“I’ve come up with another brilliant idea,” yelled Alexander, who raised himself on his hind legs to speak to the seven other mosquitos feeding on the sweet nectar of a rose bush. None of them paid attention.
Maybe they didn’t hear or understand, he thought. He screamed louder.
The only response was “What,” from Erick, who’d been hatched from the same set of eggs.
The two had fed on the same flowers so often that they recognized each other and even gave what we might call a friendly buzz to each other. During the day, they slept under the same log and started their daily routine together. If any two mosquitos could be called friends, it was Alexander and Erick.
Their mom had bitten the great conqueror Alexander The Great, of Macedonia. Somehow his insatiable, vainglorious ambition in his blood was passed on to our Alexander and, to a lesser, extent Erick.
I AM going to impress them by learning to fly faster and higher than anyone, Alexander thought. He practiced for the next two nights. He could feel the air race by his body faster than he’d ever experienced before.
At twilight, he flew to a orchid, which had attracted many mosquitos. Alexander buzzed up, “Look at me, I fly the fastest.”
If the other mosquitos had paid attention to Alexander, they would have noticed something unusual through their great multi-lensed eyes. He was flying faster than any mosquito had ever flown before. But they weren’t paying attention.
Alexander flew to a leaf and didn’t move for a long time. Erick noticed Alexander wasn’t feeding. He nudged Alexander in the direction of a flower. The two of them flew over to some lilies.
“Yum,” was heard from Erick but Alexander was silent.
Alexander spent hours thinking about what to do next. Finally it hit him. He’d fly upside down. He’d never seen a single mosquito do that.
The next day was devoted to trying to fly upside down. He flew in a straight line and gradually changed the angle of his wings, trying to make them perpendicular to the ground and then to keep turning until he was upside down. Once he got past a certain angle, he lost control and plunged to the ground. His exoskeleton was so strong that he wasn’t hurt.
Alexander had a new idea of how to fly upside down. He’d fly upward and curl back in a loop. After the curl, he’d be upside down. He failed the first seventeen times. On the thirtieth try, a female mosquito flew by. He flew his new barrel roll to impress her but now he was now going in the opposite direction of the female. She continued flying straight, never noticing Alexander’s success.
Flying upside down did not make him famous. He had to think of something else that would impress the others. I’m going to learn to silently hover in one place. Then humans won’t hear us and swat us.
Alexander’s wings still made a noise but it was noticeably less than when he’d started. When he succeeded in learning almost-silent hovering, he noticed twelve feeding mosquitos on a flowering shrub. He hovered silently nearby. He shouted out, “I hover silently. I’m Alexander the Great.” Only two mosquitos looked over and then looked away.
Later, Erick landed on a laurel flower and began to feed. Alexander was hovering silently. “This laurel is delicious,” Erick called out. With his multiple lenses, Erick could see a bird head straight towards Alexander. Erick sped towards Alexander and collided with him. The bird missed Alexander.
“Why did you do that?” Alexander asked.
“To save your life,” said Erick.
“I don’t need the help of someone who is my inferior in every way. I can take care of myself.”
Erick flew off in a huff.
Alexander kept pondering what would impress his fellow mosquitos. Feeding is the ultimate pleasure and necessity. I’ll be famous if I can learn to feed better. His first idea was to find the best food the fastest. No, everyone is trying to do that already. That’s it. He’d feed on the most rare plants imaginable, the ones only he could find. Even four-leaf clovers were far too common. Having made a profound decision, Alexander began to implement it immediately.
Towards morning, Erick flew to where he and Alexander usually slept. Alexander wasn’t there. Erick started searching for any mosquito flying faster than the others or hovering but he couldn’t see any. He couldn’t find Alexander. Maybe he’d gone far away or been eaten.
Erick remembered what Alexander had told him about feeding off of rare plants. He began looking for him in places where they didn’t usually go. He asked a few other mosquitos to help him look for Alexander. Most asked, “Who is Alexander?”
Erick began telling others stories about Alexander’s heroics. He was ignored.
Slowly he became better at communicating. His constant talk of Alexander to the mosquitos under the log where they usually slept initiated the first real interest in Alexander. A few mosquitos even said they wanted to help look for Alexander but they never did.
Erick kept looking for Alexander in more and more remote places. Finally, Erick found Alexander. He was emaciated, if one can use that word with a mosquito. He was sitting on a leaf, not moving. Erick called out, “Alexander, its time for a good feeding. There’s a flower only a short flight away.”
“I don’t feed on common plants,” said Alexander.
“Are there any rare ones near here?” asked Erick. “You need a meal.”
“There are a few but I’ve already had them. I need to find something completely new.”
Alexander showed him some of the rare plants he’d already tried and said, “Find me something new that I’ve never had.” Alexander then sat and waited.
Erick was happy. Before I was just a common mosquito, he thought. Now I’m Alexander The Great’s friend.
Erick flew around but did not find any plant more rare than the ones Alexander had found. He was exhausted. He flew to a flowering shrub and fed. He had to rest after his meal. When he was revived, Erick flew to Alexander, who said, “I’m so weak, I can barely fly.”
“That shrub is only a short distance. You can feed there.”
“It’s not rare. I’m not giving up now.”
“You’ll die.”
“Leave me!” bellowed Alexander. “I will not hear your defeatist talk. I AM the most accomplished mosquito who ever lived.”
“No one will remember you if you just die.”
“I cannot give up my task.”
Erick was so hungry that he flew off to feed. As he was flying, he saw a bird approach Alexander, dive and eat him. The greatest mosquito ever to live was now dead and gone.
Erick was despondent. He knew he’d never meet another mosquito like Alexander. He recalled all their moments together. Erick began visiting the places that attracted the most mosquitos. He called out, “I knew the best of mosquitos. He did wonders. His name was Alexander The Great. He was the fastest mosquito ever and he was the only one who could fly upside down and hover silently. He’d feed only on rare plants which are more delicious than any common plant.”
The first few hundred mosquitos that heard Erick ignored him. Erick persisted. “What an interesting experience that must have been,” said the five-hundredth.
Another said, “Alexander The Great was an artist.”
Erick was so inspirational that many mosquitos began to speak of Alexander. These Alexander admirers had never actually seen or heard Alexander The Great. They didn’t comprehend what Erick was talking about because Erick never tried to show them how, for example, to fly upside down or hover silently. The stories told by the new Alexanderines became more and more wonderful over time. There were even a few stories about how Alexander killed the bird that tried to eat him. Millions of generations later, mosquitos still speak of Alexander The Great.
How did this author learn about Alexander? I am a mosquito magnet. They fly around my head and ankles probing for an opportunity to feed on my blood. Once, in the dead of night this infamous buzzing awakened me.
I called out “Tell me, why I shouldn’t turn on the light and crush you?”
To my surprise, I heard a buzzing voice offering to tell me about the great mosquito Alexander the Great if I would let her go free. I agreed and heard this wonderful story.
Alexander The Great reminds me of my fellow artists. We try to expand the limits of our own and our reader’s knowledge and expectations. We’re very far from perfect. Much of what we write turns out to be trivial. Often we’re ignored but, like Alexander, we don’t give up. Some of our work is profound. So, lets raise a glass, as a toast to Ambitious Alexander, the greatest mosquito ever, Alexander The Great.