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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39248-8.txt b/39248-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..168f34f --- /dev/null +++ b/39248-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3656 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nuova, by Vernon Kellogg + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Nuova + or The New Bee + +Author: Vernon Kellogg + +Illustrator: Milo Winter + +Release Date: March 24, 2012 [EBook #39248] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUOVA *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + NUOVA + + or THE NEW BEE + + + A Story for Children + of Five to Fifty by + + VERNON KELLOGG + + With Songs by + CHARLOTTE KELLOGG + + Illustrated by + Milo Winter + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + Boston and New York + + COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY VERNON KELLOGG AND + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + TO + JEAN + WHO IS FIVE + + + + +[Illustration: "Nuova, I love you"] + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +Most of this that I have written about bees is true: what is not, does +not pretend to be. Some of the true part sounds almost like a +description of what human life might in some respects be, if certain +social movements of to-day were followed out to their logical extreme. I +suppose that in this likeness lies the moral of the book. + + +V. K. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. Nuova Appears 1 + + II. Nuova's First Experiences 7 + + III. Nuova as Nurse 16 + + IV. Nuova sees Some Other Things Done 29 + + V. Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa 44 + + VI. Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess 60 + + VII. Nuova goes Outside 78 + + VIII. Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle 93 + + IX. Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase 106 + + X. Nuova in the Beautiful Garden 115 + + XI. Hero finds Nuova in the Garden 130 + + XII. The Happy Ending 142 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + +"Nuova, I love you" _Colored Frontispiece_ + +The beginning of a new life for Nuova 4 + +Industriously cleaning the floor 12 + +"I am so tired," replied poor Nuova 26 + +She would like that kind of work 32 + +"What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee" 42 + +"The stupid one! The faithless one!" 48 + +"Drones work? It isn't done, you know" 62 + +There came slowly forth ... the new Princess 74 + +"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia 80 + +Nuova began to clean his wings 96 + +Nuova was among the fallen 104 + +In the Garden 116 + +Beffa settled down comfortably 128 + +"The Princess is lost!" 146 + + + + +THE NAMES OF THE BEES + + +As all the bees of this story are Italian bees, they all, except one, +have Italian names. And they should really be spoken as the Italians +speak them. Besides, they are prettier that way. Therefore, a list of +them, with the proper way to pronounce them, is given here. + + _Nuova_ (noo-o'va) + _Uno_ (oo'no) + _Due_ (doo'ay) + _Tre_ (tray) + _Saggia_ (saj'jia) + _Mela_ (may'la) + _Cera_ (chay'ra) + _Fessa_ (fess'sa) + _Aria_ (ah'ri-a) + _Principessa_ (prin-chee-pess'sa) + _Lotta_ (lawt'ta) + + + + +_NUOVA_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_Nuova Appears_ + + +Nuova seemed to be gradually awakening. It would have seemed that way to +any one who could have seen her just at this moment, and it seemed that +way to Nuova herself. It was just as if one were in a comfortable, warm +bed, and began to be conscious of a faint light outside and of soft +voices and of other subdued sounds. The light and sounds grow stronger +and louder, until, with a start, one is really awake, and sees that the +light is the sunlight of a beautiful morning coming in at the curtained +window, and recognizes the sounds to be those of the household already +busy with a new day's work. + +It was, indeed, an awakening for Nuova; but it was more. It was the +beginning of a new life for her. Until now she had been in a sort of +pollywog stage for a bee--a stage in which she had no legs nor wings, +and in which she could do nothing for herself at all, not even as much +as a pollywog can--and had lain all the time in a long, narrow, +six-walled, waxen cell that was bed and room all in one. That is, we +might say, she had always so far in her life been in bed. + +For when she was born in her cell, she was just a tiny white thing, +without wings or legs, blind, and quite helpless. Really about all she +could do was to squirm a little in her horizontal cell, and keep opening +her mouth when she was hungry to let somebody know she must be fed. She +was immediately taken care of, however, by the nurse bees who kept near +the nursery cells all the time except when they had to go to the pantry +cells for more food for the babies. This food was flower nectar and +pollen that had been brought into the hive by the active forager bees +and stored in the pantry cells. The nurses made a sort of very good and +nutritious jelly out of it which made Nuova grow very fast. + +After she had been fed in this way for five days, she was many times +larger than she had been at first. At the end of this time, however, the +nurse bees did what might seem, at first thought, a rather heartless +thing. They made a thin cap or cover of wax over the open mouth of +Nuova's cell, thus shutting her up tight in her bedroom. She was so +large that she almost filled her cell, but there was still a little room +left, and this the nurses filled, just before putting the waxen cap on +the cell, with pollen and nectar mixed. For a few days Nuova lay quietly +in her dark, sealed-up cell, eating, when hungry, from the lump of +pollen and nectar which lay by her side. And then she stopped eating and +simply lay there in a sort of trance for several days more. + +To Nuova herself all her life in the cell, from first day to last, must +have seemed little more than a sort of dream; a confused dream of not +being able to walk or fly, or see or hear, but only to squirm a little, +and be hungry and then be fed, and to feel dimly strange growing pains +from the rapidly growing legs and wings when they began to come, and of +always being rather comfortably warm and sleepy. + +But this sleeping time had come to an end now; this helpless pollywog +stage was finished for Nuova. And the light she saw through the big +eyes that had grown out on her head, during the last few days in the +shut-up cell, was the faint but real light of a new day filtering its +way through the crowded hive. And the sounds she heard by means of the +many tiny little hearing organs on the long, delicate, sensitive +feelers, or antennæ, that had also grown out near her eyes and were +connected by fine nerves with her brain, were the humming and murmuring +of the thousands of industrious bees of the hive who were already at +work at their various duties all around her. + +Nuova's awaking, then, was much more than the mere waking-up after a +night's sleeping. It was the waking from a life of doing nothing but +lying in bed and sleeping and eating and growing, to a life of taking +care of one's self and helping to take care of others; it was the waking +from a baby life to real bee life. For Nuova was now a full-grown bee, +with all the wonderful body and all the wonderful instincts and the high +intelligence that we know bees to have. But she was still shut up in her +nursery cell. + +[Illustration: The beginning of a new life for Nuova] + +However, to escape from it was not difficult. She could see that the +faint light came in strongest through the capped end of the cell. The +waxen cap was the thinnest part of the walls of her room, and as Nuova's +head was already lying close to the cap, it was a simple and easy matter +for her to begin biting it away with her two strong, little, trowel-like +teeth. In a few moments she had made a little hole in the cap, and the +light and sounds came in suddenly much brighter and louder than before, +although the light was really not bright at all nor the sounds loud, as +we reckon such things. For the inside of a honeybee's house, the hive, +is always pretty dark, and the sounds the bees make are not all loud, +except occasionally when things are especially exciting and all the bees +are buzzing together at once, or when a princess is about to come from +her nursery cell and both she and the old queen do a lot of +extraordinary trumpeting. + +But to Nuova, biting her way out through the thin wax cap of her cell, +having never heard nor seen anything at all through all of her baby +life, things seemed very bright and noisy indeed. This, however, +instead of frightening her, made her only the more anxious to get out +and be a part of this exciting world around her, and so she worked away +as fast as she could, until suddenly the hole was large enough for her +to crawl out. This she did, feeling, we may imagine, rather strange at +using her new legs for the first time, and finding her new wings all +folded up and rather damp and heavy. But out she came and, with a long +breath or two, she started to walk over the uneven surface of the waxen +comb in which her nursery cell was situated. But after only a few steps +she felt tired and limp. Indeed she _was_ limp, for all the outer part +of her body, that was later to be firm and strong, was still rather soft +and damp and weak; her legs could not hold her up well yet, and her +unexercised muscles needed a little practice to work together just +right. So she soon stopped, trembling all over from her unwonted +exertion, and let her big eyes gradually take in the strange sight about +her. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_Nuova's First Experiences_ + + +It was truly a remarkable sight. She found that she was part way up a +vertical wall or comb of waxen cells, each of six sides and all lying +horizontally in the wall. This wall of cells towered far above her even +to the very roof of the hive, and below her it stretched away down to +the floor. Facing it towered another similar wall of cells, and there +was but little more space between the two than was needed for the free +movement of the scores, aye, even hundreds of bees that were clambering +about over the opposite faces of the walls. + +In each wall some of the cells were open and some capped over. In the +open ones were either baby bees lying on their stomachs with their heads +near the opening of the cells, and their mouths opening and shutting in +a most comical way, or there was some pollen or honey; or there was +nothing at all. The cells with babies in them were those in the middle +part of the wall, while around these were the food cells. Near the open +nursery cells were many capped ones, and Nuova saw that some of these +caps were being gnawed through from the inside. She knew what that +meant; she had just been doing that herself. But also near the open and +half-filled pollen and honey cells were other capped ones, and Nuova +guessed, and quite rightly, that these were filled and sealed-up honey +cells. The open pollen cells were pretty to look at because the pollen +in them was of different colors, yellow, orange, red, etc., and they +made a sort of uneven but attractive color-pattern on the face of the +great vertical wall. + +Nuova was a little dizzy at first, with looking up and down the towering +wall, and she had to hang on tightly to keep from falling. But she soon +grew accustomed to the great heights above and below her, and even began +to feel quite at home in her peculiar situation. A pang of hunger came +to her as she saw a bee walk up to an open honey cell and take a long +drink. She started to walk toward the same cell, when she felt a tug at +one of her wings, and heard an impatient voice, evidently addressing +her. + +"Here, wait a minute; we haven't got you clean yet; and your wings +aren't half dry. Don't be in a hurry!" + +Nuova was startled; remember, it was the first bee-talking, or any kind +of talking, she had ever heard. Yet she understood it perfectly, and +understood at once, too, just what was going on. For as she turned her +head to see who was speaking, she saw that two nurse bees were most +industriously cleaning her body all over, and unfolding and smoothing +out her wings, so that they would dry rapidly, and dry all properly +spread out. Sometimes young bees do not get their wings properly spread +before they dry, and then their wings are crumpled up and useless all +through their lives. + +Nuova had, indeed, for some time rather vaguely felt this gentle +cleaning and wing-spreading operation going on, but at first she had +felt so dizzy and faint, and then when she felt better had become so +intent on looking up and down the two great walls of wax, with their +various cells and the many active bees moving about over them, that she +had paid no attention to the gentle rubbing and pulling and stretching. +Indeed, it was done so gently that unless she had started to walk away, +or had accidentally looked around, she might not have known that it was +going on at all. It was a performance much like that a just-born kitten +goes through at the hands, or rather tongue, of its mother. The pollen +and honey, put into her cell when it was capped, had, of course, rather +soiled Nuova's body and much of her hair was stuck together by it. So +like every young bee, just come from its nursery cell, she needed a good +cleaning. And she was getting it. + +Without thinking twice about it Nuova did a very surprising thing. Or +rather it was not surprising for a bee to do, but it would have been if +one of us, just born, as it were, and without any teaching or practice +or chance of hearing any one else first, should do it. For we always +call surprising, in bees or other creatures, what would be surprising in +us, which is a rather silly way of judging things, but one we are all +very much given to. As we think we are the most important kind of +creatures on earth--as certainly we are, to ourselves--we think our ways +of doing things are the usual or normal or even best ways, and all +other ways "surprising." But we shall find, the more we learn about +Nuova, that bees have their own manner of life and ways of doing things, +and one of the most important many differences between their ways and +our ways is that they know so many things right off without any learning +or practice or imitating of others. They are born knowing how; they do +not have to be taught. + +For example, the surprising thing that Nuova did right away, without +thinking twice about it, was to begin talking to the two nurse bees who +were cleaning her. What Nuova said, and what was said to her in return, +is of no particular interest to us. It was simply commonplace talk, for +Nuova's coming out of her cell, her first dizziness, the high walls of +cells, the many bees moving about, the spreading-out of Nuova's wings +and cleaning her body, and even Nuova's ability to understand things +about her and to begin talking right away--all these were taken for +granted in the hive as the most usual things in the world, which +therefore needed no special exclaiming or talking about. In fact Nuova +felt already that, as soon as she was properly clean and dry, she must +join the other active bees, who were all busy with the different kinds +of work they were doing, and begin work herself. And she felt that she +knew just what this first work for her should be. It should be the work +of a nurse. And the nurse bees cleaning her seemed to take this for +granted too. For one of them soon said: + +"I think you had better begin on the other side of the comb; there are +enough of us on this side already." + +Nuova looked up and down the great comb and then to right and left. The +nurse noted this, and added: + +"You can get around by going either to the top or the bottom, or to +either end." + +Nuova thanked her, and decided to crawl down to the bottom, for she +could see, far down there, a number of bees moving about industriously +cleaning the floor and some others that stood still, apparently on their +heads, and kept their wings buzzing like mad. She was not quite sure +what this performance meant; and the floor-cleaning, too, seemed a +little curious. The fact is that, although bees do seem to know right +off about things, they know these things one at a time, as it were; that +is, when it is time for them to do a thing, they know pretty well, +without any telling, how to do it, but they do not seem to know about +other things at the same time. They seem to know things only as the time +comes for each special thing to be done. Nuova seemed to know that she +should begin working as a nurse, and to know how to do the work, for as +soon as she started she did just about as well as any of the nurses, but +floor-cleaning, and standing on one's head and fanning one's wings like +mad, were not things she knew about yet. + +[Illustration: Industriously cleaning the floor] + +She worked her way carefully down to the bottom of the comb and found +herself in a very busy place indeed. There was a free place under this +comb and under the one opposite to it as well. When she looked under the +comb which she had just walked down, she saw a great, low-ceilinged +place stretching away in all directions, rather dim and getting darker +the farther away it extended, except in one direction. In this +direction, however, it was lighter, and the farther the distance the +lighter it was. From this lightest part many bees were hurrying toward +her with great loads of vari-colored pollen in their pollen baskets, or +with their honey sacs filled to overflowing with fresh nectar. They +hurried on, paying no attention to any one, and disappeared one by one +by climbing up and out of sight, except the few that climbed up the face +of either of the combs that towered just over her. These bees she could +still watch, and she could see that they carried their loads far up to +the open food cells into which they emptied the food they had brought. +Also she saw other bees, without loads, hurrying along the floor toward +the light, and she had a wonderful thrill as she saw them, and something +within her urged her to run with them toward the distant light; +something inside her that sang of sunshine, blue sky, green grass and +bushes, and many-hued fragrant flowers. But something else, even +stronger, within her, told her not to go; that her work awaited her +close at hand; that she must nurse bee-babies here in the dimly lighted +hive. + +So she turned away from the alluring light with only a glance at the +floor-cleaners and the silly bees on their heads with their wings going +like mad. So strong within her had grown the feeling that there was just +one thing for her now, that she walked under the broad, lower edge of +the comb from whose high wall she had descended and came into the bottom +of another high space between two other towering walls of waxen cells. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_Nuova as Nurse_ + + +When Nuova had come into this new high space, she looked up and realized +that one of its side walls was simply the other side of the comb in +which her nursery cell had been, while the other was that of another +comb opposite it, just as she had seen that there was another comb +opposite its other side. Nuova, seeing this, easily understood that +probably this was the arrangement all through the hive, and that the +broad and long, low, free space running through the whole hive just +above the floor was a space just underneath the lower edges of many +great vertical combs standing side by side. Which, of course, was true. + +Right away, however, Nuova saw that one of the walls above her was +incomplete; it did not reach, along its whole length, from the ceiling +clear to the floor, but at one end, the end toward the lighter end of +the hive, it came down but a little way from the ceiling. Clinging to +this unfinished part of the wall was a great mass of bees, the upper +ones hanging to the free edge of the wall, but the ones below clinging +to them and to each other, thus forming a festoon or curtain of bees +hanging down from the lower edge of the incomplete wall. Many bees in +this living curtain were buzzing their wings violently, while others +were quiet, with thin sheets or plates of some shining, silver-yellowish +substance forming on the under side of their bodies. + +Beneath the lower edge of the bee-curtain there was a broad, free space +beyond which the vertical wall of another more distant comb appeared. On +the floor in this open space were gathered many bees, most of which +appeared to be picking up little pieces of the shining, silver-yellowish +substance that had broken off from the bees in the festoon above, and +fallen to the floor. + +As this open space was lighter than the space she had come from, Nuova +could see everything quite clearly here, and the activity of all the +bees and their concentration on whatever they were doing impressed her +very much. No one so much as spoke to her; no one spoke to any one else; +but every one worked away for dear life. It made her feel that she must +get at her own work just as soon as possible. + +She glanced up the part of the wall that was all finished, and saw +toward its middle a group of nurse bees, and a lot of open and capped +nursery cells. She could even see, sticking out of some of the open +ones, the comical heads of the babies, each with its mouth regularly +opening and shutting. And then she heard a song, a gentle lullaby sort +of song. It was the nurse bees singing as they worked. This is the song +they sang: + + We watch beside the cradles + When the bee-babies sleep; + We guard the shining pantries + Where the bee-milk we keep. + + And when the countless tiny + Bee-mouths open wide, + We rush with drink and bee-bread + And drop them inside. + + Our bread's the daintiest morsel + A wee babe could eat; + We knead it of soft pollen + And flower nectar sweet. + + When ends our busy bee-day + The nurseries we right, + Then wash our countless bee-mites + And tuck them in tight. + + Just try to feed our family, + And swiftly you'll see + That never were there nurses + So busy as we. + +So she started to climb up to them. Just as she had gone a little way +up, however, her attention was called to a very active and apparently +excited group of bees crowding about a very different sort of cell from +the ones that made up all the rest of the comb. This was five or six +times as large as any of the others, and not six-sided, but shaped +something like a pear with its small end down. It did not lie horizontal +in the comb, but vertical, or nearly so, and had a rough, thick wall, +and was open at its smaller, lower end. Nuova could not see what was in +it, for she was already as high or higher than it was, as it was near +the lower edge of the comb, its lower end, indeed, being but a little +way above the floor. + +As she hesitated a moment, attracted by the sight of the strange cell +and the many excited bees about it, most of whom were nurses, she heard +a bee, hurrying away from the cell, say to another hurrying toward it: + +"How fast the princess is growing!" + +This did not enlighten Nuova much, but the feeling inside of her was now +so strong that she must begin work at once that she hurried on up to the +nursery cells lying a little way above the curious large cell without +trying to find out anything about it. Which shows again, of course, how +different bees are from us. + +When Nuova got to the nursery cells with their hungry babies she went +right to work. She seemed to know just what to do; to go to the pollen +and honey cells and drink honey and eat pollen and swallow them, but not +too far, and then wait a few minutes, and then give this food up again, +all properly mixed, through her mouth right into the open mouths of the +hungry babies. And she knew just what babies were ready to have their +cells capped with wax--with a nice little lump of food stored inside +first, of course--and how to call some bee with a pellet of wax in its +mouth to do the capping. She understood at once that the shining, +silver-yellowish plates on the bodies of the bees in the festoon at the +end of the comb were wax, and that the pieces being picked up by other +bees from the floor underneath the festoon were to be used for capping +cells, and for making new cells where the vertical wall of comb was +still incomplete. + +All these things, and whatever other new ones came up in the next few +days in connection with taking care of the babies, she seemed to +understand right away, and indeed she seemed to know how to do all her +work without having to reason about it, or to observe and draw +conclusions; in fact, without even once really having to think about it +at all. And because it was all so simple, and so easy to understand, an +extraordinary thing came to pass with Nuova; that is, an extraordinary +thing for a bee. The thing was that _Nuova got tired of her work_! + +Yes, she got tired of it; tired physically, which is not perhaps so +extraordinary, for bees sometimes fall dead from being over-tired +physically; but she also got tired and impatient of the simplicity and +monotony of what she was doing. She got, I suppose we may fairly say, +mentally and spiritually tired of it. Which happening marks Nuova as a +bee of a strange and rare kind: a bee that is--is--well, all I can say +is, a bee that is different. Other bees, if they had known of it, would +have called her a "funny" bee, or a "peculiar" bee; or perhaps something +worse. Indeed, this something worse is just what she was soon called. +For Nuova, after a few days of this steady care of babies, one hot +afternoon--the hive was so set in the garden that it was quite exposed +to the sun--Nuova, I say, one hot afternoon stopped working, and crawled +slowly down past the great pear-shaped cell clear to the lower edge of +the comb and there she sat and simply did nothing! + +Pretty soon Uno, one of the nurse bees in Nuova's group, who had already +shown herself to have a rather spiteful nature, noticed that Nuova was +not working, was not, indeed, to be seen anywhere about the nurse cells. +So she touched another nurse bee near her, named Due, with her antennæ +so as to call her attention, and said in a low voice: "Where is Nuova?" + +Due looked around, and not seeing Nuova, said: "Why, where is she?" Then +both bees touched a third nurse bee, named Tre, with their antennæ. She +turned around and joined them. + +"What's the matter?" she said. Then looking at the group of nurses, she +added: "Where is Nuova?" + +"That's it," said Uno and Due together. "Where is Nuova? She isn't +here--she has stopped working." + +"Exactly," said Tre. "I thought she would come to that--I've been +noticing her lately. She doesn't seem to like to work." + +"Whoever heard of such a bee!" exclaimed Uno and Due together. + +"Let us find her," said Tre. + +So all three started to move around over the comb looking for Nuova. +They made wider and wider journeys from the nursery cells, until Uno, +who had got down almost to the very bottom of the comb and was quite +close to Nuova but had not yet seen her, heard a low voice murmuring, "I +am so tired." + +Uno turned quickly and saw Nuova. She was sitting with her head hanging +down on her breast, and she looked very tired and dejected. But that +aroused no sympathy in Uno, who, together with Due and Tre, had taken a +strong dislike to Nuova, feeling in her, some way, a rather different, +even a rather superior sort of bee. Nuova was so unusually pretty, for +one thing. And she had such a lively interest in everything around her. +Uno, Due, and Tre, who were bees almost exactly like each other, and +like most other bees, felt an instinctive malice toward her, probably +based on a certain envy which they did not, however, even admit to +themselves. + +Uno quickly called Due and Tre, and the three stared malevolently at +Nuova for a moment and then said together, speaking loudly so that the +other bees near by could hear: "Well, what a bee! To stop work! Just +think of it!" + +Then Uno leaned over her and called to her: "Lazy!" + +And Due stepped up to her and said: "Loafer!" + +And Tre came up on the other side of her and hissed: "Shirk!" + +Then all three, lifting their wings to strike poor Nuova, who had sat +very still through all this, shrinking from the vicious bees, called +out: "We'll teach her!" And then they began to strike her all over with +their strong wings. + +It was going pretty badly with Nuova, when an old floor-cleaner named +Saggia stepping up to the group shouldered off the three angry nurse +bees. Saggia had noticed at other times that Nuova went rather slowly +back and forth between the nursery cells and the food cells, but she had +a good heart and thought it was because Nuova was sick, perhaps, for +bees often get ill just as we do. She spoke to Nuova rather sharply, but +still in a kindly way. + +"Nuova! what are you doing here? You mustn't stop." + +"But I am so tired," replied poor Nuova. "Thank you for driving them +away," she added. + +[Illustration: "I am so tired," replied poor Nuova] + +"Tired, nonsense," said Saggia. "That's nothing. Of course you are +tired. We all are. But what difference does that make? Go back to the +babies, and keep on with your work." + +"That is what they all say," cried Nuova, bitterly and half angrily. +"Here am I a full week out of my nursery cell, and I haven't had a bit +of rest or fun yet. It is time I began to have some. Doesn't any one +ever rest or have a good time?" + +Saggia was painfully surprised to hear Nuova talk in this manner. She +began to fear that Nuova's tiredness was not just physical tiredness. +She answered her therefore in a strongly reproving manner. "Of course +nobody rests, and of course every one has a good time. Look at them +all," and she waved an antenna toward the workers at the nursery cells, +"don't you see what a good time they are having? It is having a good +time to be always working; always working for each other and for our +children." + +"But they aren't our children," Nuova broke in, "yours and mine, that +is, nor anybody's but the Queen's children. She is the mother of them +all. And she keeps on having more. And we have to take care of them all, +and all the time." + +"They _are_ our children," Saggia interrupted, speaking very positively +and still more reprovingly. "They are the children of the community; the +children of the race. It is our race we are working for; the children +of the race. Think of it!" + +Nuova made a little face. "Well, I am tired of the race and the race's +children," she said. "I want some children of my own." + +Old Saggia was dreadfully shocked by this. And she was terrified on +Nuova's account for fear some other bees might have heard her. It was, +indeed, about as rebellious a thing as a bee can say. + +"Hush, child," said Saggia in a whisper. "You mustn't say such things. +You mustn't even think them. Other bees don't. And you must hurry back +to your work before the others miss you." She helped Nuova up, and urged +her to begin climbing back up to the nurse cells. "If you are tired of +taking care of the babies you can do something else next week. You will +be old enough then to make wax and build cells or help clean the hive. +And then in another week you can go out and gather pollen and nectar +from the flowers. But go back now to the babies; the other nurses are +looking for you." She urged Nuova along again, and this time Nuova +started up, but she went very reluctantly and slowly. + +"No," she said, "they pay no attention to me. Nobody but you pays any +attention to me, except when I stop working. They never notice me when I +am hard at work." + +"Why, of course not," replied Saggia gently. "Why should you be noticed +then? That is what we all do all the time; just keep everlastingly at +it. That is what makes the bees such a great people. There is something +wrong about a bee that doesn't want to work all the time; you mustn't be +different from the others. I am afraid you are sick." + +All the time she was saying this Saggia was urging Nuova along up the +comb toward the nursery cells, and now they had quite reached the group +of nurses. As Uno, Due, and Tre saw Nuova again they closed in around +her so as to strike or pinch her. But Saggia kept them off. And Nuova +slipped into her place again in front of a hungry baby. