Strange Horizons, March 9, 2015

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Strange Horizons, March 9, 2015

The Salt Mosquito’s Bite and The Goddess’ Sting by J Mehentee

Reviewed by Kris Rudin

J Mehentee seems to be channeling Aesop with this story, if Aesop were from Tibet. It feels like a fable, and even has a moral of sorts at the end. It is the story of a young Tibetan Monk named Dawa, who is meditating by the river one day and bitten by a ‘salt mosquito’ which he knows means death within 24 hours, because he heard the older boys talking about it. He goes to his teacher, who plays along a bit, giving Dawa a magical ‘cure’ for the bite. As he is performing this cure, he is interrupted by another monk, who tells him that the cure won’t work, and gives him a different task to perform, in order to be healed. These rounds of gentle pranking continue, until an outsider performs a final ‘cure’ on the boy. Years later, the story comes full circle, which is also the very Tibetan moral: everything is connected — there is no beginning or end. It is a well-told tale, and would certainly be appreciated by those who enjoy culturally-based stories.