashes.
But the evil one's power had not ended. From the ashes stirred by the four winds, small flying insects arose. These had beaks just like the old chief.
These were the first mosquitos and they still travel around biting people and taking their blood, just like the vampire who they first came from.
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