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Nuova sees Some Other Things Done_ + + +Just as Nuova took her place again, however, she heard in the distance a +joyful singing. It came from the lightest place in the hive, and looking +in this direction Nuova saw a whole group of nectar gatherers coming +along together, half-dancing and turning about, and all singing together +in the happiest way possible. This is what they sang: + + Take a peep into the pail, + Nectar to the brim, + Carried over down and dale + Till the ways were dim. + + On a dawn-ray forth we sped, + A thousand wings in tune, + By a new-born wind were led + Down the paths of June. + + Silvery world of buzz and whirr, + Fragrance on the wing, + Sod and root and blade astir, + Sped our garnering. + + Long in Nature's honey-room + We dipped and drank at will; + Brushed the purple lilac plume, + Sipped from thyme and dill. + + Till when evening softly bore + Over dune and dell, + Hastened we with golden store + Home to Queen and cell. + +And then she heard another song, and saw a group of pollen gatherers +following the nectar gatherers. And this is what they sang: + + Here's saffron dust and crimson dust, + And dust of rarest blue; + In lavish Nature's pollen mines + Each mines his favorite hue. + + Some buzzed and burrowed all the morn + Within a clover hold, + Till fuzzy backs were powdered fine + And thigh-bags bulged with gold. + + And some delved deep in lily cups, + Or hung from blossomy bells-- + The story of their mazy flight + The rainbow treasure tells. + + There's pollen sweet for roof and wall, + And more for soft bee-bread; + For all, from wondrous Mother-Queen + To bee-mite, must be fed. + + Here's palest pink and lilac dust, + And green and brown and blue; + In lavish Nature's pollen fields + Each finds his favorite hue. + +They liked their work, these foragers, that was sure, and Nuova felt +that she would like that kind of work too. Just then Mela, one of the +pollen gatherers, climbing up the comb where Nuova was, with her pollen +baskets filled by two great masses of golden yellow pollen, stopped for +a moment for breath. Nuova stretched her antenna toward Mela and touched +her, attracting her attention. + +[Illustration: She would like that kind of work.] + +"Oh, Mela, tell me about it," she said to her eagerly. "Do you hear the +birds sing and see the butterflies dance out there? Mela, take me with +you when you go back." + +Mela was very much astonished to hear a pretty young nurse bee talk to +her this way, and she looked first sharply and then rather +contemptuously at Nuova. + +"You upstart young thing," she said, "take you out with us? Well, I +rather think not until you have finished your nursing work. And you are +loafing now! Well, you will do your work better in the hive or you can +never go out at all, that's sure." + +And Uno, Due, and Tre, who had overheard this conversation, buzzed at +her one after another: "Lazy! Loafer! Shirk!" and they tried to strike +her once more, but Saggia, who had not yet gone down to the floor, again +kept them off and whispered rapidly to Nuova: + +"Yes, you shall go out some time. But you must be a good bee and do your +work in the hive first, nurse the babies, then help make wax and build +cells. So go on with your work now. Hurry, the soldiers are coming, and +they have their stings all ready for loafing bees as well as for wasps +and black bees that come to rob us. Hurry, hurry!" + +Saggia pushed Nuova back into her place, and Uno, Due, and Tre also +hurried to their own places as the marching song of the Amazons was +heard. Into the hive and down the long aisles between the great vertical +walls of comb they came marching rapidly and brandishing their long, +sharp lances all ready for use. This was their song: + + Now fierce black bee and yellow wasp + With cunning seek to rush the hive; + Up warriors, aim the poisoned dart, + Let no bold hornet pass alive! + + Defenders of the golden stores, + Swoop down upon the robber band, + No foe escapes the Amazon spears, + For Hive and Queen we make our stand! + +As they finished their song the files of the Amazons broke up and the +soldiers scattered themselves through the hive, although most of them +kept in the lighter part near the entrance. + +In the special quiet that followed the cessation of the song Nuova heard +a voice calling loudly from a group of bees near the wax-making festoon +at the unfinished end of the comb. This group was busily engaged in +moulding new cells, using the wax which was being made by the bees in +the living festoon. + +"Look here," called the voice, which was that of Cera, chief of the +cell-builders and wax-makers, "we must have more wax-makers." She waved +an antenna toward the festoon. "They can't furnish us wax fast enough. +Some of you older nurses come here." + +Nuova who had stopped working and stepped a little out from the group of +nurses at Cera's first words, now started quickly to go over to her. +Uno, Due, and Tre all called angrily to her and tried to stop her but +Nuova easily evaded them and hurried over, with several other nurses +following, to Cera. + +"Let me make wax," she said eagerly to Cera. + +Cera looked at her, then away and to the others. "You! No, you are too +young," she said. Then more loudly to the others: "More wax-makers, I +say, and right away." + +But Nuova insisted. "Take me," she urged. "Teach me to make wax." + +Cera stared at her. "What a funny bee! Teach you! That shows you are not +old enough. If you were you would know without any teaching. Bees don't +have to be taught. They simply know how to do everything they need to +when the right time comes for doing it. And if they don't know it is +because the right time hasn't come." + +But Nuova still stood squarely in front of her. Cera stared at her more +and more surprised and more and more angry. "Here," she said finally, +and very roughly, "keep out of the way. Go back to your babies." + +Nuova fluttered her wings angrily and her sensitive antennæ trembled. "I +won't," she said. "I won't be nurse any more; I'll make wax or go out +for pollen. Yes, I'll go out into the garden." + +Then she actually started to run toward the hive entrance, but was +promptly stopped by Saggia, who had noticed her altercation with Cera +and had hurried over. + +Cera who had only half heard Nuova's angry outburst was nevertheless +greatly astonished, and was about to make an indignant reply and to call +the attention of the other bees to the audacious little rebel, but the +candidates to make wax crowded about her so closely and chattered so +distractingly to her that all thought of Nuova was, fortunately, +immediately driven out of her mind. + +In the meantime Nuova was tugging away from Saggia, and had even dragged +her a little along toward the entrance. But Saggia held fast to one +wing, and at the same time talked to her rapidly. + +"Nuova, stop!" she said in a low voice, at the same time glancing back +to see if the crowd around Cera was noticing them. "You mustn't say such +things. Bees never do. Listen, you can make wax. Listen to me, I'll tell +you what to do." + +Nuova stopped tugging at the poor old bee, who was getting rather +breathless and could hardly go on with her speaking. What she had last +said, however, made Nuova want to hear more. + +So as Nuova stopped pulling away Saggia went on talking. "The first +thing the wax-makers do is to go to the pantry cells and eat all the +honey and pollen they can. Then they all crowd together in close rows +like that," pointing to the festoon of wax-makers, "so as to get very +warm, and pretty soon the wax begins to come. It comes out in little +drops on your wax-plates"--touching one of the ten curious little +five-sided plates on the under side of Nuova's body--"and hardens right +away into a thin sheet of wax on each one of the plates. Now all you +have to do is to keep quiet and just mix with the others when they go to +the food cells to eat and drink. Say nothing to any one, and nobody will +pay any attention to you, not even Cera, as long as you are busy. There, +see, they are going," she added, as the group around Cera began to break +up, some of the bees going back to the babies while others, who had been +accepted by Cera, moved to the open food cells and began eating pollen +greedily and taking long drinks of honey. + +"Slip over among them," said Saggia in a whisper, "and stuff yourself. +Then go when they do to the festoon and hang on to it." + +Nuova was so eager to try this new experience that she hardly paused to +thank Saggia, although she did let a grateful smile flit over her pretty +fresh face as she hurried away. + +Just as she reached the food cells she heard a gentle, rather monotonous +singing, and glancing in the direction of the group of cell-builders +and wax-makers from which it came she saw that under the direction of +Cera who had already rejoined her workers, the cell-builders were going +through a sort of dance or rhythmic gymnastics, moving their bodies and +waving their wings and legs in a sort of exaggerated imitation of +moulding and building, and that the wax-makers in the festoon were +buzzing their wings to make their bodies warmer and swinging back and +forth, and that all of them together were singing a pretty song about +their work. This is the song they sang: + + Cling close in living curtain, + One thousand swing as one, + Now ooze the amber jellies-- + The work has just begun. + + Haste, mould the dainty wax flakes + And ply the trowels swift; + Pat, pat--the floors spread wider; + Tap, tap--the light walls lift. + + Through all the long hive-twilight, + The patterned cell draw true;-- + Tap, tap, with tiny trowel, + We've neither nail nor screw. + + Ten thousand honey pantries + And rooms for pollen store;-- + Build high the whole bee-city, + And still there's need of more. + +As the song and motion dance ceased, Cera called loudly again. This time +she wanted cleaners to come. "Here," she cried. "Cleaners! Let a cleaner +come. We are getting too much dust on the floor. Cleaners! Cleaners!" + +But no one came. Cera, looking impatiently about, saw Nuova glancing up +from the food cell over which she was standing, and motioned to her. +"Here, you," she said, without seeming to remember that it was with +Nuova that she had just had a dispute, "you don't seem to be doing much. +You run down to those cleaners," pointing to several cleaners on the +floor near the great pear-shaped cell, "and tell one to come here right +away. Look lively, now." + +Nuova, who seemed always ready for a new thing, gladly ran down the comb +to the floor and danced happily across it to a bee that was busily +cleaning and touched her with her antennæ. As the cleaner looked up +Nuova said: "Cera wants you; they are making too much dust over there." + +The cleaner straightened up a little and without a word shuffled slowly +across to a place just under the festoon and began to clean the floor +there. Nuova started to follow her, rather dawdling along, for the +prospect of hanging motionless in a wax-making festoon was not +especially attractive to her, when she was startled by the falling at +her feet of a lump of something soft and sticky-looking. She looked up +and saw far up on the vertical wall of the comb rising above her a bee +peering down at her and the lump. This bee was indeed right up by the +roof of the hive. As the bee saw Nuova look up she called to her loudly +and rather gruffly, "I say, pretty young bee, bring me up that lump of +propolis, won't you?" + +Nuova picked up the soft brownish ball in her mouth and climbed quickly +up to the top of the comb with it. As she offered it to the waiting bee +on the ceiling, she found it sticking to her teeth in a very +uncomfortable way. + +"Oh, the sticky stuff," she said in disgust, "and how it tastes and +smells!" + +The bee to whom she was awkwardly trying to give it, whose name was +Fessa, and who was a crack-filler, replied disgustedly and wonderingly: +"Oh, the stupid bee. And it smells like what it is. And that's propolis. +And when you've worked with it day and night for a week, as you will +sometime, you will learn how to handle it, and not be sickened by its +smell. It has really a good healthy smell, for it comes from beautiful +great pine trees and balsam firs." + +"Oh," cried Nuova, "from outdoors? From the garden where the flowers and +butterflies are? Shan't I go out and get you some?" And she turned as if +to start right away. + +Fessa was much astonished, and as she was an irritable bee, she was +angry too. "What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee. Go +out? You--you silly young thing. Don't you know you can't go out until +it is time for you to go? And then you'll have to go whether you want to +or not. Don't you know that bees do things according to custom? You +don't do what you like: you like what you do. That's the bee way, you +stupid. What kind of bee are you, anyway? Here now, hand over that +stuff, and go back to your work." And Fessa took the last of the +propolis from her very roughly. + +[Illustration: "What?" she cried, "Well, you really are a stupid Bee"] + +Nuova, who did not like to be handled so roughly, and talked to so +sharply, was almost in tears. She seemed to be always getting reproved. +However, she said rather maliciously to Fessa: "Well, do you like to +work with that sticky stuff? What do you do with it, anyway?" + +But Fessa had already turned back to her work and paid no attention to +her. In fact she had already begun, with her two or three other +crack-filling companions, to sing a slow, "sticky" sort of song, as they +kept stuffing propolis into a crack in the roof. Although I cannot give +you the strange, monotonous melody of the song, I can give you the +words. They were these: + + We're the soft putty crew, + Dripping the oozy glue, + Squeezing our resins through + Cranny and crack. + + Stuffing with pure cement + Crevice and chink and rent, + Where creeping airs have sent + Warning of Bee Moth bent + On sly attack. + + Yes, we are the safety crew, + Spreading with trowel true + Fragrant and golden glue, + Gumming each crack. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa_ + + +As the crack-fillers kept on singing their monotonous song over and over +while they worked, and as they paid no attention whatever to Nuova, she +turned away after a few minutes of listening to them, and stared around +her. + +It was the first time she had been clear up to the roof of the hive and +she saw that here, as at the bottom, there was a low, free space for the +whole length and breadth of the hive. It was rather dark up here, and +very warm and stuffy, for the warm air rising from the body of the hive +could not escape, as the propolis workers had filled all of the crevices +and cracks in the roof and where the great flat roof-board rested on the +vertical sides of the hive. + +Nuova felt glad she was not a crack-filler, and turned to go down to the +wax-making group where she belonged, when she saw a curious, dusky-gray +creature, not a bee, although with big eyes and long antennæ and wings, +which are all things that bees have also. But this creature's body was +much slenderer than a bee's, its antennæ very much longer and slenderer, +and its wings not only longer, but covered over, as was the body, with +myriads of small scales and hairs. These wings were so folded that they +covered all the back and most of the sides of the body and trailed out +beyond the tip of the body. The creature was walking rapidly and +nervously along the broad, upper edge of the comb on which Nuova stood, +and seemed to be quite at home in the dim light of this space just under +the roof. + +Nuova stared at the creature a moment, and then began to approach her. +But the creature had stepped quickly over the edge and was now running +rapidly down the face of the comb. In this lighter place Nuova could see +that she was engaged in hiding every here and there small, white eggs +that she seemed to carry somewhere in her body. She would dart nervously +in one direction and then another, hesitating a moment after each swift +movement long enough to drop an egg in an open cell or squeeze it into a +crack in the comb. + +Nuova, not being able to catch up with the creature, called loudly to +her a couple of times. "Who are you? What are you doing?" she cried; but +the creature did not reply, but only worked at her egg-hiding the more +rapidly. Nuova called to her again, this time so loudly that the +attention of several bees in the group of nurses was attracted. + +The minute they saw the creature, they set up a great shouting and began +racing after her. + +"Bee Moth! Bee Moth! After her!" they cried. "Call the soldiers! +Amazons! here! here!" + +Nuova was amazed at the uproar, and then she was shocked to see how the +Amazons and all the bees in fact dashed at the poor Bee Moth and began +to tear her literally to pieces. First her long antennæ and then her +wings were torn off and brandished in the air victoriously, and then her +delicate body was stung and hacked into bits, and the fragments tossed +down to the floor to be picked up and thrown out of the hive by the +cleaners. And during all this violent scene, which horrified Nuova +because, strange as it may seem, she really did not understand the +reason for it, all the bees kept up the most excited buzzing and +exclaiming. + +"The villain!" they cried; "when did she get in? Has she laid any eggs? +How did she get in? Who saw her first? Where did she lay her eggs?" + +Some began now to peer about for the eggs, while others continued to +talk and gesticulate. + +Uno, who had been standing silent for a moment as if in thought, +suddenly spoke up loudly, while she looked significantly at Nuova. + +"Nuova saw her first," she said; "she called to us." + +At that several of the bees turned to Nuova. + +"Nuova, Nuova, saw her first!" they cried. "Did she lay any eggs? Why +didn't you call us sooner? _Did_ she lay any eggs, we say?" + +"Why, yes," Nuova answered innocently, "a good many; all the way from up +there"--indicating the top of the comb--"clear down to--to--" and Nuova +shuddered so she could not finish. + +With this the bees burst out into a new, violent excitement, and they +seemed to be very angry with poor Nuova. "Bee Moth laid a lot of eggs!" +they shouted. "Nuova saw her! Nuova let her! The stupid one! The +faithless one! Kill her! Kill her!" And they crowded around Nuova in a +most threatening manner, some trying to strike her, and two or three +Amazons trying to reach her with their lances. Nuova thought her fate +was to be that of Bee Moth's, and it really seemed so for a moment. And +then Saggia was heard calling loudly. + +[Illustration: "The stupid one! The faithless one!"] + +"A crack! There must be a _crack_! She must have come in through a +crack! She couldn't have come in past the guards at the door." + +This distracted the attention of the bees from Nuova, for at once they +all turned toward Saggia and began shouting all together: "A crack! +There's a crack somewhere! Why haven't the crack-fillers found it?" + +Then they all began to crowd toward and clamor at the propolis-workers, +who, up on their scaffolding, scowled down on the mob, seemingly +unafraid and unexcited. + +"Well," said Fessa roughly, "find the crack and we'll fill it. That's +all we've got to say. Find the crack." + +"Yes, that's right," spoke up Saggia loudly. "Some of us hunt for the +crack, and some hunt for the eggs and break them or throw them out. +Every one that isn't found and hatches in the hive means danger for us. +Find them all." + +At this the bees all began hunting about for the crack and the eggs. +Every now and then an egg would be found and with a loud shout it would +be seized and thrown down to the floor of the hive. Nuova, disheveled +and still trembling from the fright caused by the attack of the bees on +her, crept down to the floor at the side of the hive just under the +wax-makers, who had paid no attention to all the hubbub. From here she +was looking on at the search for the eggs with astonishment, when +Saggia, who had been looking anxiously about for her, saw her and came +over close to her. + +"Go up and get back into your place in the wax-curtain, and they'll +forget all about you," she whispered. "But why didn't you shout out +about the Bee Moth when you first saw her?" + +"But why should I?" answered Nuova blankly and rather bitterly. "She was +such a pretty and such an interesting creature." + +Saggia raised her antennæ in astonishment and despair. "Nuova, you _are_ +a funny bee. You are so different. What _is_ the matter with you +anyway? Don't you know--but, of course, for some extraordinary reason +you don't--that your 'pretty and interesting creature' is one of the +most dangerous enemies we have? From any of her eggs that we don't find +and break, there will hatch a horrible little grub that will keep hidden +in the cracks or dark places in the hive, feeding on the wax of the +cells and on the pollen and honey, too, and spinning wherever it goes a +terrible, sticky, silken web that catches our feet and wings and +interferes with our getting around easily. And if there are enough of +the Bee Moth's grubs they spin so much web that finally we can't carry +on our work in the hive at all, and all our babies starve and the Queen +starves, and the whole community goes to ruin. 'Pretty and interesting,' +indeed; she is sneaky and despicable, that's what she is. And if you +ever see another, rush for her at once and call everybody. Being pretty +doesn't necessarily mean being good." + +"Yes; but, Saggia," said Nuova slowly, "if her grubs have to have wax +and pollen and honey for food, and if there is nobody but Bee Moth to +get them for them, and she can't, of course, doesn't she rather have to +lay her eggs in a bee-hive where, when her grubby babies hatch out, +there will be enough food for them? And don't they have to spin the web +to keep us bees from killing them as soon as we see them?" + +Saggia stared at her; and then, strange as it may seem, even this old +bee began to understand a little that Nuova's mind was a bit different +from that of the other bees in the hive, and that she had a heart that +could be hurt even by the killing of a dangerous enemy of the hive. +However, Saggia contented herself with repeating, "Well, you _are_ a +funny bee!" and then she urged Nuova again to start up the comb to the +group of wax-makers, and went back to see how the search for Bee Moth's +eggs was getting on. + +Just as Nuova was about to begin climbing up, she heard a strong, +buzzing sound near her and found that she was almost stumbling over a +bee that was standing in a most odd position, with its head down and +almost touching the floor, and its body lifted up at an angle of forty +or fifty degrees, and all of its wings going like mad, although it was +not, of course, beating its wings to fly, for it remained constantly in +the same position. There were two or three other bees near this one +doing the same thing, and farther away, nearer the hive entrance, were +two or three more. + +The wing-buzzing bee nearest Nuova, whose name was Aria, seemed to be +quite vexed with Nuova, for she said to her sharply: "Look out where you +are going, you stupid! Are you blind and deaf?" + +Nuova was startled, and rather frightened, too, by the sharp speech, but +her curiosity was even stronger than her fear. "Good gracious!" she +said; "what are you doing?" + +"What matter to you what I am doing?" said Aria, in a thick, "buzzy" +voice. "I am doing my work--which is more than you seem to be doing. +Aren't you bee enough yet to know that each of us has her own appointed +work and does it without worrying about what others are doing? If we all +do our work, then the whole community gets on all right. So if you will +look out for your work, I'll look out for mine." + +Here Aria buzzed more energetically than ever for a moment without +saying anything. Then she began speaking again, "Still if you have to be +told, you pretty little stupid bee, I'll tell you that I and my +companions are ventilating the hive, and if we should stop to loaf and +moon about like you, you and all the rest of us would suffocate, that's +what you'd do." And she stopped talking. But in a moment she began to +sing a curious little song which was partly made up of just buzzing and +humming, and partly of words. These were the words of her song, in which +all the other ventilating bees joined: + + Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz; + Back and forth, back and forth, + Fanning and stirring and driving and churning; + Old air we're forcing forth, new air's returning. + On our heads all the day; + This is the only way + We can keep sweet the hive + And our dear bees alive. + + Whirr, whirr, whirr, whirr; + Roundabout, roundabout, + Living fans ceaselessly driving and churning; + Foul air we're forcing forth, fresh air's returning. + Upside down all the day; + Beating our wings away; + So we keep sweet the hive + And our dear bees alive. + +While the ventilating bees were singing and Nuova stood idly watching +and listening to them, a small, old drone bee with crumpled-up, that is, +deformed wings, came, half walking and half comically hopping, down the +long aisle between the vertical combs from the back and darker part of +the hive. He was humming a song to himself as he came along. Beffa was +the name of the deformed bee, and he was the jester of the hive, as +could be guessed by his hopping way of walking, and by the words of his +song. + +When Nuova heard Beffa singing, she turned toward him, but did not +interrupt him. She was ever so much interested in his appearance, and by +his sort of hopping dance which he kept up all the time he was singing, +and by the song itself, which told her something about him, but not +enough. As he stopped singing, Nuova spoke, speaking to herself at +first, and then to him. + +"Oh, what a funny bee," she said. "You _are_ a bee, aren't you?" + +Beffa stared at her a moment, then made her a deep, mocking bow and gave +a hop or two. "Yes, pretty one, which is, of course, to say, stupid one, +I be a bee--just as you be, only not just so, for I be doing my work, +which I don't see that you be." Then he hopped comically about, humming +to himself the refrain of his song. + +No one, however, paid any attention to him except Nuova, who exclaimed +rather petulantly: "Oh, work, work, work; always that word!" + +"Yes," said Beffa, mockingly bowing and hopping about her, "but not +always that work"; imitating grotesquely for a moment Nuova's idle +attitude. + +"Do you call that hopping and singing work?" indignantly exclaimed +Nuova. "Why don't you go and nurse babies?" + +Beffa, who was again at his hopping and humming, stopped a moment to +stare at her in surprise; then replied, in a sing-song: "I can't, oh, I +can't nurse babies." + +"Then make wax," said Nuova. + +"I can't, oh, I can't make wax," hummed Beffa. + +"Then build a comb, or fill cracks, or clean the floor, or"--and she +pointed to the ventilating bees near them--"ventilate," persisted Nuova. + +"I can't," sang again Beffa, "oh, I can't build cells, or fill cracks, +or scrub floors, or--" and he broke off suddenly with a sort of catch in +his voice. + +But Nuova blindly persisted. "Well, then, why don't you go out and +gather pollen and bring nectar; out into the sunshine, out into the +garden." + +The poor, deformed bee, now angry, indeed, began jumping up and down +violently right in front of Nuova, and then suddenly whirled around, +bringing his back and crumpled wings fairly in her face. "Oh, silly +little pretty, pretty little silly!" he cried; "which is to say, blind +one, stupid one, heartless one, _would_ I like to go out, out into the +warm sunshine, out into the fragrant garden! Would I like to go! Blind, +stupid, brutal one!" + +When Nuova saw the poor, crumpled-up, useless wings, she suddenly +understood, and she felt like striking herself in the face as she +realized all the stupid, brutal things she had said. "Oh, you poor, poor +bee!" she cried as she touched Beffa caressingly again and again with +her antennæ. "I didn't see; I didn't understand; I am so sorry! Won't +you forgive me? Please?" + +Beffa, though partly appeased, was still half angry, and still spoke +bitterly. "Oh, you _do_ understand now! You _do_ understand why I hop +and sing; why I dance for the Queen; and why I do anything I can do when +I can't do other things; can't do what a drone ought to do, fly wide and +high in the Great Courting Chase after the Princess. I am glad you +understand now. But hush, listen!" He whirled around, facing toward the +great pear-shaped cell in the lower center of the comb. "Hark! +Principessa, the new Princess, calls. Hark!" + +Beffa and Nuova stood silent and expectant, facing toward the Princess's +cell as did all the other bees. There was a tense excitement everywhere. +Nuova felt that something very important was happening. And then came a +strange sound, first faint and low, then louder and shriller. It was the +piping of the young Princess shut up in her great cell, but ready now to +come out. It sent a shiver of excitement through all the bees. +Ventilators stopped buzzing and wax-makers and comb-builders turned +their faces intently toward the sound, and even the crack-fillers, far +up at the roof, stopped their work and peered down excitedly. + +There had come, indeed, one of the most exciting and tense moments that +ever come to a bee community. It was the moment that precedes the birth +of a new royal bee, a Princess who is destined to be the new Queen of +the hive, or to go out from the hive with many of the workers to +establish a new community of her own. + +Again came the shrill piping of the Princess in the royal cell. Another +wave of excitement ran over the hive. And again and again the weird +sound came. Suddenly the royal nurses began excitedly to plaster wax on +the outside of the great cell, especially over its mouth. + +Beffa whispered to Nuova: "She is trying to work her way out, but they +don't want to let her out yet. See, the drones are coming." + +And even as he spoke a gay song was heard, in voices very different from +any that Nuova had yet heard in the hive; and suddenly, as the song grew +louder, there came a half-dancing, half-marching file of +splendid-looking, robust bees, moving spiritedly directly toward the +royal cell. They were a fine-looking lot, these drones, these dandy +drones, and Nuova had a thrill she had never felt before. She gazed at +them entranced. + +The drones made a half-circle about the cell of the Princess and lined +up there, strutting and dancing and singing loudly. This is the song +they sang: + + We are the courtiers, the beaux of the hive; + Of the dandy drones surely you've heard! + Our wings are a rainbow, our bodies are gold, + To soil them would be most absurd. + + No, we never mix up with the common hive stuff, + Neither garner, nor plaster, nor clean; + 'Tis superior far to be just what we are, + And do naught but make love to the Queen. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess_ + + +All through their song Nuova had given the drones her absorbed +attention. She admired them greatly for their fine appearance, and when +she learned from their song that they did no work, but had all day only +to follow their own sweet will, she became especially interested in +them. She was a little puzzled, too, for, from what she had heard from +Saggia and the others, and from all she had seen, she had come to +believe that all bees worked all the time. And here were all these +stout-bodied, vigorous bees proudly singing that they loafed all the +days through. She was so much interested in this that she approached one +end of the line of drones and spoke to the one nearest her. + +"What a fine time you drones must have," she said. "Don't you ever have +to do any work?" + +The drone did not hear her at first and paid no attention to her, but as +she repeated her question louder and more insistently, he turned and +stared at her amazed. + +"Well, well, bless my eyes!" he said, stammering in his amazement at +being addressed by a common worker bee. "Bless my eyes! I say, work? +Work? Me work? Who ever heard such a question? What sort of a bee are +you? Who are you, anyway?" He touched the drone next to him to call his +attention. "Look here, who is this bee?" + +Nuova was nettled by his manner and by what he said. She answered, +rather sharply, "Well, I'll tell you who I am. I am a bee that works; +anyway, I am the kind of a bee that works, like all the others except +you, and you" (looking defiantly at the second drone, who was staring +insolently at her) "and I want to know why you do not work--you and you +others that loaf around all the time and eat what we bring in, and do +nothing but sing and dance in the hive, or fly around doing nothing in +the garden, and keep all dressed up and just look handsome." + +The drone was more and more astonished, but he was also a little +flattered by her reference to his clothes and appearance. + +"Well, you are a silly little bee," he said; "that's what we are here +for. Drones work? It isn't done, you know. Our business is to love. And +singing and dancing and looking handsome, and not getting all dusty with +pollen and sticky with wax and dirty with cleaning, is part of it. +That's our work; not working, but loving." + +[Illustration: "Drones work? It isn't done, you know."] + +Nuova was so astonished by hearing this, and so excited to learn that +some bees did not have to work, and also so angry to think that these +bees were allowed to live without working, while she was always being +told to work, and scolded for resting for even the shortest time, that +when she answered him she spoke so loudly as to attract the attention of +other bees near her, including Saggia, who was moving around near by, +cleaning the floor. + +"So that is what you call your work, is it?" she burst out. "Well, I am +glad to know there is some kind of bee work besides feeding babies and +sweating out wax and filling up cracks and scrubbing up floors. Loving, +you call it; well, I want to do some of that; show me how." + +The two drones were stupefied with astonishment by Nuova's words, but +the one nearest her, to whom she was speaking directly, was rather taken +by the audacity of the pretty little bee's demand, and he involuntarily +strutted and swaggered a little and eyed her with special attention. He +even smiled down at her rather pleasantly, and seemed to be about to +speak to her again when Saggia and three or four other bees, who had +heard her last words and were scandalized to see and hear her talking +with the drone, especially in such a manner, bustled up to her. + +This last unheard-of behavior of Nuova was too much for Saggia. Her +patience and sympathy with her were exhausted, and she broke out in a +tirade of scolding. + +"Well, I never in my life!" she exclaimed, grasping Nuova and jerking +her around; "what in the world are you doing and saying? Talking to a +drone about love! You don't know anything about love. You can't know +anything about it. Only drones and princesses know what love is, or can +know. You are worse than a silly bee; you are a bad bee!" She jerked her +again and again; at the same time she went on with her scolding. "Well, +I wash my hands of you! If you can't be a sensible bee we don't want +you! Our thinking has all been done for us long, long ago. All we have +to do is what custom tells us to. And if you can't behave as the rest of +us do, you are useless. Here, take her, throw her out of the hive!" + +Again Saggia jerked her vigorously, and other bees, especially Uno, Due, +and Tre, hustled her and struck at her. A couple of soldiers even came +up and began jabbing at her with their lances. Poor Nuova seemed about +to be torn piecemeal, like the Bee Moth, and turned out of the hive, +when one of the drones, who was in the line some little distance from +Nuova and Saggia, was attracted by the uproar. He came over to the group +in a lordly and leisurely manner, shouldering his way through the crowd +and carelessly driving off the jostling bees. They left Nuova +reluctantly, casting dark looks and making malevolent gestures toward +her as they turned their attention again to the excitement still raging +about the cell of the Princess. Poor Nuova, half dead from her +ill-treatment, could hardly utter her thanks to her rescuer. In a weak +voice she attempted to say something, but finding it too much of an +effort she contented herself with looking up gratefully into the face of +the newcomer. He looked down at her curiously. + +"What is the matter with you?" he said, not unkindly. "Can you not do as +other bees do? What are you--a nurse, a wax-maker, or what? Why don't +you stick to your work? Why don't you do what you are expected to do? +Are you one of those dreadful creatures they call 'new bees'?" + +Nuova, although still weak and faint from her jostling and fright, was +made angry again by these questions. "I do not know what I am," she +said, "but I'd rather die than be just a puppet in this hive. Is all my +life cut out for me, and not according to what I want to do and can do, +but just according to rules made by somebody I don't know anything about +and who doesn't know anything about me?" + +She tried to say more, but a faintness came over her, and she staggered +a little and would have fallen if the drone had not unconsciously put a +wing behind her and supported her. She looked up at him, unable to thank +him in words, but expressing her gratitude in her eyes. + +As she rested this way, leaning heavily against him, she closed her +eyes, happy to be protected, and even feeling strange little thrills +running over her body that were mysteriously enjoyable. Without opening +her eyes she murmured: "I am very grateful to you. You are very good." +He said nothing, but looked with more and more interest at the +sweet-faced little bee beside him. + +Soon she opened her eyes again, and this time a pathetic little smile +ran over her face. Indeed, it grew to be a roguish smile as an +interesting idea formed more and more clearly in her brain. + +"But you," she said--"aren't you rather breaking bee tradition by +helping me? If I am a useless bee, and only in the way, and a trouble to +the community, shouldn't you let them sting me and throw me out of the +hive? Are you" (she smiled again)--"are you, a--new bee, too?" + +The drone, whose name was Hero, and who was truly the handsomest and +finest drone in the hive, was first surprised and then a little +embarrassed by what Nuova was saying. He looked rather fearfully around +to see if other bees were observing them and tried gently to take his +wing from behind Nuova, who, however, on realizing his intention, gave +new signs of weakness and leaned more heavily than ever on it. In fact, +it must be confessed, she nestled as closely against him, enclosed by +his protecting wings, as she could. + +"No, I am not a new bee," he said, rather stiffly. "I know my duty, and +I try to do it." He looked again into his companion's pretty face, and +then spoke more gently. + +"Still, I admit that some of our ways are old-fashioned, rather absurd +in fact," he said, with a manner and voice growing more and more +confidential. "I have often had a curious feeling as if I should like to +work." He smiled down at her. "Terrible, isn't it? And sometimes it is +pretty hard to work up a violent love for a Princess you never see until +you are just about to dash after her in the Great Courting Chase. Still, +that's something worth while. One such flight is excitement and exertion +enough for a whole life." + +"Have you ever done it?" asked Nuova, curiously and even a little +enviously. "And did you win?" + +"Yes," said Hero, "I have been in one chase. But I was so young my wings +were hardly dry and, of course, I didn't win, or I shouldn't be here +now. Don't you know that the winner always dies in the winning?" + +"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Nuova, shocked. "And how silly! To die just as +you become King. How is it worth it?" + +"What!" said Hero, surprised, and in a reproving and even stern voice. +"Not worth while to win in the Great Courting Chase? To prove yourself +the fastest and strongest and boldest of all the drones, and to be the +consort of the Queen, the father of all the Queen's children? Not worth +while dying for? What do I live for but that?" + +"Ah, yes," cried Nuova, carried away for the moment by his enthusiasm, +"that _is_ something to live for!" + +Suddenly, however, she realized that if Hero won in the Great Chase that +was soon to occur--that is, would take place when the Princess, already +trying to get out of her cell, was really out and ready for her wedding +flight--he would really have to die for a bee, so far unseen and +unknown, and who had done nothing to deserve such a sacrifice, and who +would give her love as well to any other drone as to Hero, this handsome +and kind new friend. + +This made her angry and bitter again, and very sad, too, for she was +beginning to realize that she liked this beautiful, strong bee much more +than she liked Saggia or Beffa. He was different from all the other bees +she knew, and her liking for him was different. She wanted to be with +him all the time, and to have him talk to her or even just to look at +her. This must be loving, she thought, or part of it, anyway. She began +to dislike this Princess that was soon to come out of her cell. Probably +she would be very beautiful. When she thought of that she disliked her +more than ever. She could not bear to think of Hero's loving her or of +her loving Hero. + +She looked keenly at Hero, and then spoke to him slowly and cautiously, +growing suddenly wise because of her new feeling for him. + +"But how do you know you will love the new Princess?" she said. "Is she +certain to be beautiful and sweet? And will she certainly love you?" + +Hero looked at her curiously. It was strange how this pretty little bee +attracted him. And it was strange that she seemed to have very clearly +certain thoughts that were already rather hazily in his own mind. + +"Oh, well," he said musingly, "I shall not see much of her. It is not, +in a sense, love for her, but the response to the call of the race, the +fulfilling of my duty to our community, that will drive me to my best +effort to win her. But, of course, it is love for her, too; that is, so +far as there is love at all among bees. We can love only Princesses, you +know, we drones; that is honey-bee tradition." + +Hero had seen no betrayal of Nuova's real feeling in her questions. He +only saw in them the expression of her odd, independent way of looking +at things and thinking about them. Nuova realized this and so became +bolder by his blindness. And she was made bitter, too, by hearing this +hero of hers repeat that always irritating phrase of "honey-bee +tradition." + +"Oh, yes," she exclaimed, "you can only do what your grandfathers and +your great-grandfathers did! You must keep your eyes closed and your +heart cold and loll and loaf through all your life until they tell you +to go and love--love a Princess--love her, sight unseen--love her so +hard that if you win her you kill yourself! You are not _you_; you are +not a bee with a heart and brain and strong body of your own, to live +and strive and suffer and succeed after your own way and your own +desires, but you are a machine, an automaton, to do what custom has +fashioned you to do! You are not a bee; you are a clock-work; big and +strong and handsome--and hollow!" + +Hero, amazed at her vehemence and her breaking of all bee tradition, +looked at her more and more interestedly. He found a responsive feeling +in himself, not only to the ideas expressed by her words, but to her own +attractiveness and boldness. + +"Well," he said amazedly, but also sympathetically--"well, you _are_ a +silly little bee!" + +But now the excitement around the Princess's cell broke out afresh. She +was evidently about to come forth. From inside her cell she piped more +loudly and more often than ever. Suddenly a loud, answering trumpeting +was heard, and Beffa came hopping and humming to announce the approach +of the old Queen. It was the Queen who was making the answering +trumpeting. She came majestically along toward the cell of the Princess +with a group of attendant bees about her. These attendants always kept +circling slowly, but animatedly, about her, facing toward her, and +although constantly shifting and changing places, always maintaining a +complete circle around her. Every now and then she gave a loud +trumpeting, and each time she was answered by a shrill piping from the +cell. Or perhaps it was the old Queen who was defiantly answering the +challenges of the Princess. + +All the bees were enormously excited. They moved about constantly, +buzzing and grouping in dense masses, now here, now there, but mostly +close to the great cell. They were, however, plainly divided in their +feeling, for some of the groups were intent on keeping near the Queen. + +All the drones, however, clustered around the Princess's cell. Only +Hero, who still stood by the side of Nuova a little to one side, had not +joined the group of drones which was giving all its attention to the +awaited appearance of the Princess. None of them paid the slightest +attention to the Queen. + +The excitement steadily increased. It was evident that the climax was at +hand. Suddenly a breathless silence succeeded the buzzing whir. All the +bees stood still with eyes fastened on the royal cell, and there came +slowly forth from it, with beautiful but cold, set face and slow +automatic movement, the new Princess. + +[Illustration: There came slowly forth--the new Princess] + +As she stepped clear of her cell, with long, slender body erect, and +shining delicate wings already nearly dry and straight, the whole mass +of the bees quivered with renewed excitement. She carried a long, +shining silver lance which she held point upward and used to support her +first rather uncertain steps. + +The old Queen, staring defiantly at the shining Princess, seemed to +realize that the end of her reign had come. But she lifted her own long +lance threateningly in the air and gave out a challenging trumpet call +that sounded loud through all the hive. + +The Princess, though obviously not yet in full control of her movements +because of her long confinement in the cell, nevertheless faced the +threatening old Queen with full defiance, and piped back a vigorous +answer. + +The Queen seemed to lose all her self-control at this, and stooping a +little, and putting her lance in place so that it pointed directly at +the Princess, started to rush at her. But a mass of bees threw +themselves in front of her, blocking her way and pushing her lance up. + +Thwarted in her intention of killing the Princess or putting her to +flight, the old Queen hesitated a moment, and then with a loud cry of +"Who loves me, follow me to make a new home," she rushed for the opening +of the hive followed by a great swarm of worker bees. + +Nuova turned anxiously to Hero to see if he were going to follow the old +Queen from the hive. Her own inclination was to go with her, for she +detested the haughty, cold-faced new Princess, both because of her +appearance and insolent manner and because she felt that Hero would +surely win in the Great Courting Chase and hence become the Royal +Consort of the Princess and have to die for her sake. So she timidly +touched him with one of her antennæ to attract his attention, which was +all being given to the stirring scene before them. + +"Are you going to follow the old Queen?" she asked, "or stay with the +Princess?" + +Hero started, as she spoke, as if awakened from a daze. He looked down +at her curiously, as if only half recognizing her. Then he turned again +to look intently at the Princess and the group of drones about her. With +a quick turn back to Nuova he answered her as if astonished by her +question: + +"I shall stay with the Princess of course." Then he straightened up +proudly and added: "Indeed, I think she will be my Princess; my Queen." + +He looked toward the Princess again, this time eagerly and bending +rather toward her as if impatient to go to her. And even as he looked +toward her, her eyes, moving slowly and proudly over the whole group of +bees who had elected to remain in the hive with her, rested on him, and +stopped there. As she saw the handsome drone bending toward her with his +eager eyes fixed on her, a slow smile came over her face. It was the +first appearance of anything but defiance or cold insolence to which she +had yet given expression. Both Hero and Nuova saw it. Poor Nuova! It was +too much for her. She could hardly stand. Hero felt her trembling at his +side. He turned his face to look down at her, and was astonished and +then suddenly touched and even moved to see in her wet eyes the revealed +love of this pretty little worker bee for him. + +He spoke to her half curiously, half tenderly. "And are you going with +the old Queen, or will you stay here with the Princess?" he asked. + +"Stay, stay," whispered Nuova, almost sobbing. "I think--she will +be--my--Queen, also." + +As she said this she turned away. Just then the old Queen and the swarm +of bees about her rushed from the hive. All the bees remaining began to +sing a loud song of gladness and welcome to the Princess who was to be +their new Queen. And they all joined in a mad dance of joy--except +Nuova, who hid her tear-stained face and limp body behind the nearest +great honeycomb. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Nuova goes Outside_ + + +When Nuova felt that she could face again the scene near the cell, she +left her hiding-place and came slowly out into the open space where she +had left Hero. He was gone. She knew, without looking, that he was now +with the other drones pressing about the cold, proud Princess. She +looked rather for her old friends Saggia and Beffa. Though Saggia had +lost all patience with her because she had spoken to the drones, and had +punished her, and even given her over to Uno, Due, Tre, and the other +bees who disliked her, she still liked Saggia and believed that Saggia +liked her. + +So she looked around for them. But they were not in the mass about the +Princess nor in any of the groups which were beginning to take up again +the different kinds of work of the hive. + +Nuova noticed some bees going in and out the entrance hole of the hive, +and although she knew, by instinct, that she was still too young to +leave the hive, yet that strange driving spirit in her, which was +always impelling her to do things against bee traditions and custom, +urged her to the bright opening. Once there she hesitated. The brilliant +sunshine outside was blinding to her eyes, accustomed so far only to the +half-light of the hive. She had a curious sensation too, half of fear of +this unknown world outside, half of fascination to plunge recklessly +into it to see and learn the new things there must be in it, and to +escape from the automatic, heartless life of the hive, and the latest +and bitterest unhappiness this life had just brought to her. + +As she stood, uncertain, at the edge of the opening, she heard a +familiar humming just outside the opening, and at once stepped out. She +found herself on a broad platform as wide as the hive and extending +forward for what seemed to her a long distance, but which was in reality +only a few inches. On either side of the platform and beyond it were +grass and flowers and bushes, and still farther away some great trees, +all new and wonderful things to her. Above was the blue sky, and she +heard birds twittering, and far away the song of a woman working in the +garden. And it was all very light and fresh and fragrant. Nuova liked +it. + +She heard the familiar humming again. She turned her attention to the +entrance platform. There were only a few bees on it. A few guards moved +easily and half-lazily around, and a few foraging bees were coming and +going with loads of pollen and honey or with pollen baskets and honey +sacs empty. But suddenly she saw Beffa. It was he who was making the +familiar humming. With tired, drawn face and with only grimaces for +smiles, he was slowly hopping and humming near the front edge of the +platform. He often came to a standstill to look with fixed gaze out into +the distance. Beffa was a sad bee, for his Queen had gone and he could +not follow her. Poor Beffa! It made Nuova sad, too, to see him. + +And then she saw Saggia, too. She was at one side of the platform with +dustpan and brush, and occasionally stooping over to brush up something. +She, too, seemed sad and tired. She looked older than Nuova had seen her +look before. Saggia, like Beffa, every now and then stood quite still +and gazed far away into the garden or sky as if hoping to see again +the old Queen whom they had lost. Saggia and Beffa had come close +together without noticing each other or Nuova, so occupied with their +own thoughts were they. But soon Saggia noticed Beffa and moved up close +to him. + +"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia, in a low voice so that only Beffa +should hear. + +[Illustration: "Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia] + +Even Beffa did not hear her at first, or, at least, he did not heed her. +But when Saggia repeated what she had said, Beffa came out of his +reverie with a jerk, and awkwardly made a little hop and grimace. + +"Sad," said he. "Great Apis forfend. Haven't we a shining new Princess +to our hive; a virgin new Princess to wed and be a new Queen to us all? +Why should we mourn for an old Queen that's gone? Why be sad with a new +Queen to come? Ha-ha," he laughed sardonically and bitterly. + +"Yes, sad," repeated Saggia again, still speaking low and significantly, +"when we have just lost our old Queen who liked her jester, Beffa, and +even her old floor-cleaner, Saggia, who neither of them know whether +the new Queen will like them or not. Oh, sad, sad! Ha-ha!" And she +half-imitated Beffa's sardonic laugh and his hop and grimace. + +Beffa turned and faced Saggia squarely, surprised to find wise old +Saggia troubled and depressed just as he was. After a long, keen look at +her, he made a solemn gesture to the distance, and then a mocking bow +toward the hive entrance. + +"The Queen has passed: long live the Queen!" he exclaimed. + +Several of the guard and forager bees near him heard his cry and called +out after him-- + +"The Queen has passed: long live the Queen!" + +But one old guard of testy temper added, speaking rather roughly to +Beffa: "What are you doing here? Doesn't the Princess laugh at your old +tricks? Can't you find some new ones?" + +Beffa turned angrily toward the guard, as if to answer sharply, but +suddenly checked himself and began capering and humming. Then he sang in +a bitter voice: + + "Let the guards guard, and the jester jest, + Let Saggia clean, and the new queen wed, + Let all the bees do all they did, + For life is doing what we're bid. + Oh, life is doing what we're bid. + Ha-ha!" + +Saggia felt a little anxious on Beffa's account, for his song seemed +bitter, and she saw that the guard was looking both puzzled and sour as +she listened to it. So Saggia spoke to her hurriedly. + +"The odor from our full pantries comes strong from the hives this +morning," she said. "I hope it won't attract the Black Bees." + +"Oh, the Black Bees," said the guard, superiorly. "Let them come. We'll +show them how robbers are treated." + +Just as the guard finished speaking, a commotion began on the other side +of the platform, and Nuova saw a large black-and-yellow-striped creature +with a long spear lunging fiercely toward the entrance of the hive. It +was a Yellow Jacket. She knew it at once, because she had heard some of +the nurse bees one day talking about these fierce +black-and-yellow-banded robbers that sometimes fought their way into +the hive to steal honey. + +The guard near Saggia and Beffa hurried across the platform brandishing +her lance. But already three or four other guards had thrown themselves +on the intruder and were beating it back, striking it viciously with +their lances. The Yellow Jacket made a good fight, but the bee Amazons +were too many for it. It was wounded, began to weaken, and soon was +hustled back off the platform and on through the grass behind a near-by +bush. + +The guard who had been talking with Saggia came back proudly to her, +still brandishing her long lance. + +"That's the way we do it," she said. "And a Yellow Jacket is stronger +than a Black Bee." + +"Yes," replied Saggia, wagging her old head wisely, "but not stronger +than ten Black Bees, or a hundred, and that is the way _they_ come." + +As Saggia finished speaking, the guards who had driven the Yellow Jacket +away returned boisterously, and joining all the other guards on the +platform, formed in a line, and half-marching, half-dancing, went +through some military maneuvers. While they were doing this, another lot +of guards came out of the hive, and forming in a line opposite them, +also went through the martial dance. At the end of it all the guards who +had been outside marched into the hive, while the new ones remained +outside on the platform. It was the "relief of the guard." + +All during the guards' dancing and marching, Nuova had stood still +watching them intently. Neither Saggia nor Beffa had seen her yet. And +she was afraid to speak to them for fear of being made to go back into +the hive again. She had made up her mind to stay outside. It was all so +much more beautiful and exciting out here. She had decided that she +would not be a nurse or wax-maker or anything else inside the hive any +longer. She wanted to be a forager and be free to go in and out as she +liked, and to fly far out into the garden and spend long, sunshiny hours +there. + +Just then, however, Saggia caught sight of her. It was, indeed, Beffa +who saw her first. He quietly touched Saggia with one of his antennæ and +waved the other in Nuova's direction. Saggia hurried over to her, +looking anxiously around her to see if any other bees had noticed Nuova. + +"What are you doing out here?" whispered Saggia to her as she reached +her side. "Who sent you out? It isn't time for a week yet for you to +come outside." + +Saggia wanted to be angry with her, but the sight of Nuova, so sad and +forlorn-looking, and with tear-marks still on her face, was too much for +her kind heart. And she really loved Nuova very much. Indeed, all that +Nuova had done, and what she had said, had made a strange appeal to the +wise old bee. She was almost frightened sometimes to feel that down deep +in her heart she not only sympathized with much of Nuova's revolt +against the rigid traditions and automatic life of the bees, but that +she realized that this stifling of all independent action and all +personal emotions was not always the way to the highest happiness nor +even the wisest conduct for the bees. She shuddered to think that +perhaps she, too, was a "new bee." + +Nuova was half-frightened by Saggia's discovery of her and by her hard +words. But she answered her willfully and defiantly, although with a +touch of attractive mischievousness. + +"Nobody sent me out," she said. "I have just decided to be a forager; +that's all. While I was in the hive a little while ago a forager came in +with two great loads of pollen in her pollen baskets. She was very tired +and seemed sick. While she was looking around for an empty cell in which +to put her pollen, she suddenly sank down--and--and died." + +Nuova shivered as she said this, and dropped her antennæ down over her +eyes for a moment. + +"Ah, yes," said Saggia sadly but proudly; "worked herself to death. That +is the noble death we have. We die in the harness--working for others, +working for the hive. The bees know that death well and honor it." + +"They may know it well," broke in Nuova sharply, "but they do not honor +it well. Anyway, not by their actions. Nobody paid any attention to the +poor forager when she was staggering along with her load, and none when +she sank down on the floor and died. Except pretty soon a couple of +cleaners came along and dragged her body away. I suppose they brought +it out here and flung it off the platform somewhere. A noble death, well +honored, indeed! Well, I don't want that kind. I am going to die out in +the garden, under a flower." + +While Nuova was speaking, Beffa had hopped and hummed his way over to +them, and now he broke in with a song, which he sang as he hopped and +danced about them. This is what he sang: + + "Work, no play; work all day; + A useful life; a usual life; + The good bee's way, + All day, all day. + Then die and lie + Till Saggia spy + The carrion stuff-- + A tug; a shove, + And the friend you love + Is gone to grass: + Ha, ha, alas, is gone to grass. + A noble life; a halted breath: + The epitaph: 'She worked to death.'" + +Both Saggia and Nuova listened to Beffa and watched him till he had +finished singing. They both saw clearly his own unhappiness and his own +revolt against the rigor of the bee tradition that demands always the +full sacrifice of the individual for the community. Saggia realized that +Beffa, too, was a "new bee." + +Nuova, in the meanwhile, was looking off again into the beautiful +garden; at the green grass and bushes; the many-colored flowers; the +blue sky and warm, bright sunshine over all. She was enchanted. She drew +a long breath of relief and happiness. She turned to Saggia. + +"Will they keep me in," she whispered, "if I go back into the hive? If +they will, I shan't go," she added positively. + +Saggia looked about again to see if other bees were paying attention to +them. None was. + +"No," she said, speaking in a low voice, "they won't keep you. They +won't pay any attention to you as long as you keep busy, coming and +going. You can be a honey-gatherer. The honey-flowers are only a little +way off, there in the garden. But first you must get acquainted with the +outside of the hive and the entrance. Look around. See, we are just by +the side of this big bush, with that long branch hanging over. You can +go out a little way from the platform, then turn around and see how the +hive looks from there. Then go a little farther and look back again. +Then go a little way to one side, and then to the other, and notice +everything that will help you to find your way back. If you get lost, +see if you can't see other honey-gatherers or pollen-foragers flying +with full loads; they are returning to the hive; follow them. As to +collecting the honey, you will learn that easily; in fact, you will be +surprised when you get to the flowers, to find that you already know +how. Be careful and not get into the poppies that shut up on you, and +watch always for the great-crested bee-bird that swoops down on you, +and, peck"--Saggia exaggeratedly imitated a bird's pecking--"and that is +the end. Now, be off for your first flight. But not too far--not for the +first time." + +Nuova's face shone with eagerness. "Oh, thank you, Saggia, thank you. +You are good to me. You are different from the others. Thank you, +dearest Saggia." + +Nuova started quickly forward toward the edge of the platform. Just then +Beffa, who had been hopping gently about Nuova and Saggia while they +were talking, now hopped and danced along in front of Nuova, singing: + + "The new bee and the old world; + Flowers are there and butterflies; + But ugly toads and big bee-birds, + If the old bee thinks she knows, + The new bee knows she doesn't. + Ah, new bee knows the world-old truth, + That the old world's ever new." + +Nuova had slowed her steps so that she could hear all of Beffa's little +song, and as he finished she came up to him and touched him caressingly +with one of her antennæ. But Beffa shrank from her caress. It meant so +much to him, and yet he knew it meant so little to her. He knew Nuova +liked him; yes, but he knew that he more than liked Nuova: he loved her. +Poor Beffa! Love! A pitiful, deformed drone that could not fly; that +could never be in the Great Courting Chase! And it was only then that +the drones loved; and then only a Princess that could be loved. What he +felt was impossible for a bee to feel; bee tradition told him that; and +yet, he knew that he did feel this impossible thing. + +"Beffa, you are good to me too," said Nuova to him; "you and Saggia are +both good to me. And you two are the wisest bees in the hive, for you +know that I am not the same as the other bees. No bees are exactly the +same, I believe. We can't be all exactly alike, and we can't all like +the same things, or think the same way, can we? I wish I could be a +Queen so that I could have you always for my jester; always by to say +funny things and wise things." + +Beffa made a grimace--to hide a sob. And he hopped more grotesquely than +ever, while he sang: + + "Ah, well, who knows? + New things unheard of may be true, + For every day the world is new. + Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows?" + +"Good-bye, Beffa," said Nuova. And she stepped to the edge of the +platform, and spread her wings for her first flight, her first plunge +into the outside world of grass and flowers and butterflies and +bee-birds. And just then something happened that postponed this flight. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle_ + + +Just as Nuova was about to launch herself into the air, a sudden +commotion at the hive opening made her look back. After this look she +had no further thought of the garden. What she saw was the group of +drones coming out of the hive, with another group of worker bees +attendant upon them. These attendants were cleaning the drones' bodies +and wings and evidently preparing them for some great event. It was +plain to Nuova that this was the preparation for the Great Courting +Chase. Her heart gave a leap, her eyes became misty; she stumbled and +almost fell. She was so dizzy that she thought sudden death had struck +her. It was only, however, the blow of her heart and mind in realizing +that Hero--her Hero--must be in the group and preparing to leave her +forever. He had, in a sense, already left her forever she knew, for he +had made his decision--or rather she felt that the cruel bee tradition +had made the decision for him--to follow the Princess. And if he +followed her he could but win. Her wonderful, handsome, powerful Hero +would be easily the successful one in the Great Courting Chase. + +She ran her eyes anxiously over the group of drones now well out of the +entrance and spreading out on the platform. At first she did not see +Hero. But in a moment she did. He was a little apart from the others, +and showed none of the excitement of the other drones. Indeed, he seemed +to be rather depressed, and was evidently keeping quite by himself. He +had not even an attendant with him. Nuova saw in this her chance. + +She turned back from the edge of the platform, merged into the excited +crowd, none of the bees paying any attention to her at all, and began to +work her way through the press toward Hero. + +Just then, however, Uno appeared by his side and began to brush his +wings. He turned on her with an impatient gesture. Surprised and angry, +Uno made a grimace and left him. A moment later, Due, noticing that he +had no helper, hurried over to him, but she, also, much to her surprise +and chagrin, was treated as Uno had been. + +Hero seemed to be in an irritable mood. As the drones and their +attendants came farther out, he moved away toward the front of the +platform. This brought him rather near Nuova, who was able to reach him +before any other bee could offer him her services. + +Nuova, unperceived by Hero, slipped behind him and began nervously and +awkwardly, glancing at the attendants on the other drones for guidance, +to clean his wings. Soon an awkward tug apprised Hero that some one was +again trying to attend him, and he turned with an angry movement to +drive her off, when he recognized Nuova, and arrested his gesture. He +stood still, looking at her keenly, and, without a word, let her go on +caring for him. She grew even more nervous and awkward. Then he smiled +gently, and spoke to her in a low voice. + +[Illustration: Nuova began to clean his wings] + +"How do you come to be out here?" he asked. "You weren't sent as an +attendant to us. Only the older and more experienced bees are given +that--honor." He smiled again. "You didn't come out just now?" + +"No," said Nuova almost in a whisper--"no, I was going out for honey." + +"Oh, fine!" said Hero. "Out into the world already! You must have done +your work in the hive very well." + +"Yes," murmured Nuova demurely. + +Just then two or three Black Bees slipped out from behind a bush near +the platform, but no one noticed them. + +"But why don't you go, then?" asked Hero. "It is beautiful over there +among the flowers." He waved an antenna toward the garden. "And +fragrant, and exciting. Other kinds of creatures; beetles and +grasshoppers and big buzzing flies. Some bad ones, too; spiders and +giant bee-birds always watching, watching to catch you." Nuova +shuddered. "But you are not afraid, are you?" Hero looked at her keenly. +"Or are you? Do you prefer to stay here in safety and just wait on the +drones?" + +"Yes," said Nuova slowly, "I prefer to wait on a drone." + +"I am surprised," said Hero sternly and even half-contemptuously. + +Just then Nuova made an awkward tug at his wing. He winced. "Ouch!" he +said; then half-laughed. "Your champion will never win Principessa if +you pull his wings out." + +As he said this, Nuova involuntarily, in response to her feelings, gave +an even harder tug at his wings. + +Hero exclaimed again, and half-pulled away from her. He spoke almost +angrily. + +"Here, what _are_ you doing?" he cried. Then, as he looked into the +eager, excited, pretty face of his little attendant, he felt his heart +give a curious throb. And when he spoke again it was almost tenderly. + +"Well, you are good to try and help me, anyway. But"--and now he spoke +rather moodily--"I don't need much preparing. I can beat any of +them"--and he waved contemptuously toward the other drones--"easily, +just as I am." + +Poor Nuova! He could hardly have said a more discouraging thing to her, +or one to hurt her more. She drew back a little and had hard work not +to cry. She half-sobbed as she said: "That--is--fine. I am sure--you +can." She paused. Then she said slowly: "And if you do beat them, are +you sure to get--her? Are you sure to be able to catch--her?" + +The excitement on the platform was growing. The drones seemed to be +getting impatient, and the attendants worked feverishly at the cleaning +and making ready for the wonderful event about to happen. The infection +of all this excitement began to seize Hero. He had turned his face away +from Nuova to stare intently at the opening of the hive. It was there, +of course, that the Princess would soon appear. + +At Nuova's last question he started a little. "Eh?" he said rather +brusquely. "Oh, yes, of course, I can catch her. She will fly faster +than we at first, but she can't keep it up as long as we can. She will +try to go higher and higher in the air, but that is hard work. That is +when we shall catch up with her." He paused, then added, musingly: "It +is odd; she is trying her best to get away from us and yet she wants to +get caught all the time. She must get caught, you know, or we shouldn't +have any Queen, and the hive would go all to pieces. The old Queen never +comes back, of course. The Princess is our one chance to have a Queen at +all." + +Nuova seemed to be thinking hard. Something was puzzling her. "But," she +asked insistently, "what really does happen if a Princess doesn't get +caught, or something happens to her. There must be some way to save the +community, isn't there?" + +Hero seemed to have lost interest again in Nuova and her questionings. +He was gazing fixedly at the hive entrance. + +"Oh," he said carelessly, "I don't know. I've heard sometimes that a +worker bee can--" + +He was suddenly interrupted. There was a new and very violent commotion +on that side of the platform which the few Black Bees had approached, +unnoticed, a few minutes before. Now there was a whole group of them +plainly in sight and many others were coming quickly out from behind the +bush. A great and angry buzzing was heard from the guards on the +platform and cries of "Lotta, Lotta! The Amazons! Call Lotta! Call the +Amazons! Hurry! The Black Bees! The Black Bees!" + +The guards, few as they were in comparison with the oncoming horde of +Black Bees, threw themselves bravely at them, and a moment after Lotta +and her Amazons began issuing pell-mell from the hive entrance. They +were met almost immediately by the foremost Black Bees, who had easily +killed or were driving back the few guards, and were making rapid +headway over the platform toward the entrance. A few even had passed in +through the entrance, but they were driven out again at once by the +issuing Amazons. In fact, most of the first Black Bees to gain a +foothold on the platform and to push forward to the entrance or into it +were killed. But that brought no terror to the others. They pressed on +over the dead bodies of their comrades, lunging and striking viciously +with their long lances. + +But Lotta and the Amazons were fighting fiercely, too. They were making +a heroic defense of the hive and its stores. The battle raged with great +fury, but for a little while with no apparent advantage to either side. +The Black Bees seemed, on the whole, the more expert and the more +furious fighters--they are, indeed, a race of bees famous for their +fighting--but Lotta's wonderful personal courage and deeds of prowess +were a great inspiration to the defenders. She appeared to be everywhere +at once, and her shouts of defiance to the enemy and of encouragement to +her followers made up in some measure for the feebler strength and less +experience of her band. + +This was so obvious to the Black Bees that she was soon singled out for +special attack by groups of her adversaries. Two or three Black Bees +would combine to assail her from different sides, but her lightning +movements and dashing bravery had so far saved her even from being +touched by an enemy's lance. But just at the moment when Nuova had +recovered a little from her amazement and terror at this sudden +invasion, Lotta received her first wound. The fierce Black Bees were +closing around her too closely. Nuova felt a violent rage rising within +her as she realized that at any cost the Black Bees were going to kill +the leader of the Amazons. Lotta was staggering, and a half-dozen lances +were lunging at her. She stumbled, gave one final shout of +defiance--and fell. + +It was a terrible blow to the Amber Amazons. They were seized with +dismay. They had no one to lead them. They hesitated, gave way here and +there, and the Black Bees with triumphant shouts pressed forward. Some +of them had even reached the entrance, when a new, shrill battle-cry and +call of encouragement to the Amber fighters rose above all the noise of +the battle. + +The cry came from Nuova. She had watched the whole terrible struggle in +a sort of daze; half of terror, half of utter amazement. But when Lotta +was struck down, the rage rising within her seized her completely, and +when the Black Bees had pressed on over the fallen leader's body with +shouts of triumph, she sprang forward, grasped Lotta's own lance from +her sinking hand, and threw herself with such fury on the rear of the +marauders that they had to turn to defend themselves. Then it was that +she had uttered her first battle-cry. As the Amber bees heard it and saw +at the same time that some of the black fighters had turned to defend +themselves against an attack in the rear, they checked their retreat +and began answering back this new shrill call. In the next moment they +saw something that filled them all with rejoicing and gave them at once +a new courage. + +Nuova, taking a lesson from the method of the attackers, had looked +about, even as she leaped into the fight, for the leader of the Blacks, +and had fought her way fiercely directly toward her. In a moment they +were face to face, and in another moment thrusting and parrying in +deadly personal combat. + +But nothing could withstand the vigor and audacity of this rage-maddened +new warrior's assault, and the black leader, first contemptuous, then +amazed, then terrified, found herself fighting vainly for her life. She +managed to strike Nuova one or two glancing blows with her lance, but +for answer received a thrust fairly through the body, and fell with a +great cry of defeat and pain. + +This it was that filled the despairing Amber bees with a new courage and +reanimated them to fresh resistance. Turning on their attackers, they +renewed the battle with an irresistible surge toward Nuova, and reaching +her and following her lead in but few moments more they had rushed the +disheartened Black Bees off of the platform. They even followed them +into the grass, where they killed many of them one by one. Then they +hurried back with shouts of victory, and ranged themselves in lines for +marching and dancing. While the foragers busied themselves with carrying +the bodies of the fallen off of the platform, all the Amazons marched +and danced and sang loud songs of triumph. + +[Illustration: Nuova was among the fallen] + +But Nuova was not among them. She was among the fallen. Not far from the +body of the dead leader of the Black Bees whom she had so brilliantly +overcome, Nuova lay huddled. Saggia, who had been hustled out of the +press and into the entrance of the hive while the battle was going on, +now hurried to her fallen friend. Beffa, also, came hopping anxiously to +her, and Hero, who knew now that Nuova was no coward, and had, indeed, +been seized with a great admiration and at the same time a great +solicitude for his extraordinary little worker-bee friend, also hastened +to her side and bent over her. Other bees, too, came crowding around, +and Nuova's body would almost have been trampled under foot by the +surging crowd if Hero had not angrily cleared a little space about her. +Saggia, who had found already to her great joy that Nuova showed no +lance wound, but had only been stunned by a glancing blow, was lifting +her gently to her feet. And just as Hero came to her side, Nuova, dazed +and faint, first opened her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase_ + + +"My brave little Nuova," said Saggia, joyfully and tenderly. And Beffa +hopped happily about, singing softly to her: + + "For a new bee + A new way; + From nurse to warrior + All in a day. + What's for to-morrow? + Who can say? + For the newest bee, + The newest way." + +The other bees about her were all talking confusedly together. "She +saved our stores! Who is she?" they cried. "She is Nuova, the nurse! +Nuova, the wax-maker! She is Nuova, the honey-gatherer! She was not even +an Amazon! Is she hurt? She is killed! She is wounded! What a brave +bee!" + +Hero had said nothing yet, but now, as he leaned over her with his face +close to hers and her eyes opened slowly, he murmured tenderly, "Little +Nuova!" + +Nuova looked languidly up at him and around at Saggia and Beffa; then +closed her eyes again with a weak but happy smile, and spoke in a low, +trembling voice: "She struck me, but I hit her back; I hit her harder." + +"You killed her, Nuova," broke in Hero, proudly. "You were wonderful." + +Nuova shuddered. "Killed her!" she said sadly. "Dreadful! I am sorry." + +"Sorry?" cried Saggia. "You silly! You saved us! You won the victory by +killing her!" + +"Who was she?" asked Nuova, still sadly. + +"Why, the Chief of the Black Bees," said Hero, proudly and tenderly. +"Their greatest fighter! And you, little Nuova, alone, killed her." + +Nuova looked up at him thoughtfully. "Are you glad?" she asked. + +Hero turned with stupefaction to Saggia. She could only lift her hands +in amazement. Nuova's mental processes were too much for them, although +Beffa, hopping near, nodded his head wisely to himself. + +"Glad? I glad? Of course, you absurd warrior!" said Hero. "We are all +glad, aren't we?" he asked of the others about. + +"Glad? Of course, we are glad! You saved us!" said they all. + +"Well," said Nuova, smiling gently, and looking up at Hero, "if you are +glad, I am glad." And then she let her head sink down again and closed +her eyes. + +While Saggia and Beffa and Hero had been caring for Nuova and talking to +her, most of the other bees had gradually resumed their normal +occupations, the guards moving watchfully about over the platform, the +foragers coming and going, and two or three cleaners scrubbing the floor +here and there to remove all stains of the battle. + +But Uno, Due, and Tre had not yet gone back into the hive to resume +their nursing work, but with a few other bees had formed a group +standing a little way off from the group about Nuova. They were +whispering and looking and pointing toward Nuova. Uno finally left her +group and came over and joined the bees about Nuova. She whispered to a +few of them, and finally spoke out loud enough to be generally heard. + +"Nuova was not an Amazon," she said. "Why should she fight? Is this the +way of bees?" + +Due and Tre shook their heads vigorously and murmured, "No, no." + +And several other bees of their group shook their heads dubiously. + +"No," spoke up Due, "this is not the bee custom. A good bee does the +thing she is set to do. For a nurse to use a lance! No, that is unheard +of." + +"No, no, it isn't done, you know," said a drone near by, wagging his +head wisely. + +"If it hadn't been done, you loafer," cried Saggia angrily, "you would +have starved to death before we could have refilled our pantries again +after the Black Bees had taken all our food!" + +"But it is not the bee way," interjected Tre; then adding boldly and +tauntingly to Saggia, "Are you a new bee, too?" + +"No," replied Saggia vigorously, "I am an old bee--old enough to have +learned a little more than I knew when I was a nurse bee--a loafing +nurse bee," she added, looking significantly and hard at Uno, Due, and +Tre in turn. + +They all started guiltily and began to move slowly toward the entrance, +but all the time looking back malevolently at Saggia and Nuova. + +"It's not the right bee way," they muttered. "It isn't the usual way." + +Several other bees joined them in their muttering and head-shaking. + +Just then, however, a new excitement became manifest at the hive +entrance. Those drones who had gone back into the hive were issuing now +post-haste, while those still outside joined those coming out. To them +hastened their attendants, and in a moment all was busy preparation and +expectation again. + +Beffa, who had moved over to the entrance as the drones began to come +out, now came hopping and humming across the platform toward Saggia, +Nuova, and Hero. As he came near he was singing: + + "She comes; she comes; + Principessa now would wed; + She seeks the sky for marriage-bed. + Let drones aside their languor fling; + Bethink the prize; to be a King." + +Hero started up, infected by the excitement and driven by the still +potent bee tradition. "She is coming," he murmured, "the Princess." + +All the bees were growing more and more excited. The drones began to +form in a line. Their attendants worked feverishly at cleaning and +preparing them. The other bees cleared a space near the entrance, in +front of the drones, whose eagerness was betrayed by their bending +forward like runners on the starting-line. Hero started forward to take +his place at the nearest end of the line. Nuova tried to stand, Saggia +helping her. She tottered as if to fall, but regained her balance. Her +face was drawn and tears welled from her eyes. She pushed Saggia to one +side and totteringly followed Hero. As he moved to his place, as if in a +sort of daze and hypnotized and driven by another will than his, Nuova +staggered into place behind him, as attendant, and made feeble attempts +to brush his wings. He did not seem to see her nor even to realize her +presence, but kept his eyes fixed on the entrance. + +The commotion among the bees increased. All watched incessantly the +opening of the hive. Suddenly the Princess was seen to be coming slowly +and proudly out, still cold and set of face, but beautiful in figure and +carriage, truly queenly in all her seeming. + +Three or four attendants were busy behind her, brushing her long, +slender wings, and removing every speck or stain from her body. The +drones all leaned farther forward, their eagerness infecting her. For +she became more animated and began spreading out and fluttering her +wings. The drones did the same. + +Beffa was hopping about with ridiculous activity and awkwardness, +humming inaudible words. Suddenly, with a jerk, Hero turned his eyes +from the Princess and let them wander about as if seeking something. +They rested on Beffa, who in response made motions in his dancing that +unmistakably directed Hero to look behind him. He did so and saw Nuova. +He stared fixedly at her a moment. Then he leaned toward her and said +in a curious, tense, but almost appealing tone, as if he were asking her +for advice or help: + +"The Great Courting Chase is on! A Queen is to be won! The prize is to +be a King!" + +Nuova called on all her strength, physical and spiritual. + +"Yes, yes," she gasped. "Be ready! Lean forward! They are starting! You +will win!" Her voice broke a little. "You can't lose, Hero--wonderful +Hero. You will be King--our King--my King. Good-bye!" She stifled a sob. +"Good luck! Good-bye!" + +She could say no more. She turned her face away from his, sobbing +unrestrainedly. Saggia, who had come to her side, caught her and +supported her just as the Princess, with wings outspread and eyes fixed +outward and upward, ran quickly to the outer edge of the platform, +followed a little way behind by the drones in a group. As the Princess +reached the platform's edge, she launched herself beautifully into the +air and flew swiftly, first straight out and up and then curving gently +away to the left. One after another the drones flew after her. + +Nuova gazed fixedly after the following drones. Hero's delay with Nuova +made him the last to spring into the air. But he flew so strongly that +it seemed certain that he would quickly make up for this handicap in the +great race. Indeed, some of the onlooking bees began to call out, "See +how Hero is gaining! He will surely win! Hero will be King!" + +Nuova had strained her gaze after Hero until he with all the others had +passed from sight far out and up in the bright sky. As she gazed she had +lifted on tiptoe and had even spread out her wings as if she would fly +after him, but now as he disappeared she collapsed and fell back heavily +with closed eyes and a pitiful sob into Saggia's supporting embrace. + +Just then Beffa came hopping and humming over to them and sang, as if +mockingly, but really with sympathetic and comforting meaning: + + "Ha, ha, the sad attendant! + Her champion is too slow. + He'll never win the Princess, + Her kiss he'll never know." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_Nuova in the Beautiful Garden_ + + +When Nuova had recovered enough to face squarely the situation in her +life and in the life of the hive, she found herself very weak and very +sad. Above all, she found the thought of going again into the dark hive +to work extremely repugnant to her. And almost the first thing she said +to Saggia, who had remained faithfully by her, supporting and caring for +her, was that she would not go back into the hive to nurse or make wax +or do anything else that meant staying inside. + +Saggia comforted her by saying that she would not have to work inside. +The kindly old bee whispered to her that there was always so much +confusion and such change in the hive arrangements whenever a new +Princess was born, and either she or the old Queen went out with many of +the workers, that she could easily change her kind of work now without +any notice being taken of it. And to confirm this Saggia pointed to +several of the nurses, among them Uno, Due, and Tre, making one after +another the little trial flights that Saggia had told Nuova to make +preparatory to going into the garden out of sight of the hive. These +nurses were plainly intending to become foragers. Even as Saggia and +Nuova watched them, one after another flew out higher and farther and +disappeared into the garden. + +It was a beautiful garden on the edge of which the hive was set. The +owner of the garden was a great lover and student of flowers. He liked +bees and beetles and birds, too; all kinds of live things, plant or +animal. And no one was ever allowed to kill any creature, little or big, +in his garden, so it was full to overflowing with life and animation. +Birds made their nests in it; squirrels barked in the trees; even moles +and gophers made their underground runways unmolested. There were open, +sunny grass-plots for playing, and close little copses and coverts for +hiding, and great trees for climbing to see out into the still wider +world beyond the garden walls. But the garden itself was world enough +for most of the creatures that lived in it. There were flowers enough +for the bees; seeds and worms enough for the birds; nuts enough for the +squirrels. And if some of the happy family in the garden had to live by +eating some of the others, still that was the way of life, and the only +thing was to hope and try to make sure that the end would not come too +soon. + +[Illustration: In the Garden] + +Nuova already loved the garden, although so far she had not been in it; +at least not been any more in it than standing on the entrance platform +of the hive and looking into it from this vantage-ground. But now she +was really to go out into it, and sad and tired though she was, she felt +a little thrill of happiness as she thought of what she might see over +there beyond the near-by bushes, out there among the brilliant flowers +and the lush grasses. She turned to Saggia gratefully. + +"Good-bye, dear Saggia," she said gently. "I am going to go into the +garden now. I will make the little flights first as you told me, so as +to be able to find my way back to the hive--but, I don't know, Saggia, I +don't feel like ever coming back to the hive." Her eyes filled with +tears. "He--he will never come back. He will win, and he will--will +die." She shuddered and nearly collapsed again. + +Saggia could say nothing. She believed, too, that Hero would win in the +Great Courting Chase. And if he won, he would die. It was really, she +thought with some anger, a very stupid sort of arrangement; very unfair +to the King; to be crowned because he was the finest, strongest, and +swiftest drone in the hive, or in any of the other near-by hives whose +drones also joined in any Courting Chase they noticed going on, only to +die at once. It was simply not only stupid; it was brutal. + +She did not like to think of Nuova's going off alone into the garden so +soon. And she could not put out of her mind the uneasy feeling that +Nuova would never come back to the hive at all; not even as a forager +who might go out and in as she pleased. Nuova had too plainly shown that +her interest in living was gone, and her surrender to her impulses of +the moment was likely at any time to be complete even though it might +lead to death itself. Saggia decided that she and Beffa were needed in +the garden. As Nuova left her to go to the edge of the platform for her +first flights, Saggia scurried off in search of Beffa. + + * * * * * + +A number of bees were busy at a little group of flowers in the garden +when one of them, Uno, who had just turned around facing the general +direction of the hive, suddenly uttered an exclamation. + +"Well, of all things!" she said. "Beffa in the garden!" The other bees +turned and stared. + +"And Saggia!" exclaimed one of them. "Beffa and Saggia! Beffa in the +garden! What can he do here?" + +Beffa, hearing them, released himself from Saggia's support, and began +to make weak little hoppings and to sing. Poor Beffa; he was sadly +tired, for because of his deformed wings he had had to walk all the way +from the hive. And Saggia was tired, too, because she had walked with +him, and not only that, but had helped him over some of the rougher +places. + +Beffa sang: + + "Beffa in the garden; + The prisoner in the sun; + No Queen in the palace; + No jesting to be done." + +He stopped to rest, and Saggia went slowly to a flower, where she busied +herself putting a little pollen into her pollen baskets. + +Due turned to Beffa. "Hi, Beffa, you can sing and dance for us while we +gather pollen and honey. And you can watch for Bee-Bird to see that he +doesn't surprise us. Oh, you can be useful. Hop, hop, hop-la!" And she +made a little hop or two, in mimicry of Beffa. + +Tre had been looking sharply at Saggia. "And Saggia doesn't seem to be +doing much," she said, with asperity. "Foraging again, is she? That is +rather a dangerous business for such an old bee, isn't it?" she said +malevolently. "The two-legged man giant that owns this garden likes the +two-legged bird giants. He is a brute! He protects the birds! And they +eat the insects! He might protect us, rather. Brute!" + +"Brute!" cried the other bees. "Protect the horrid birds, indeed! Sting +him if you see him." + +Just then a big blue-bottle fly that had been buzzing about the flowers +ventured too near a dark corner lower down in the bush, and was lunged +at by a big black spider, which barely missed it. The blue-bottle +dashed excitedly away with a tremendous buzzing, and all the bees jumped +about nervously a little. + +Beffa began to sing without rising from the ground, just moving his feet +as if dancing: + + "Bee-birds in the tree-tops, + Spiders in the grass; + Death rides down the sunbeam, + Death leaps as you pass." + +"Ugh!" said Uno. "Can't you sing something more cheerful? Be funny, +can't you?" + +Beffa got up and hopped about a little. Then he sang: + + "Out among the flower-cups, + Dancing in the sun; + Now a drink of nectar, + Then another one. + Brushing up the pollen, + Hurry 'gainst the gloam, + Pail and basket over-full, + Off to hive and home!" + +All the bees skipped and danced and sang after him: + + "Pail and baskets over-full, + Off to hive and home!" + +After singing this refrain several times and dancing happily about a few +moments, the bees set at their work again industriously. It was so +beautiful and so bright and so warm in the garden that one could not +help being happy in it. + +And yet just then Nuova stepped out from behind a flowering bush looking +very weary and very sad. Saggia, who had been glancing around for her +all the time, slipped quickly and quietly over to her without attracting +the attention of any of the bees, and before any other one had seen her. + +Saggia led Nuova around to the side of the bush where they would be out +of sight of the other bees, and then spoke to her in a low tone. + +"Are you all right, Nuova?" she asked anxiously. + +Nuova smiled wearily and sadly. "Of course, I am all right," she said +gently; "who would not be out here in this wonderful world, this golden +sunshine, this fragrant air? It's a place to be all right in all the +time. I am going to stay here." + +"Stay here? What do you mean?" asked Saggia. + +"Simply that, dear Saggia," she replied gently, smiling; "stay right +here in the warm sun, near the beautiful flowers. Do you think I am +going back into the dark hive to die like that poor forager and be +dragged off and tossed out like a piece of dirty wax?" She shuddered. +"No, no; I am going to die out here, and lie in the soft grass under +that heliotrope there." + +Saggia spoke anxiously but sternly. "Die? Die? Why do you talk of dying? +Have you a right to die yet? Have you done all you should do for the +hive? Are you going to shirk your duty? Anyway"--and her voice grew more +kindly--"do you really want to die? Don't you want to do first all the +things a bee can do, to nurse--" + +"I have nursed," Nuova interrupted. + +"And make wax--" Saggia went on. + +"I have made wax," Nuova broke in. + +Saggia persisted, "And build cells--" + +"I have built cells," interrupted Nuova again. + +"And gather honey--" Saggia continued. + +Nuova touched a near-by flower. "I am gathering honey," she said. + +Saggia hesitated a moment, then began again. "And--and--" she +stammered; then exclaimed suddenly and triumphantly--"and clean floors!" + +Nuova smiled at Saggia's anticlimax. "No, I haven't scrubbed the floor +yet. I suppose I ought to enjoy that a little before I die. But you see +I am not really old enough to have had time for _everything_." + +"That's it," broke in Saggia warmly. "You are not old enough yet. It is +nonsense to talk of dying so young. You must live a long time yet. Look +at me! Think how old I am!" + +Nuova smiled again, but grew earnest as she spoke. "It is not how long +you live, Saggia; it is how much you live. I have not done everything, +but I have done most things. You, you dear wise, old, sensible bee, you +have done the things calmly one after another as it came time for you to +do them. But I have tried everything that was interesting and for only +as long as it was. You have lived a long and useful life with much in +it. I have lived a short and useless one; but also with much in it. You +have lived mostly for others, and have been mostly happy. I have lived +mostly for myself, and been mostly unhappy. But that is the way I am, +Saggia. That is my way of living and really I suppose, my way of being +happy; happily unhappy. And, Saggia"--and Nuova bent close over to her, +as if to tell her a secret--"you know, don't you, that if I have missed +cleaning floors, I have done something else in place of it; something +you haven't done. I have loved! And that is the happiest unhappiness I +have had." + +Saggia was truly shocked. "Nuova," she exclaimed, "haven't I told you +before not to say such things! You have _not_ loved," she added, firmly, +"because you _cannot_ love. Poor little Nuova, you have much to learn +yet about bee life." + +"There is much about it I don't want to learn," muttered Nuova. + +"There is much you must learn," replied Saggia sternly, but kindly. "And +some of it you must learn now. When I say you cannot love, I mean +exactly that; not that you ought not or must not, because other bees do +not, but simply that you cannot. Bee loving is not just liking and +sighing and laughing and dancing and crying, and being always happy and +unhappy at once, but it is becoming the mother of babies, many babies, +and that only Princesses can become. And when they are the mothers of +babies, they are Queens. In bee land to be a mother is to be a Queen, +and to be a Queen is only to be a mother." + +Nuova was silent. She felt compelled to believe Saggia, who surely knew +about the life of bees if any one did, and who had always spoken +truthfully to her. And yet she had a feeling within her that seemed some +way to contradict Saggia's knowledge. + +"Well, then, Saggia," she said slowly, "I haven't loved, but I have +wished to love." And she added in a whisper, "I _want_ to love!" + +"You cannot love," repeated Saggia firmly. "Only Princesses can love. +You should not think of it any more." + +Nuova looked up into the sky. And when she spoke it was as if she were +speaking in a dream. "I want to love and I cannot love! Only a Princess +can love. And I am not a Princess. What can I do? Clean floors?" She +turned to Saggia and smiled sadly. "No, I cannot clean floors, either," +she said softly. "I am an unfortunate sort of bee, Saggia, a worthless +sort. A new bee, but not new enough to love, and too new to clean +floors. Just a bee to lie under the heliotrope bush." + +Just then Beffa, who had come hopping and gently humming up to them +unperceived by either, and who had overheard Nuova's last words, began +to sing: + + "A heliotrope or a rose-bush, + A pale-blue flower or pink, + But a dead bee sees no colors + Nor smells sweet smells, I think. + An old world for old bees, + A new world for the new, + And, ah, who knows the real truth? + The untrue may be true." + +Nuova was delighted, in her sadness, to see Beffa again. "Beffa, you +dear, funny Beffa!" she cried. "But how did you get out here in the +garden?" + + "He couldn't come, + And so he came. + Can or cannot, + All's a name," + +sang Beffa in reply, hopping about more vigorously than ever. + +As Beffa finished, Saggia saw some of the other bees looking scowlingly +toward them. She touched Nuova with an antenna. + +"Nuova," she said in a low voice, "we must get to work. The other bees +are noticing us. We are idling. We must go to work. Beffa can sit here +in the sunshine and watch us." She moved off toward a flower. + +Nuova looked after her a moment, and then she turned to Beffa. + +"Good old Saggia," she said. "She is an example of industry, isn't she? +But I don't like her to work just because others are noticing us. That +makes me want _not_ to work." She stood loitering by him. + +Beffa deliberately stretched himself, with a yawn, and settling down +comfortably near a dandelion, he hummed, as if half-asleep already: + + "Some work because others talk; + Some talk because others work; + The wisest bee keeps wisest way, + He--goes--to--sleep!" + +And as he finished he closed his eyes. + +[Illustration: Beffa settled down comfortably] + +Nuova saw through Beffa's transparent means of sending her off to +work, and was as much amused as vexed. "Oh," she said, "I much prefer +working to talking with bees whose wisdom might put me to sleep, too. +Good-bye." She made a mocking curtsy and went off slowly to a small +group of flowers which was hidden by a large bush from the rest of the +bees. + +As soon as she had started, Beffa opened one eye to spy on her, and as +she disappeared behind the bush he slowly straightened up, very much +awake and evidently strongly possessed by some idea. He let his eyes +roam over all of the garden he could see, and he even scanned the air in +all directions. Apparently not finding what he sought, he remained +quiet, but alert, on the flat dandelion leaf. The bees at the flowers +worked industriously. The garden was fragrant and quiet in the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Hero finds Nuova in the Garden_ + + +Saggia had joined a group of foragers at work, among whom were Uno and +Tre. These two bees at first moved away a little as Saggia came over, +but in their foraging work they gradually came close to her again. +Pretty soon Uno, after glancing toward Beffa sitting quietly by the +dandelion, spoke to Saggia. + +"The garden is not a place for jesting," she said sharply; "nor for +listening to jesting. Beffa is not a good example for bees who work." As +she said this she looked significantly at Saggia, and several of the +other bees, overhearing her, smiled maliciously. + +Saggia said nothing at first, but busied herself at her flowers. As she +changed, however, from one flower to another one near by, she said +quietly: "Beffa works harder than most of us." + +"Do you call jesting work?" asked Tre indignantly. + +"I call Beffa's work hard work--for Beffa; and useful work," Saggia +replied. + +"What other hive has a jester, a bee that does no work, that just hops +and sings?" demanded Uno angrily. + +"We are more fortunate than other hives," said Saggia evenly. "We have a +bee who has time to think, and a clever tongue to say what he thinks." + +No one spoke for a moment, then Tre said mechanically, as if repeating +by rote: "Bees ought not to think; and if they do they ought to keep +their thoughts to themselves." Then she added maliciously: "I think I +learned that from you, Saggia." + +The other bees turned and smiled. + +"One lives and learns," said Saggia, a little confused. + +"Oh, worse yet!" exclaimed Uno. "'Bees do not learn: they know.' That +also is from Saggia," she said, turning to the other bees. + +They all smiled again enjoying Saggia's discomfiture. + +"Well," said Saggia desperately, "bees do know most things, +but--not--everything." + +Just then Beffa came hopping toward them hurriedly. He was singing +loudly, too, and was evidently much excited about something. As he +reached the group of foraging bees he did not stop, but kept hopping +right on by them singing loudly as he passed: + + "Hoptoad squats beneath the flower; + Waits that pleasant fateful hour + When honey-bee on food intent + Comes within his leafy tent; + Open! Shut! Poor bee, good-bye; + An ugly, horrid way to die!" + +As the bees heard this, they all became much frightened and excited, +skipping about and peering in all directions. + +"The Toad!" they cried. "Where? There! I don't see him! Where, Beffa? +Beffa, where?" + +Beffa's movements plainly indicated the direction of danger to be toward +where he had come from, and the way of safety correspondingly in the +direction of his hopping. All the bees, therefore, with much buzzing and +jumping about, moved along with the hopping and singing Beffa. Only +Saggia seemed a little slow to take alarm or to follow him closely. She +watched him curiously, and kept turning to look in the direction from +which he had come. She remembered that Nuova was back there somewhere, +and she could not believe that Beffa would leave her in danger in order +to warn ever so many other bees. Saggia knew well poor Beffa's hopeless +love for Nuova. + +As a matter of fact, Beffa had seen not a toad, but something else, +which, under the circumstances of bee life and tradition, was much more +extraordinary, and he had come hopping over to lead off the other bees +that they might not also see it. + +What he had seen was something that his keen wits had told him all along +he might see: in fact, he had been looking for it all the time since he +had been in the garden; it was something that made him happy and unhappy +at the same time. It was something that would make Nuova the happiest +bee in the world, for a little while at least, though it might mean +something very dreadful to her in the end. And what could make Nuova +happy made him happy--even though her happiness should come from seeing +somebody else who would almost make her forget that Beffa ever lived. +What Beffa had seen was Hero flying slowly down into the garden near +where Nuova was. It was certain that they would see each other in a +moment. + +In fact, Nuova, turning away from the flower which she had been slowly +and listlessly rifling of nectar, saw Hero just a moment after he +alighted. Her heart gave a great jump, and her first impulse was to slip +away before he could see her; but when she saw how dejected and sad he +seemed, she felt a great pity for him and wanted to comfort him. Just +then he lifted his eyes and saw her. He started, then controlled himself +and came to her. "Nuova," he said quietly but earnestly; "Nuova, I am +glad you are here." + +Nuova could hardly speak. She was so tense with excitement, with wonder, +with happiness that they were together again. But what had happened? How +could this be? + +"You did not win?" she stammered. "You are not dead?" She stared at him +with painful intentness. + +"I did not go on," said Hero slowly and somberly. + +Nuova did not understand. "An accident?" she cried. "You could not fly? +Your wings were not--" she stopped, alarmed and almost in tears at her +thought. "Surely I did not hurt them when I--I--pulled them?" + +Hero did not understand clearly what she meant. In fact, he was too +intent on the overwhelming fact of what he had just done, of the +absolute break he had just made with bee tradition, to think, for the +moment, of anything else. + +"No, no," he said; "I just decided not to go on. I--wanted to come to +you." + +Nuova could not realize at once all he meant by these words. The thing +clearest in her mind just now was what Saggia and all the others had +told her so often. She began to speak slowly and almost mechanically as +her memory guided her. + +"But you can't do that," she said. "It--it--isn't done, you know. You +_must_ chase the Princess; you _must_ win her; and you--you"--she +sobbed--"you _must_ die." + +She stepped toward him, excitedly, with her hands outstretched to urge +him on. "Go on!" she exclaimed. "Go on! Start again! You are so much +swifter and stronger than the others! You can beat them yet! Hurry! +Fly!" + +In her excitement and half-crazed exaltation she pressed against him to +push him into starting. He held her closely to him for a moment, +caressing her gently. But soon she drew violently away, and spoke again +with choking voice. "Fly!" she said. "Go on! Go on!" + +Hero shook his head doggedly. "No, I will not go. I cannot go. I never +wanted to go. I wanted to come to you. I didn't know you were in the +garden. But here you are." In his joy at being with her, he began to +dismiss the dark thoughts of his break with bee custom. He looked +intently and eagerly at her. + +"Yes, here you are, I have come to you. I have come to tell you that +I"--he stumbled a little in his speech, and smiled slightly--"I--am a +new bee, too!" + +Nuova laughed happily. Then she grew serious and puzzled. "And Saggia +and Beffa," she said. "Are we all new bees in this hive?" + +Hero smiled. "Uno, Due, and Tre--" he said. + +"Ugh! horrid bees," said Nuova with a grimace. "They would like to kill +me." + +"Beasts!" broke in Hero, "I'll kill them!" But then he remembered the +fact that he had no lance nor by bee tradition could have any. "Absurd," +he said in disgust. "What a world, where only the women may carry lances +and fight and work, and the men are only loafers and lovers, and can +only love by tradition, at that. Bah! I'd rather be even a human being. +They are silly enough, those awkward giants, and can't fly and eat other +animals as spiders and snakes do, but their men can work and fight; and +they can love whom they like. At least they can if they don't try to be +too much like us, as some of them seem to want to be. It's a terrible +thing to be a man bee. We have no rights at all!" + +Nuova looked up at him wonderingly. "Why, the other drones seem to like +to loaf," she said. "Anyway, they don't object." + +"Don't object!" exclaimed Hero contemptuously. "They don't think; they +don't feel! Each just does what the others do and all just do what +drones have always done." + +"But how else are we to know what to do," persisted Nuova, who had +learned her lesson well from Saggia, "except by seeing what others do, +and being told what the bees before us did?" + +Hero was amazed and disconcerted to hear Nuova talk in this way. + +"Why, you talk like Saggia!" he said. "What do you mean? Haven't you +always objected to doing what the others do? Haven't you always tried to +do what you most wanted to? And haven't you wanted to talk with me? I +thought you--liked me." + +Nuova was disconcertingly calm. "Oh, yes, I have objected to some +things, and I do like to talk with you. And I like you. But all that +must not interfere with the work and life of the community. And I am +afraid it is interfering. I ought to be getting more honey, and you +ought to be flying after the Princess." She paused; then she added, +determinedly and even severely: "You must go right away. You can catch +up with them yet, and beat them, and--and--win her." Nuova had grown +more excited and earnest as she continued urging him, but her voice +broke a little as she uttered the last words. + +Hero, paying too little attention to her manner and reading nothing in +it, so seized was he by surprise at Nuova's new attitude, was yet +doggedly intent on speaking out his own feelings. "No, I am not going +after the Princess," he declared, speaking almost roughly in his +vehemence. "I stopped flying because I wished to, and I came here +because I wished to, and I shall talk to you because I wish to. You +_must_ hear me! Nuova, it is not the Princess that I love; it is you." +Nuova started. "Yes, you; just you; all you. I love _you_, Nuova." + +Nuova had stood rigidly at first, but then unconsciously swayed a little +toward him. Then she caught herself and stepped back, all the time +staring at him fixedly. He leaned toward her as he finished speaking, +but made no other motion. + +Nuova began to speak, still holding herself rigid and staring at him. +She spoke in an even, monotonous voice, even mechanically, and as if +directed by some foreign influence. + +"You cannot love me," she said. "You can only love a Princess. I cannot +love you. I cannot love anybody. There are other things for me to do. I +have not cleaned floors; I must clean floors. And you, you must chase +Princesses, chase Princesses, chase--Princesses--all--the--time." Her +voice trailed away into tense silence, and she swayed as if about to +fall, but recovered herself, and half-turned as if to move away. + +Hero stepped forward, caught hold of her roughly, and spoke harshly. +"You shall not clean floors," he said, "and I will not court the +Princess." Then suddenly he spoke tenderly, "Nuova, I love you. Saggia +says I can't; all of them say I can't; you say I can't. Well, I do. That +is all. That is the answer. I have never loved a Princess and I do love +you; I have loved you from the moment I saw you." He spoke more +impetuously. "I didn't know what it was at first; now I do. I found out +when I started to fly after Principessa. I can fly faster than any other +drone; yet every one was beating me. I can fly higher than any other +bee; but I couldn't rise at all. Why? Because of _you_, Nuova; because I +loved _you_, Nuova, and could not love Principessa. And they say that +you cannot love me. Saggia says so, does she?--and all of them say so, +do they?--and you say so, do you? Well, they are all mistaken. Just as +they are all mistaken about me. I can love _you_, because I _do_. You +can love me, because you are going to. You were not an Amazon, yet you +fought. You are not a Princess, but you are going to love. I can teach +you; I _will_ teach you." + +Nuova was almost carried away by Hero's speech--and her own +inclinations. But she still fought blindly and feebly against what she +wanted most. "No, no," she stammered; "I must work; I must go; I am only +a worker bee; I _cannot_ love; it is all fixed; it has been that way for +a long time; _I_ know; Saggia knows; _Beffa_--" + +She stopped short, remembering some of Beffa's cryptic words. + +Just then Beffa's voice was heard. He was coming toward them hopping and +singing. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Happy Ending_ + + +Beffa had not been able to hold the foragers any longer away from that +part of the garden where Nuova and Hero were. The flowers here were more +abundant and sweeter with honey, and the bees soon forgot their fright +of the toad they had not seen--and that Beffa had not, either. + +Hero and Nuova were still concealed by the bush, behind which they +stood, from the returning bees, but it was only a matter of a short time +before they would certainly be seen. Beffa, therefore, came hopping +toward them and singing. He could at least warn them of the approach of +the others. So he sang loudly: + + "Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows? + The old world for the old bee; + The new world for the new; + For who may know the real truth? + The untrue may be true. + Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows?" + +Hero turned triumphantly to Nuova. "Yes, yes, you hear?" he said. "Beffa +knows. Say it; say it. Beffa knows: not Saggia; not the others; but +Beffa. They are all blind. They only see what has been, but Beffa sees +what may be. And you see it, Nuova, and I see it. You are a new bee, +Nuova, and so is Beffa, and so am I. And we shall do new things; live a +new life. Ah, Nuova, my little Nuova! I love you, and you love me. My +little Nuova!" + +Nuova could say nothing, do nothing. It was too much. She could only +look up through a mist of tears into Hero's face and smile happily at +him; it was half-smiling, half-crying, but unmistakable to Hero for what +it truly was; the full revelation of Nuova's consent to all he had said. +They stood together, silent in their great happiness. And thus Uno saw +them. Uno was the first of the returned foragers to come, in seeking new +flowers, around the bush and in sight of them. She stared at them +amazed. Then, angry and malevolent, she beckoned, without calling out, +to her companions to come to her. They crowded up and looked where Uno +pointed. They were astounded and outraged. Uno first spoke up. + +"They call themselves bees!" she said with scorn and malice. + +"Beasts, rather!" said Due similarly. + +"No, human beings," said Tre. "Like the daughter of the owner of the +garden and her lover. In secret, and against all the customs. Shame and +scandal!" + +"Drive them out! Kill them!" burst out all the other bees, who had come +crowding up at the words of Uno, Due, and Tre. "Call the Amazons! Sting +them to death! Hero, the faithless one! Nuova, the silly new bee! Hero, +our finest drone! Nuova, the pretty little nurse! Traitors! Kill them!" + +It was a terrible moment for Nuova and Hero, for death looked them in +the face. But they stood quietly side by side realizing their impending +fate, yet fearless in their exaltation. Neither one spoke. They looked +at each other with great eyes shining with love and happiness. +Death--together--was such a little thing. It was even a thing, under the +circumstances, to be courted. There seemed, indeed, nothing else that +could be a "happy ending" for Nuova and Hero's romance. And as the +Amazons pressed forward with lances set and already almost touching the +devoted pair, it seemed to be the inevitable and immediate end. Yet, +just at the moment when Nuova, with one last look of love and joy to +Hero, turned full toward the shining lance points as if to say, +"Welcome, sweet Death!" something happened. + +A cry from the air just above them was heard. A messenger bee, greatly +excited and almost breathless, was dropping down to them and gasping: +"The Princess! The Princess! The Princess is lost! The Bee-Bird has +caught the Princess!" + +The mob about Hero and Nuova stopped in its attack and stood still, +thunderstruck by the news. The messenger dropped to the grass just +between the foremost Amazons and the pair of lovers, and there collapsed +with fatigue and grief. She was caught and supported by Saggia and +Beffa, who had pushed forward out of the crowd at the first cry from the +messenger. + +The horror-stricken bees were dumb for a moment, overwhelmed by the +catastrophe. Then they began to call out, all speaking confusedly +together: "The Princess is lost! The Bee-Bird has killed Principessa! +Our only Princess! The old Queen gone, the new Queen killed! Our hive is +doomed! We are queenless! No more children in our hive! It is our end!" + +[Illustration: "The Princess is lost!"] + +All the while they were speaking they surged back and forth, turning to +each other. They seemed utterly at a loss what to do. None any longer +paid any attention to Nuova and Hero standing there, still silent and +motionless together, as if with no more thought of their present +momentary escape from the death that was so close to them than they had +had for their apparent certain destruction a moment before. + +Saggia had not called out with the other bees. Nor had she moved away +from her position near Hero and Nuova, where she was still supporting +the messenger. But she had been looking keenly first at the shouting +bees and then at Nuova and Hero. Her face was alight with a new thought +and strong purpose. As the cries of the bees died down from exhaustion +for a moment, she lifted her head and began to speak in a loud, clear +voice. + +"Bees," she said, "a terrible thing has happened to us!" Some of the +bees cried out again in lamentation. Saggia paused a moment till there +was silence again. Then she went on. + +"But we stand before a wonderful happening that may be our saving." As +she said this, she half-turned toward Hero and Nuova so as to call the +attention of the bees to them. As she did this a few bees, notably Uno, +Due, and Tre, began to gesture angrily again toward the couple, and to +mutter against them. But Saggia paid no attention to this, except +perhaps to lift her voice a little higher and to speak more rapidly. + +"I am an old bee," she said, "and know the lore of bees better than any +others of you. And I tell you plainly that the death of the Princess +does not mean that all is lost. I tell you that we have a means of +saving our hive. Sometimes a bee is born, who is not a Princess, but who +is of a different sort from the rest of us workers; a bee who can not +only work, but _love_; who can love and be loved and be the mother of +bees." + +She turned now swiftly to Nuova, stretched out her antennæ and wings +dramatically, and spoke as with the voice of an oracle. + +"Nuova is such a bee!" she exclaimed solemnly. "Nuova can be a Queen for +us! She loves Hero. Do you, Nuova?" Nuova turned a rapt face up to +Hero's. + +"And Hero loves Nuova. Do you, Hero?" Hero leaned down to Nuova and +kissed her. + +Saggia turned again to the bees. "That Hero loves Nuova proves that she +can be loved; that Nuova loves Hero proves that she can be our Queen. +Let Nuova, the new bee, be our new Queen!" + +The bees were already buzzing and fluttering about in great excitement +again. They were not able to comprehend immediately all that Saggia's +words implied, but they saw in them a hope for their hive, and some of +the bees already began to call out joyously. Just then Beffa began +dancing vigorously and waving his wings and antennæ in triumph and +singing loudly and clearly: + + "Bee-Bird may yet be beaten; + We yet may peal the wedding bell, + Although our Queen is eaten!" + +Then he made a grand whirl which brought him squarely in front of Nuova, +and with a deep curtsy and elaborate gesture he called out to all the +bees, like a herald: + +"The Queen has passed. Long live the Queen!" + +And Saggia immediately echoed him, also bowing low before Nuova: "The +Queen has passed. Long live the Queen!" + +Other bees took up the shout, which soon spread to all. Beffa beckoned +all to follow him in a triumphal march and dance around the amazed and +happy pair, and altogether they set up a great song of joy and triumph. +Nuova and Hero were not only saved, but they were become in a second +King and Queen of the hive. It was breath-taking. They could only look +at each other in utter thanksgiving and love. But as Beffa, tiring of +the exertion of the dance, stopped by the side of Nuova, she put out an +antenna caressingly to him and then turned to Hero. + +"Hero, my King," she said proudly. + +"Hero, our King!" proudly shouted all the bees. + +And then she turned to Beffa. + +"Beffa, my jester," she said lovingly. + +"Beffa, our jester!" shouted all the bees. + +Beffa gave a little hop; then looking up at Nuova, he sang: + + "Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows?" + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nuova, by Vernon Kellogg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUOVA *** + +***** This file should be named 39248-8.txt or 39248-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/4/39248/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Nuova + or The New Bee + +Author: Vernon Kellogg + +Illustrator: Milo Winter + +Release Date: March 24, 2012 [EBook #39248] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUOVA *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>NUOVA</h1> + +<h2>or THE NEW BEE</h2> + + +<h3>A Story for Children<br /> +of Five to Fifty by</h3> + +<h2>VERNON KELLOGG</h2> + +<p class="center">With Songs by<br /> +CHARLOTTE KELLOGG</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated by<br /> +Milo Winter</p> + +<p class="center">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +Boston and New York</p> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY VERNON KELLOGG AND<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">TO<br /> +JEAN<br /> +WHO IS FIVE</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Nuova, I love you"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + +<h2>PREFATORY NOTE</h2> + + +<p>Most of this that I have written about bees is true: what is not, does +not pretend to be. Some of the true part sounds almost like a +description of what human life might in some respects be, if certain +social movements of to-day were followed out to their logical extreme. I +suppose that in this likeness lies the moral of the book.</p> + + +<p class="right">V. K.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<table summary="contents"> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"> Nuova Appears </a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"> Nuova's First Experiences </a></td><td align="right">7</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"> Nuova as Nurse </a></td><td align="right">16</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"> Nuova sees Some Other Things Done </a></td><td align="right">29</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"> Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa </a></td><td align="right">44</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"> Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess </a></td><td align="right">60</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"> Nuova goes Outside </a></td><td align="right">78</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"> Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle </a></td><td align="right">93</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"> Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase </a></td><td align="right">10</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"> Nuova in the Beautiful Garden </a></td><td align="right">115</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"> Hero finds Nuova in the Garden </a></td><td align="right">130</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"> The Happy Ending </a></td><td align="right">142</td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<table summary="illustrations"> +<tr><td><a href="#illus1">"Nuova, I love you" </a></td><td align="right"><i>Colored Frontispiece</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus2">The beginning of a new life for Nuova </a></td><td align="right">4</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus3">Industriously cleaning the floor </a></td><td align="right">12</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus4">"I am so tired," replied poor Nuova</a></td><td align="right">26</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus5">She would like that kind of work </a></td><td align="right">32</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus6">"What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee" </a></td><td align="right">42</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus7">"The stupid one! The faithless one!" </a></td><td align="right">48</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus8">"Drones work? It isn't done, you know" </a></td><td align="right">62</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus9">There came slowly forth ... the new Princess </a></td><td align="right">74</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus10">"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia </a></td><td align="right">80</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus11">Nuova began to clean his wings </a></td><td align="right">96</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus12">Nuova was among the fallen </a></td><td align="right">104</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus13">In the Garden </a></td><td align="right">116</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus14">Beffa settled down comfortably </a></td><td align="right">128</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus15">"The Princess is lost!" </a></td><td align="right">146</td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE NAMES OF THE BEES</h2> + + +<p>As all the bees of this story are Italian bees, they all, except one, +have Italian names. And they should really be spoken as the Italians +speak them. Besides, they are prettier that way. Therefore, a list of +them, with the proper way to pronounce them, is given here.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Nuova</i> (noo-o'va)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Uno</i> (oo'no)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Due</i> (doo'ay)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Tre</i> (tray)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Saggia</i> (saj'jia)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Mela</i> (may'la)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Cera</i> (chay'ra)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Fessa</i> (fess'sa)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Aria</i> (ah'ri-a)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Principessa</i> (prin-chee-pess'sa)<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Lotta</i> (lawt'ta)<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>NUOVA</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova Appears</i></h3> + + +<p>Nuova seemed to be gradually awakening. It would have seemed that way to +any one who could have seen her just at this moment, and it seemed that +way to Nuova herself. It was just as if one were in a comfortable, warm +bed, and began to be conscious of a faint light outside and of soft +voices and of other subdued sounds. The light and sounds grow stronger +and louder, until, with a start, one is really awake, and sees that the +light is the sunlight of a beautiful morning coming in at the curtained +window, and recognizes the sounds to be those of the household already +busy with a new day's work.</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, an awakening for Nuova; but it was more. It was the +beginning of a new life for her. Until now she had been in a sort of +pollywog stage for a bee—a stage in which she had no legs nor wings, +and in which she could do nothing for herself at all, not even as much +as a pollywog can—and had lain all the time in a long, narrow, +six-walled, waxen cell that was bed and room all in one. That is, we +might say, she had always so far in her life been in bed.</p> + +<p>For when she was born in her cell, she was just a tiny white thing, +without wings or legs, blind, and quite helpless. Really about all she +could do was to squirm a little in her horizontal cell, and keep opening +her mouth when she was hungry to let somebody know she must be fed. She +was immediately taken care of, however, by the nurse bees who kept near +the nursery cells all the time except when they had to go to the pantry +cells for more food for the babies. This food was flower nectar and +pollen that had been brought into the hive by the active forager bees +and stored in the pantry cells. The nurses made a sort of very good and +nutritious jelly out of it which made Nuova grow very fast.</p> + +<p>After she had been fed in this way for five days, she was many times +larger than she had been at first. At the end of this time, however, the +nurse bees did what might seem, at first thought, a rather heartless +thing. They made a thin cap or cover of wax over the open mouth of +Nuova's cell, thus shutting her up tight in her bedroom. She was so +large that she almost filled her cell, but there was still a little room +left, and this the nurses filled, just before putting the waxen cap on +the cell, with pollen and nectar mixed. For a few days Nuova lay quietly +in her dark, sealed-up cell, eating, when hungry, from the lump of +pollen and nectar which lay by her side. And then she stopped eating and +simply lay there in a sort of trance for several days more.</p> + +<p>To Nuova herself all her life in the cell, from first day to last, must +have seemed little more than a sort of dream; a confused dream of not +being able to walk or fly, or see or hear, but only to squirm a little, +and be hungry and then be fed, and to feel dimly strange growing pains +from the rapidly growing legs and wings when they began to come, and of +always being rather comfortably warm and sleepy.</p> + +<p>But this sleeping time had come to an end now; this helpless pollywog +stage was finished for Nuova. And the light she saw through the big +eyes that had grown out on her head, during the last few days in the +shut-up cell, was the faint but real light of a new day filtering its +way through the crowded hive. And the sounds she heard by means of the +many tiny little hearing organs on the long, delicate, sensitive +feelers, or antennæ, that had also grown out near her eyes and were +connected by fine nerves with her brain, were the humming and murmuring +of the thousands of industrious bees of the hive who were already at +work at their various duties all around her.</p> + +<p>Nuova's awaking, then, was much more than the mere waking-up after a +night's sleeping. It was the waking from a life of doing nothing but +lying in bed and sleeping and eating and growing, to a life of taking +care of one's self and helping to take care of others; it was the waking +from a baby life to real bee life. For Nuova was now a full-grown bee, +with all the wonderful body and all the wonderful instincts and the high +intelligence that we know bees to have. But she was still shut up in her +nursery cell.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>The beginning of a new life for Nuova</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>However, to escape from it was not difficult. She could see that the +faint light came in strongest through the capped end of the cell. The +waxen cap was the thinnest part of the walls of her room, and as Nuova's +head was already lying close to the cap, it was a simple and easy matter +for her to begin biting it away with her two strong, little, trowel-like +teeth. In a few moments she had made a little hole in the cap, and the +light and sounds came in suddenly much brighter and louder than before, +although the light was really not bright at all nor the sounds loud, as +we reckon such things. For the inside of a honeybee's house, the hive, +is always pretty dark, and the sounds the bees make are not all loud, +except occasionally when things are especially exciting and all the bees +are buzzing together at once, or when a princess is about to come from +her nursery cell and both she and the old queen do a lot of +extraordinary trumpeting.</p> + +<p>But to Nuova, biting her way out through the thin wax cap of her cell, +having never heard nor seen anything at all through all of her baby +life, things seemed very bright and noisy indeed. This, however, +instead of frightening her, made her only the more anxious to get out +and be a part of this exciting world around her, and so she worked away +as fast as she could, until suddenly the hole was large enough for her +to crawl out. This she did, feeling, we may imagine, rather strange at +using her new legs for the first time, and finding her new wings all +folded up and rather damp and heavy. But out she came and, with a long +breath or two, she started to walk over the uneven surface of the waxen +comb in which her nursery cell was situated. But after only a few steps +she felt tired and limp. Indeed she <i>was</i> limp, for all the outer part +of her body, that was later to be firm and strong, was still rather soft +and damp and weak; her legs could not hold her up well yet, and her +unexercised muscles needed a little practice to work together just +right. So she soon stopped, trembling all over from her unwonted +exertion, and let her big eyes gradually take in the strange sight about +her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova's First Experiences</i></h3> + + +<p>It was truly a remarkable sight. She found that she was part way up a +vertical wall or comb of waxen cells, each of six sides and all lying +horizontally in the wall. This wall of cells towered far above her even +to the very roof of the hive, and below her it stretched away down to +the floor. Facing it towered another similar wall of cells, and there +was but little more space between the two than was needed for the free +movement of the scores, aye, even hundreds of bees that were clambering +about over the opposite faces of the walls.</p> + +<p>In each wall some of the cells were open and some capped over. In the +open ones were either baby bees lying on their stomachs with their heads +near the opening of the cells, and their mouths opening and shutting in +a most comical way, or there was some pollen or honey; or there was +nothing at all. The cells with babies in them were those in the middle +part of the wall, while around these were the food cells. Near the open +nursery cells were many capped ones, and Nuova saw that some of these +caps were being gnawed through from the inside. She knew what that +meant; she had just been doing that herself. But also near the open and +half-filled pollen and honey cells were other capped ones, and Nuova +guessed, and quite rightly, that these were filled and sealed-up honey +cells. The open pollen cells were pretty to look at because the pollen +in them was of different colors, yellow, orange, red, etc., and they +made a sort of uneven but attractive color-pattern on the face of the +great vertical wall.</p> + +<p>Nuova was a little dizzy at first, with looking up and down the towering +wall, and she had to hang on tightly to keep from falling. But she soon +grew accustomed to the great heights above and below her, and even began +to feel quite at home in her peculiar situation. A pang of hunger came +to her as she saw a bee walk up to an open honey cell and take a long +drink. She started to walk toward the same cell, when she felt a tug at +one of her wings, and heard an impatient voice, evidently addressing +her.</p> + +<p>"Here, wait a minute; we haven't got you clean yet; and your wings +aren't half dry. Don't be in a hurry!"</p> + +<p>Nuova was startled; remember, it was the first bee-talking, or any kind +of talking, she had ever heard. Yet she understood it perfectly, and +understood at once, too, just what was going on. For as she turned her +head to see who was speaking, she saw that two nurse bees were most +industriously cleaning her body all over, and unfolding and smoothing +out her wings, so that they would dry rapidly, and dry all properly +spread out. Sometimes young bees do not get their wings properly spread +before they dry, and then their wings are crumpled up and useless all +through their lives.</p> + +<p>Nuova had, indeed, for some time rather vaguely felt this gentle +cleaning and wing-spreading operation going on, but at first she had +felt so dizzy and faint, and then when she felt better had become so +intent on looking up and down the two great walls of wax, with their +various cells and the many active bees moving about over them, that she +had paid no attention to the gentle rubbing and pulling and stretching. +Indeed, it was done so gently that unless she had started to walk away, +or had accidentally looked around, she might not have known that it was +going on at all. It was a performance much like that a just-born kitten +goes through at the hands, or rather tongue, of its mother. The pollen +and honey, put into her cell when it was capped, had, of course, rather +soiled Nuova's body and much of her hair was stuck together by it. So +like every young bee, just come from its nursery cell, she needed a good +cleaning. And she was getting it.</p> + +<p>Without thinking twice about it Nuova did a very surprising thing. Or +rather it was not surprising for a bee to do, but it would have been if +one of us, just born, as it were, and without any teaching or practice +or chance of hearing any one else first, should do it. For we always +call surprising, in bees or other creatures, what would be surprising in +us, which is a rather silly way of judging things, but one we are all +very much given to. As we think we are the most important kind of +creatures on earth—as certainly we are, to ourselves—we think our ways +of doing things are the usual or normal or even best ways, and all +other ways "surprising." But we shall find, the more we learn about +Nuova, that bees have their own manner of life and ways of doing things, +and one of the most important many differences between their ways and +our ways is that they know so many things right off without any learning +or practice or imitating of others. They are born knowing how; they do +not have to be taught.</p> + +<p>For example, the surprising thing that Nuova did right away, without +thinking twice about it, was to begin talking to the two nurse bees who +were cleaning her. What Nuova said, and what was said to her in return, +is of no particular interest to us. It was simply commonplace talk, for +Nuova's coming out of her cell, her first dizziness, the high walls of +cells, the many bees moving about, the spreading-out of Nuova's wings +and cleaning her body, and even Nuova's ability to understand things +about her and to begin talking right away—all these were taken for +granted in the hive as the most usual things in the world, which +therefore needed no special exclaiming or talking about. In fact Nuova +felt already that, as soon as she was properly clean and dry, she must +join the other active bees, who were all busy with the different kinds +of work they were doing, and begin work herself. And she felt that she +knew just what this first work for her should be. It should be the work +of a nurse. And the nurse bees cleaning her seemed to take this for +granted too. For one of them soon said:</p> + +<p>"I think you had better begin on the other side of the comb; there are +enough of us on this side already."</p> + +<p>Nuova looked up and down the great comb and then to right and left. The +nurse noted this, and added:</p> + +<p>"You can get around by going either to the top or the bottom, or to +either end."</p> + +<p>Nuova thanked her, and decided to crawl down to the bottom, for she +could see, far down there, a number of bees moving about industriously +cleaning the floor and some others that stood still, apparently on their +heads, and kept their wings buzzing like mad. She was not quite sure +what this performance meant; and the floor-cleaning, too, seemed a +little curious. The fact is that, although bees do seem to know right +off about things, they know these things one at a time, as it were; that +is, when it is time for them to do a thing, they know pretty well, +without any telling, how to do it, but they do not seem to know about +other things at the same time. They seem to know things only as the time +comes for each special thing to be done. Nuova seemed to know that she +should begin working as a nurse, and to know how to do the work, for as +soon as she started she did just about as well as any of the nurses, but +floor-cleaning, and standing on one's head and fanning one's wings like +mad, were not things she knew about yet.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Industriously cleaning the floor</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>She worked her way carefully down to the bottom of the comb and found +herself in a very busy place indeed. There was a free place under this +comb and under the one opposite to it as well. When she looked under the +comb which she had just walked down, she saw a great, low-ceilinged +place stretching away in all directions, rather dim and getting darker +the farther away it extended, except in one direction. In this +direction, however, it was lighter, and the farther the distance the +lighter it was. From this lightest part many bees were hurrying toward +her with great loads of vari-colored pollen in their pollen baskets, or +with their honey sacs filled to overflowing with fresh nectar. They +hurried on, paying no attention to any one, and disappeared one by one +by climbing up and out of sight, except the few that climbed up the face +of either of the combs that towered just over her. These bees she could +still watch, and she could see that they carried their loads far up to +the open food cells into which they emptied the food they had brought. +Also she saw other bees, without loads, hurrying along the floor toward +the light, and she had a wonderful thrill as she saw them, and something +within her urged her to run with them toward the distant light; +something inside her that sang of sunshine, blue sky, green grass and +bushes, and many-hued fragrant flowers. But something else, even +stronger, within her, told her not to go; that her work awaited her +close at hand; that she must nurse bee-babies here in the dimly lighted +hive.</p> + +<p>So she turned away from the alluring light with only a glance at the +floor-cleaners and the silly bees on their heads with their wings going +like mad. So strong within her had grown the feeling that there was just +one thing for her now, that she walked under the broad, lower edge of +the comb from whose high wall she had descended and came into the bottom +of another high space between two other towering walls of waxen cells.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova as Nurse</i></h3> + + +<p>When Nuova had come into this new high space, she looked up and realized +that one of its side walls was simply the other side of the comb in +which her nursery cell had been, while the other was that of another +comb opposite it, just as she had seen that there was another comb +opposite its other side. Nuova, seeing this, easily understood that +probably this was the arrangement all through the hive, and that the +broad and long, low, free space running through the whole hive just +above the floor was a space just underneath the lower edges of many +great vertical combs standing side by side. Which, of course, was true.</p> + +<p>Right away, however, Nuova saw that one of the walls above her was +incomplete; it did not reach, along its whole length, from the ceiling +clear to the floor, but at one end, the end toward the lighter end of +the hive, it came down but a little way from the ceiling. Clinging to +this unfinished part of the wall was a great mass of bees, the upper +ones hanging to the free edge of the wall, but the ones below clinging +to them and to each other, thus forming a festoon or curtain of bees +hanging down from the lower edge of the incomplete wall. Many bees in +this living curtain were buzzing their wings violently, while others +were quiet, with thin sheets or plates of some shining, silver-yellowish +substance forming on the under side of their bodies.</p> + +<p>Beneath the lower edge of the bee-curtain there was a broad, free space +beyond which the vertical wall of another more distant comb appeared. On +the floor in this open space were gathered many bees, most of which +appeared to be picking up little pieces of the shining, silver-yellowish +substance that had broken off from the bees in the festoon above, and +fallen to the floor.</p> + +<p>As this open space was lighter than the space she had come from, Nuova +could see everything quite clearly here, and the activity of all the +bees and their concentration on whatever they were doing impressed her +very much. No one so much as spoke to her; no one spoke to any one else; +but every one worked away for dear life. It made her feel that she must +get at her own work just as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>She glanced up the part of the wall that was all finished, and saw +toward its middle a group of nurse bees, and a lot of open and capped +nursery cells. She could even see, sticking out of some of the open +ones, the comical heads of the babies, each with its mouth regularly +opening and shutting. And then she heard a song, a gentle lullaby sort +of song. It was the nurse bees singing as they worked. This is the song +they sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We watch beside the cradles<br /></span> +<span class="i1">When the bee-babies sleep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We guard the shining pantries<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where the bee-milk we keep.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And when the countless tiny<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Bee-mouths open wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We rush with drink and bee-bread<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And drop them inside.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Our bread's the daintiest morsel<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A wee babe could eat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We knead it of soft pollen<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And flower nectar sweet.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When ends our busy bee-day<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The nurseries we right,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then wash our countless bee-mites<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And tuck them in tight.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Just try to feed our family,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And swiftly you'll see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That never were there nurses<br /></span> +<span class="i1">So busy as we.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So she started to climb up to them. Just as she had gone a little way +up, however, her attention was called to a very active and apparently +excited group of bees crowding about a very different sort of cell from +the ones that made up all the rest of the comb. This was five or six +times as large as any of the others, and not six-sided, but shaped +something like a pear with its small end down. It did not lie horizontal +in the comb, but vertical, or nearly so, and had a rough, thick wall, +and was open at its smaller, lower end. Nuova could not see what was in +it, for she was already as high or higher than it was, as it was near +the lower edge of the comb, its lower end, indeed, being but a little +way above the floor.</p> + +<p>As she hesitated a moment, attracted by the sight of the strange cell +and the many excited bees about it, most of whom were nurses, she heard +a bee, hurrying away from the cell, say to another hurrying toward it:</p> + +<p>"How fast the princess is growing!"</p> + +<p>This did not enlighten Nuova much, but the feeling inside of her was now +so strong that she must begin work at once that she hurried on up to the +nursery cells lying a little way above the curious large cell without +trying to find out anything about it. Which shows again, of course, how +different bees are from us.</p> + +<p>When Nuova got to the nursery cells with their hungry babies she went +right to work. She seemed to know just what to do; to go to the pollen +and honey cells and drink honey and eat pollen and swallow them, but not +too far, and then wait a few minutes, and then give this food up again, +all properly mixed, through her mouth right into the open mouths of the +hungry babies. And she knew just what babies were ready to have their +cells capped with wax—with a nice little lump of food stored inside +first, of course—and how to call some bee with a pellet of wax in its +mouth to do the capping. She understood at once that the shining, +silver-yellowish plates on the bodies of the bees in the festoon at the +end of the comb were wax, and that the pieces being picked up by other +bees from the floor underneath the festoon were to be used for capping +cells, and for making new cells where the vertical wall of comb was +still incomplete.</p> + +<p>All these things, and whatever other new ones came up in the next few +days in connection with taking care of the babies, she seemed to +understand right away, and indeed she seemed to know how to do all her +work without having to reason about it, or to observe and draw +conclusions; in fact, without even once really having to think about it +at all. And because it was all so simple, and so easy to understand, an +extraordinary thing came to pass with Nuova; that is, an extraordinary +thing for a bee. The thing was that <i>Nuova got tired of her work</i>!</p> + +<p>Yes, she got tired of it; tired physically, which is not perhaps so +extraordinary, for bees sometimes fall dead from being over-tired +physically; but she also got tired and impatient of the simplicity and +monotony of what she was doing. She got, I suppose we may fairly say, +mentally and spiritually tired of it. Which happening marks Nuova as a +bee of a strange and rare kind: a bee that is—is—well, all I can say +is, a bee that is different. Other bees, if they had known of it, would +have called her a "funny" bee, or a "peculiar" bee; or perhaps something +worse. Indeed, this something worse is just what she was soon called. +For Nuova, after a few days of this steady care of babies, one hot +afternoon—the hive was so set in the garden that it was quite exposed +to the sun—Nuova, I say, one hot afternoon stopped working, and crawled +slowly down past the great pear-shaped cell clear to the lower edge of +the comb and there she sat and simply did nothing!</p> + +<p>Pretty soon Uno, one of the nurse bees in Nuova's group, who had already +shown herself to have a rather spiteful nature, noticed that Nuova was +not working, was not, indeed, to be seen anywhere about the nurse cells. +So she touched another nurse bee near her, named Due, with her antennæ +so as to call her attention, and said in a low voice: "Where is Nuova?"</p> + +<p>Due looked around, and not seeing Nuova, said: "Why, where is she?" Then +both bees touched a third nurse bee, named Tre, with their antennæ. She +turned around and joined them.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" she said. Then looking at the group of nurses, she +added: "Where is Nuova?"</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Uno and Due together. "Where is Nuova? She isn't +here—she has stopped working."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Tre. "I thought she would come to that—I've been +noticing her lately. She doesn't seem to like to work."</p> + +<p>"Whoever heard of such a bee!" exclaimed Uno and Due together.</p> + +<p>"Let us find her," said Tre.</p> + +<p>So all three started to move around over the comb looking for Nuova. +They made wider and wider journeys from the nursery cells, until Uno, +who had got down almost to the very bottom of the comb and was quite +close to Nuova but had not yet seen her, heard a low voice murmuring, "I +am so tired."</p> + +<p>Uno turned quickly and saw Nuova. She was sitting with her head hanging +down on her breast, and she looked very tired and dejected. But that +aroused no sympathy in Uno, who, together with Due and Tre, had taken a +strong dislike to Nuova, feeling in her, some way, a rather different, +even a rather superior sort of bee. Nuova was so unusually pretty, for +one thing. And she had such a lively interest in everything around her. +Uno, Due, and Tre, who were bees almost exactly like each other, and +like most other bees, felt an instinctive malice toward her, probably +based on a certain envy which they did not, however, even admit to +themselves.</p> + +<p>Uno quickly called Due and Tre, and the three stared malevolently at +Nuova for a moment and then said together, speaking loudly so that the +other bees near by could hear: "Well, what a bee! To stop work! Just +think of it!"</p> + +<p>Then Uno leaned over her and called to her: "Lazy!"</p> + +<p>And Due stepped up to her and said: "Loafer!"</p> + +<p>And Tre came up on the other side of her and hissed: "Shirk!"</p> + +<p>Then all three, lifting their wings to strike poor Nuova, who had sat +very still through all this, shrinking from the vicious bees, called +out: "We'll teach her!" And then they began to strike her all over with +their strong wings.</p> + +<p>It was going pretty badly with Nuova, when an old floor-cleaner named +Saggia stepping up to the group shouldered off the three angry nurse +bees. Saggia had noticed at other times that Nuova went rather slowly +back and forth between the nursery cells and the food cells, but she had +a good heart and thought it was because Nuova was sick, perhaps, for +bees often get ill just as we do. She spoke to Nuova rather sharply, but +still in a kindly way.</p> + +<p>"Nuova! what are you doing here? You mustn't stop."</p> + +<p>"But I am so tired," replied poor Nuova. "Thank you for driving them +away," she added.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"I am so tired," replied poor Nuova</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Tired, nonsense," said Saggia. "That's nothing. Of course you are +tired. We all are. But what difference does that make? Go back to the +babies, and keep on with your work."</p> + +<p>"That is what they all say," cried Nuova, bitterly and half angrily. +"Here am I a full week out of my nursery cell, and I haven't had a bit +of rest or fun yet. It is time I began to have some. Doesn't any one +ever rest or have a good time?"</p> + +<p>Saggia was painfully surprised to hear Nuova talk in this manner. She +began to fear that Nuova's tiredness was not just physical tiredness. +She answered her therefore in a strongly reproving manner. "Of course +nobody rests, and of course every one has a good time. Look at them +all," and she waved an antenna toward the workers at the nursery cells, +"don't you see what a good time they are having? It is having a good +time to be always working; always working for each other and for our +children."</p> + +<p>"But they aren't our children," Nuova broke in, "yours and mine, that +is, nor anybody's but the Queen's children. She is the mother of them +all. And she keeps on having more. And we have to take care of them all, +and all the time."</p> + +<p>"They <i>are</i> our children," Saggia interrupted, speaking very positively +and still more reprovingly. "They are the children of the community; the +children of the race. It is our race we are working for; the children +of the race. Think of it!"</p> + +<p>Nuova made a little face. "Well, I am tired of the race and the race's +children," she said. "I want some children of my own."</p> + +<p>Old Saggia was dreadfully shocked by this. And she was terrified on +Nuova's account for fear some other bees might have heard her. It was, +indeed, about as rebellious a thing as a bee can say.</p> + +<p>"Hush, child," said Saggia in a whisper. "You mustn't say such things. +You mustn't even think them. Other bees don't. And you must hurry back +to your work before the others miss you." She helped Nuova up, and urged +her to begin climbing back up to the nurse cells. "If you are tired of +taking care of the babies you can do something else next week. You will +be old enough then to make wax and build cells or help clean the hive. +And then in another week you can go out and gather pollen and nectar +from the flowers. But go back now to the babies; the other nurses are +looking for you." She urged Nuova along again, and this time Nuova +started up, but she went very reluctantly and slowly.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "they pay no attention to me. Nobody but you pays any +attention to me, except when I stop working. They never notice me when I +am hard at work."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course not," replied Saggia gently. "Why should you be noticed +then? That is what we all do all the time; just keep everlastingly at +it. That is what makes the bees such a great people. There is something +wrong about a bee that doesn't want to work all the time; you mustn't be +different from the others. I am afraid you are sick."</p> + +<p>All the time she was saying this Saggia was urging Nuova along up the +comb toward the nursery cells, and now they had quite reached the group +of nurses. As Uno, Due, and Tre saw Nuova again they closed in around +her so as to strike or pinch her. But Saggia kept them off. And Nuova +slipped into her place again in front of a hungry baby.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova sees Some Other Things Done</i></h3> + + +<p>Just as Nuova took her place again, however, she heard in the distance a +joyful singing. It came from the lightest place in the hive, and looking +in this direction Nuova saw a whole group of nectar gatherers coming +along together, half-dancing and turning about, and all singing together +in the happiest way possible. This is what they sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take a peep into the pail,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nectar to the brim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Carried over down and dale<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Till the ways were dim.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On a dawn-ray forth we sped,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A thousand wings in tune,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By a new-born wind were led<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Down the paths of June.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Silvery world of buzz and whirr,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Fragrance on the wing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sod and root and blade astir,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sped our garnering.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Long in Nature's honey-room<br /></span> +<span class="i1">We dipped and drank at will;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brushed the purple lilac plume,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sipped from thyme and dill.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Till when evening softly bore<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Over dune and dell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hastened we with golden store<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Home to Queen and cell.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And then she heard another song, and saw a group of pollen gatherers +following the nectar gatherers. And this is what they sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here's saffron dust and crimson dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And dust of rarest blue;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In lavish Nature's pollen mines<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Each mines his favorite hue.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some buzzed and burrowed all the morn<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Within a clover hold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till fuzzy backs were powdered fine<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And thigh-bags bulged with gold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And some delved deep in lily cups,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Or hung from blossomy bells—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The story of their mazy flight<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The rainbow treasure tells.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's pollen sweet for roof and wall,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And more for soft bee-bread;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all, from wondrous Mother-Queen<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To bee-mite, must be fed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here's palest pink and lilac dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And green and brown and blue;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In lavish Nature's pollen fields<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Each finds his favorite hue.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They liked their work, these foragers, that was sure, and Nuova felt +that she would like that kind of work too. Just then Mela, one of the +pollen gatherers, climbing up the comb where Nuova was, with her pollen +baskets filled by two great masses of golden yellow pollen, stopped for +a moment for breath. Nuova stretched her antenna toward Mela and touched +her, attracting her attention.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>She would like that kind of work.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Oh, Mela, tell me about it," she said to her eagerly. "Do you hear the +birds sing and see the butterflies dance out there? Mela, take me with +you when you go back."</p> + +<p>Mela was very much astonished to hear a pretty young nurse bee talk to +her this way, and she looked first sharply and then rather +contemptuously at Nuova.</p> + +<p>"You upstart young thing," she said, "take you out with us? Well, I +rather think not until you have finished your nursing work. And you are +loafing now! Well, you will do your work better in the hive or you can +never go out at all, that's sure."</p> + +<p>And Uno, Due, and Tre, who had overheard this conversation, buzzed at +her one after another: "Lazy! Loafer! Shirk!" and they tried to strike +her once more, but Saggia, who had not yet gone down to the floor, again +kept them off and whispered rapidly to Nuova:</p> + +<p>"Yes, you shall go out some time. But you must be a good bee and do your +work in the hive first, nurse the babies, then help make wax and build +cells. So go on with your work now. Hurry, the soldiers are coming, and +they have their stings all ready for loafing bees as well as for wasps +and black bees that come to rob us. Hurry, hurry!"</p> + +<p>Saggia pushed Nuova back into her place, and Uno, Due, and Tre also +hurried to their own places as the marching song of the Amazons was +heard. Into the hive and down the long aisles between the great vertical +walls of comb they came marching rapidly and brandishing their long, +sharp lances all ready for use. This was their song:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now fierce black bee and yellow wasp<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With cunning seek to rush the hive;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up warriors, aim the poisoned dart,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Let no bold hornet pass alive!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Defenders of the golden stores,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Swoop down upon the robber band,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No foe escapes the Amazon spears,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For Hive and Queen we make our stand!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As they finished their song the files of the Amazons broke up and the +soldiers scattered themselves through the hive, although most of them +kept in the lighter part near the entrance.</p> + +<p>In the special quiet that followed the cessation of the song Nuova heard +a voice calling loudly from a group of bees near the wax-making festoon +at the unfinished end of the comb. This group was busily engaged in +moulding new cells, using the wax which was being made by the bees in +the living festoon.</p> + +<p>"Look here," called the voice, which was that of Cera, chief of the +cell-builders and wax-makers, "we must have more wax-makers." She waved +an antenna toward the festoon. "They can't furnish us wax fast enough. +Some of you older nurses come here."</p> + +<p>Nuova who had stopped working and stepped a little out from the group of +nurses at Cera's first words, now started quickly to go over to her. +Uno, Due, and Tre all called angrily to her and tried to stop her but +Nuova easily evaded them and hurried over, with several other nurses +following, to Cera.</p> + +<p>"Let me make wax," she said eagerly to Cera.</p> + +<p>Cera looked at her, then away and to the others. "You! No, you are too +young," she said. Then more loudly to the others: "More wax-makers, I +say, and right away."</p> + +<p>But Nuova insisted. "Take me," she urged. "Teach me to make wax."</p> + +<p>Cera stared at her. "What a funny bee! Teach you! That shows you are not +old enough. If you were you would know without any teaching. Bees don't +have to be taught. They simply know how to do everything they need to +when the right time comes for doing it. And if they don't know it is +because the right time hasn't come."</p> + +<p>But Nuova still stood squarely in front of her. Cera stared at her more +and more surprised and more and more angry. "Here," she said finally, +and very roughly, "keep out of the way. Go back to your babies."</p> + +<p>Nuova fluttered her wings angrily and her sensitive antennæ trembled. "I +won't," she said. "I won't be nurse any more; I'll make wax or go out +for pollen. Yes, I'll go out into the garden."</p> + +<p>Then she actually started to run toward the hive entrance, but was +promptly stopped by Saggia, who had noticed her altercation with Cera +and had hurried over.</p> + +<p>Cera who had only half heard Nuova's angry outburst was nevertheless +greatly astonished, and was about to make an indignant reply and to call +the attention of the other bees to the audacious little rebel, but the +candidates to make wax crowded about her so closely and chattered so +distractingly to her that all thought of Nuova was, fortunately, +immediately driven out of her mind.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Nuova was tugging away from Saggia, and had even dragged +her a little along toward the entrance. But Saggia held fast to one +wing, and at the same time talked to her rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Nuova, stop!" she said in a low voice, at the same time glancing back +to see if the crowd around Cera was noticing them. "You mustn't say such +things. Bees never do. Listen, you can make wax. Listen to me, I'll tell +you what to do."</p> + +<p>Nuova stopped tugging at the poor old bee, who was getting rather +breathless and could hardly go on with her speaking. What she had last +said, however, made Nuova want to hear more.</p> + +<p>So as Nuova stopped pulling away Saggia went on talking. "The first +thing the wax-makers do is to go to the pantry cells and eat all the +honey and pollen they can. Then they all crowd together in close rows +like that," pointing to the festoon of wax-makers, "so as to get very +warm, and pretty soon the wax begins to come. It comes out in little +drops on your wax-plates"—touching one of the ten curious little +five-sided plates on the under side of Nuova's body—"and hardens right +away into a thin sheet of wax on each one of the plates. Now all you +have to do is to keep quiet and just mix with the others when they go to +the food cells to eat and drink. Say nothing to any one, and nobody will +pay any attention to you, not even Cera, as long as you are busy. There, +see, they are going," she added, as the group around Cera began to break +up, some of the bees going back to the babies while others, who had been +accepted by Cera, moved to the open food cells and began eating pollen +greedily and taking long drinks of honey.</p> + +<p>"Slip over among them," said Saggia in a whisper, "and stuff yourself. +Then go when they do to the festoon and hang on to it."</p> + +<p>Nuova was so eager to try this new experience that she hardly paused to +thank Saggia, although she did let a grateful smile flit over her pretty +fresh face as she hurried away.</p> + +<p>Just as she reached the food cells she heard a gentle, rather monotonous +singing, and glancing in the direction of the group of cell-builders +and wax-makers from which it came she saw that under the direction of +Cera who had already rejoined her workers, the cell-builders were going +through a sort of dance or rhythmic gymnastics, moving their bodies and +waving their wings and legs in a sort of exaggerated imitation of +moulding and building, and that the wax-makers in the festoon were +buzzing their wings to make their bodies warmer and swinging back and +forth, and that all of them together were singing a pretty song about +their work. This is the song they sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cling close in living curtain,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">One thousand swing as one,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now ooze the amber jellies—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The work has just begun.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Haste, mould the dainty wax flakes<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And ply the trowels swift;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pat, pat—the floors spread wider;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Tap, tap—the light walls lift.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Through all the long hive-twilight,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The patterned cell draw true;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tap, tap, with tiny trowel,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">We've neither nail nor screw.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ten thousand honey pantries<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And rooms for pollen store;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Build high the whole bee-city,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And still there's need of more.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As the song and motion dance ceased, Cera called loudly again. This time +she wanted cleaners to come. "Here," she cried. "Cleaners! Let a cleaner +come. We are getting too much dust on the floor. Cleaners! Cleaners!"</p> + +<p>But no one came. Cera, looking impatiently about, saw Nuova glancing up +from the food cell over which she was standing, and motioned to her. +"Here, you," she said, without seeming to remember that it was with +Nuova that she had just had a dispute, "you don't seem to be doing much. +You run down to those cleaners," pointing to several cleaners on the +floor near the great pear-shaped cell, "and tell one to come here right +away. Look lively, now."</p> + +<p>Nuova, who seemed always ready for a new thing, gladly ran down the comb +to the floor and danced happily across it to a bee that was busily +cleaning and touched her with her antennæ. As the cleaner looked up +Nuova said: "Cera wants you; they are making too much dust over there."</p> + +<p>The cleaner straightened up a little and without a word shuffled slowly +across to a place just under the festoon and began to clean the floor +there. Nuova started to follow her, rather dawdling along, for the +prospect of hanging motionless in a wax-making festoon was not +especially attractive to her, when she was startled by the falling at +her feet of a lump of something soft and sticky-looking. She looked up +and saw far up on the vertical wall of the comb rising above her a bee +peering down at her and the lump. This bee was indeed right up by the +roof of the hive. As the bee saw Nuova look up she called to her loudly +and rather gruffly, "I say, pretty young bee, bring me up that lump of +propolis, won't you?"</p> + +<p>Nuova picked up the soft brownish ball in her mouth and climbed quickly +up to the top of the comb with it. As she offered it to the waiting bee +on the ceiling, she found it sticking to her teeth in a very +uncomfortable way.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the sticky stuff," she said in disgust, "and how it tastes and +smells!"</p> + +<p>The bee to whom she was awkwardly trying to give it, whose name was +Fessa, and who was a crack-filler, replied disgustedly and wonderingly: +"Oh, the stupid bee. And it smells like what it is. And that's propolis. +And when you've worked with it day and night for a week, as you will +sometime, you will learn how to handle it, and not be sickened by its +smell. It has really a good healthy smell, for it comes from beautiful +great pine trees and balsam firs."</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried Nuova, "from outdoors? From the garden where the flowers and +butterflies are? Shan't I go out and get you some?" And she turned as if +to start right away.</p> + +<p>Fessa was much astonished, and as she was an irritable bee, she was +angry too. "What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee. Go +out? You—you silly young thing. Don't you know you can't go out until +it is time for you to go? And then you'll have to go whether you want to +or not. Don't you know that bees do things according to custom? You +don't do what you like: you like what you do. That's the bee way, you +stupid. What kind of bee are you, anyway? Here now, hand over that +stuff, and go back to your work." And Fessa took the last of the +propolis from her very roughly.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"What?" she cried, "Well, you really are a stupid Bee"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Nuova, who did not like to be handled so roughly, and talked to so +sharply, was almost in tears. She seemed to be always getting reproved. +However, she said rather maliciously to Fessa: "Well, do you like to +work with that sticky stuff? What do you do with it, anyway?"</p> + +<p>But Fessa had already turned back to her work and paid no attention to +her. In fact she had already begun, with her two or three other +crack-filling companions, to sing a slow, "sticky" sort of song, as they +kept stuffing propolis into a crack in the roof. Although I cannot give +you the strange, monotonous melody of the song, I can give you the +words. They were these:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We're the soft putty crew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dripping the oozy glue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Squeezing our resins through<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Cranny and crack.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Stuffing with pure cement<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crevice and chink and rent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where creeping airs have sent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Warning of Bee Moth bent<br /></span> +<span class="i1">On sly attack.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes, we are the safety crew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spreading with trowel true<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fragrant and golden glue,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Gumming each crack.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa</i></h3> + + +<p>As the crack-fillers kept on singing their monotonous song over and over +while they worked, and as they paid no attention whatever to Nuova, she +turned away after a few minutes of listening to them, and stared around +her.</p> + +<p>It was the first time she had been clear up to the roof of the hive and +she saw that here, as at the bottom, there was a low, free space for the +whole length and breadth of the hive. It was rather dark up here, and +very warm and stuffy, for the warm air rising from the body of the hive +could not escape, as the propolis workers had filled all of the crevices +and cracks in the roof and where the great flat roof-board rested on the +vertical sides of the hive.</p> + +<p>Nuova felt glad she was not a crack-filler, and turned to go down to the +wax-making group where she belonged, when she saw a curious, dusky-gray +creature, not a bee, although with big eyes and long antennæ and wings, +which are all things that bees have also. But this creature's body was +much slenderer than a bee's, its antennæ very much longer and slenderer, +and its wings not only longer, but covered over, as was the body, with +myriads of small scales and hairs. These wings were so folded that they +covered all the back and most of the sides of the body and trailed out +beyond the tip of the body. The creature was walking rapidly and +nervously along the broad, upper edge of the comb on which Nuova stood, +and seemed to be quite at home in the dim light of this space just under +the roof.</p> + +<p>Nuova stared at the creature a moment, and then began to approach her. +But the creature had stepped quickly over the edge and was now running +rapidly down the face of the comb. In this lighter place Nuova could see +that she was engaged in hiding every here and there small, white eggs +that she seemed to carry somewhere in her body. She would dart nervously +in one direction and then another, hesitating a moment after each swift +movement long enough to drop an egg in an open cell or squeeze it into a +crack in the comb.</p> + +<p>Nuova, not being able to catch up with the creature, called loudly to +her a couple of times. "Who are you? What are you doing?" she cried; but +the creature did not reply, but only worked at her egg-hiding the more +rapidly. Nuova called to her again, this time so loudly that the +attention of several bees in the group of nurses was attracted.</p> + +<p>The minute they saw the creature, they set up a great shouting and began +racing after her.</p> + +<p>"Bee Moth! Bee Moth! After her!" they cried. "Call the soldiers! +Amazons! here! here!"</p> + +<p>Nuova was amazed at the uproar, and then she was shocked to see how the +Amazons and all the bees in fact dashed at the poor Bee Moth and began +to tear her literally to pieces. First her long antennæ and then her +wings were torn off and brandished in the air victoriously, and then her +delicate body was stung and hacked into bits, and the fragments tossed +down to the floor to be picked up and thrown out of the hive by the +cleaners. And during all this violent scene, which horrified Nuova +because, strange as it may seem, she really did not understand the +reason for it, all the bees kept up the most excited buzzing and +exclaiming.</p> + +<p>"The villain!" they cried; "when did she get in? Has she laid any eggs? +How did she get in? Who saw her first? Where did she lay her eggs?"</p> + +<p>Some began now to peer about for the eggs, while others continued to +talk and gesticulate.</p> + +<p>Uno, who had been standing silent for a moment as if in thought, +suddenly spoke up loudly, while she looked significantly at Nuova.</p> + +<p>"Nuova saw her first," she said; "she called to us."</p> + +<p>At that several of the bees turned to Nuova.</p> + +<p>"Nuova, Nuova, saw her first!" they cried. "Did she lay any eggs? Why +didn't you call us sooner? <i>Did</i> she lay any eggs, we say?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," Nuova answered innocently, "a good many; all the way from up +there"—indicating the top of the comb—"clear down to—to—" and Nuova +shuddered so she could not finish.</p> + +<p>With this the bees burst out into a new, violent excitement, and they +seemed to be very angry with poor Nuova. "Bee Moth laid a lot of eggs!" +they shouted. "Nuova saw her! Nuova let her! The stupid one! The +faithless one! Kill her! Kill her!" And they crowded around Nuova in a +most threatening manner, some trying to strike her, and two or three +Amazons trying to reach her with their lances. Nuova thought her fate +was to be that of Bee Moth's, and it really seemed so for a moment. And +then Saggia was heard calling loudly.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a> +<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"The stupid one! The faithless one!"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"A crack! There must be a <i>crack</i>! She must have come in through a +crack! She couldn't have come in past the guards at the door."</p> + +<p>This distracted the attention of the bees from Nuova, for at once they +all turned toward Saggia and began shouting all together: "A crack! +There's a crack somewhere! Why haven't the crack-fillers found it?"</p> + +<p>Then they all began to crowd toward and clamor at the propolis-workers, +who, up on their scaffolding, scowled down on the mob, seemingly +unafraid and unexcited.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Fessa roughly, "find the crack and we'll fill it. That's +all we've got to say. Find the crack."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's right," spoke up Saggia loudly. "Some of us hunt for the +crack, and some hunt for the eggs and break them or throw them out. +Every one that isn't found and hatches in the hive means danger for us. +Find them all."</p> + +<p>At this the bees all began hunting about for the crack and the eggs. +Every now and then an egg would be found and with a loud shout it would +be seized and thrown down to the floor of the hive. Nuova, disheveled +and still trembling from the fright caused by the attack of the bees on +her, crept down to the floor at the side of the hive just under the +wax-makers, who had paid no attention to all the hubbub. From here she +was looking on at the search for the eggs with astonishment, when +Saggia, who had been looking anxiously about for her, saw her and came +over close to her.</p> + +<p>"Go up and get back into your place in the wax-curtain, and they'll +forget all about you," she whispered. "But why didn't you shout out +about the Bee Moth when you first saw her?"</p> + +<p>"But why should I?" answered Nuova blankly and rather bitterly. "She was +such a pretty and such an interesting creature."</p> + +<p>Saggia raised her antennæ in astonishment and despair. "Nuova, you <i>are</i> +a funny bee. You are so different. What <i>is</i> the matter with you +anyway? Don't you know—but, of course, for some extraordinary reason +you don't—that your 'pretty and interesting creature' is one of the +most dangerous enemies we have? From any of her eggs that we don't find +and break, there will hatch a horrible little grub that will keep hidden +in the cracks or dark places in the hive, feeding on the wax of the +cells and on the pollen and honey, too, and spinning wherever it goes a +terrible, sticky, silken web that catches our feet and wings and +interferes with our getting around easily. And if there are enough of +the Bee Moth's grubs they spin so much web that finally we can't carry +on our work in the hive at all, and all our babies starve and the Queen +starves, and the whole community goes to ruin. 'Pretty and interesting,' +indeed; she is sneaky and despicable, that's what she is. And if you +ever see another, rush for her at once and call everybody. Being pretty +doesn't necessarily mean being good."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but, Saggia," said Nuova slowly, "if her grubs have to have wax +and pollen and honey for food, and if there is nobody but Bee Moth to +get them for them, and she can't, of course, doesn't she rather have to +lay her eggs in a bee-hive where, when her grubby babies hatch out, +there will be enough food for them? And don't they have to spin the web +to keep us bees from killing them as soon as we see them?"</p> + +<p>Saggia stared at her; and then, strange as it may seem, even this old +bee began to understand a little that Nuova's mind was a bit different +from that of the other bees in the hive, and that she had a heart that +could be hurt even by the killing of a dangerous enemy of the hive. +However, Saggia contented herself with repeating, "Well, you <i>are</i> a +funny bee!" and then she urged Nuova again to start up the comb to the +group of wax-makers, and went back to see how the search for Bee Moth's +eggs was getting on.</p> + +<p>Just as Nuova was about to begin climbing up, she heard a strong, +buzzing sound near her and found that she was almost stumbling over a +bee that was standing in a most odd position, with its head down and +almost touching the floor, and its body lifted up at an angle of forty +or fifty degrees, and all of its wings going like mad, although it was +not, of course, beating its wings to fly, for it remained constantly in +the same position. There were two or three other bees near this one +doing the same thing, and farther away, nearer the hive entrance, were +two or three more.</p> + +<p>The wing-buzzing bee nearest Nuova, whose name was Aria, seemed to be +quite vexed with Nuova, for she said to her sharply: "Look out where you +are going, you stupid! Are you blind and deaf?"</p> + +<p>Nuova was startled, and rather frightened, too, by the sharp speech, but +her curiosity was even stronger than her fear. "Good gracious!" she +said; "what are you doing?"</p> + +<p>"What matter to you what I am doing?" said Aria, in a thick, "buzzy" +voice. "I am doing my work—which is more than you seem to be doing. +Aren't you bee enough yet to know that each of us has her own appointed +work and does it without worrying about what others are doing? If we all +do our work, then the whole community gets on all right. So if you will +look out for your work, I'll look out for mine."</p> + +<p>Here Aria buzzed more energetically than ever for a moment without +saying anything. Then she began speaking again, "Still if you have to be +told, you pretty little stupid bee, I'll tell you that I and my +companions are ventilating the hive, and if we should stop to loaf and +moon about like you, you and all the rest of us would suffocate, that's +what you'd do." And she stopped talking. But in a moment she began to +sing a curious little song which was partly made up of just buzzing and +humming, and partly of words. These were the words of her song, in which +all the other ventilating bees joined:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back and forth, back and forth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fanning and stirring and driving and churning;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Old air we're forcing forth, new air's returning.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On our heads all the day;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This is the only way<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We can keep sweet the hive<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And our dear bees alive.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whirr, whirr, whirr, whirr;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Roundabout, roundabout,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Living fans ceaselessly driving and churning;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Foul air we're forcing forth, fresh air's returning.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upside down all the day;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beating our wings away;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So we keep sweet the hive<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And our dear bees alive.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>While the ventilating bees were singing and Nuova stood idly watching +and listening to them, a small, old drone bee with crumpled-up, that is, +deformed wings, came, half walking and half comically hopping, down the +long aisle between the vertical combs from the back and darker part of +the hive. He was humming a song to himself as he came along. Beffa was +the name of the deformed bee, and he was the jester of the hive, as +could be guessed by his hopping way of walking, and by the words of his +song.</p> + +<p>When Nuova heard Beffa singing, she turned toward him, but did not +interrupt him. She was ever so much interested in his appearance, and by +his sort of hopping dance which he kept up all the time he was singing, +and by the song itself, which told her something about him, but not +enough. As he stopped singing, Nuova spoke, speaking to herself at +first, and then to him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a funny bee," she said. "You <i>are</i> a bee, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>Beffa stared at her a moment, then made her a deep, mocking bow and gave +a hop or two. "Yes, pretty one, which is, of course, to say, stupid one, +I be a bee—just as you be, only not just so, for I be doing my work, +which I don't see that you be." Then he hopped comically about, humming +to himself the refrain of his song.</p> + +<p>No one, however, paid any attention to him except Nuova, who exclaimed +rather petulantly: "Oh, work, work, work; always that word!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Beffa, mockingly bowing and hopping about her, "but not +always that work"; imitating grotesquely for a moment Nuova's idle +attitude.</p> + +<p>"Do you call that hopping and singing work?" indignantly exclaimed +Nuova. "Why don't you go and nurse babies?"</p> + +<p>Beffa, who was again at his hopping and humming, stopped a moment to +stare at her in surprise; then replied, in a sing-song: "I can't, oh, I +can't nurse babies."</p> + +<p>"Then make wax," said Nuova.</p> + +<p>"I can't, oh, I can't make wax," hummed Beffa.</p> + +<p>"Then build a comb, or fill cracks, or clean the floor, or"—and she +pointed to the ventilating bees near them—"ventilate," persisted Nuova.</p> + +<p>"I can't," sang again Beffa, "oh, I can't build cells, or fill cracks, +or scrub floors, or—" and he broke off suddenly with a sort of catch in +his voice.</p> + +<p>But Nuova blindly persisted. "Well, then, why don't you go out and +gather pollen and bring nectar; out into the sunshine, out into the +garden."</p> + +<p>The poor, deformed bee, now angry, indeed, began jumping up and down +violently right in front of Nuova, and then suddenly whirled around, +bringing his back and crumpled wings fairly in her face. "Oh, silly +little pretty, pretty little silly!" he cried; "which is to say, blind +one, stupid one, heartless one, <i>would</i> I like to go out, out into the +warm sunshine, out into the fragrant garden! Would I like to go! Blind, +stupid, brutal one!"</p> + +<p>When Nuova saw the poor, crumpled-up, useless wings, she suddenly +understood, and she felt like striking herself in the face as she +realized all the stupid, brutal things she had said. "Oh, you poor, poor +bee!" she cried as she touched Beffa caressingly again and again with +her antennæ. "I didn't see; I didn't understand; I am so sorry! Won't +you forgive me? Please?"</p> + +<p>Beffa, though partly appeased, was still half angry, and still spoke +bitterly. "Oh, you <i>do</i> understand now! You <i>do</i> understand why I hop +and sing; why I dance for the Queen; and why I do anything I can do when +I can't do other things; can't do what a drone ought to do, fly wide and +high in the Great Courting Chase after the Princess. I am glad you +understand now. But hush, listen!" He whirled around, facing toward the +great pear-shaped cell in the lower center of the comb. "Hark! +Principessa, the new Princess, calls. Hark!"</p> + +<p>Beffa and Nuova stood silent and expectant, facing toward the Princess's +cell as did all the other bees. There was a tense excitement everywhere. +Nuova felt that something very important was happening. And then came a +strange sound, first faint and low, then louder and shriller. It was the +piping of the young Princess shut up in her great cell, but ready now to +come out. It sent a shiver of excitement through all the bees. +Ventilators stopped buzzing and wax-makers and comb-builders turned +their faces intently toward the sound, and even the crack-fillers, far +up at the roof, stopped their work and peered down excitedly.</p> + +<p>There had come, indeed, one of the most exciting and tense moments that +ever come to a bee community. It was the moment that precedes the birth +of a new royal bee, a Princess who is destined to be the new Queen of +the hive, or to go out from the hive with many of the workers to +establish a new community of her own.</p> + +<p>Again came the shrill piping of the Princess in the royal cell. Another +wave of excitement ran over the hive. And again and again the weird +sound came. Suddenly the royal nurses began excitedly to plaster wax on +the outside of the great cell, especially over its mouth.</p> + +<p>Beffa whispered to Nuova: "She is trying to work her way out, but they +don't want to let her out yet. See, the drones are coming."</p> + +<p>And even as he spoke a gay song was heard, in voices very different from +any that Nuova had yet heard in the hive; and suddenly, as the song grew +louder, there came a half-dancing, half-marching file of +splendid-looking, robust bees, moving spiritedly directly toward the +royal cell. They were a fine-looking lot, these drones, these dandy +drones, and Nuova had a thrill she had never felt before. She gazed at +them entranced.</p> + +<p>The drones made a half-circle about the cell of the Princess and lined +up there, strutting and dancing and singing loudly. This is the song +they sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We are the courtiers, the beaux of the hive;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of the dandy drones surely you've heard!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our wings are a rainbow, our bodies are gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To soil them would be most absurd.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No, we never mix up with the common hive stuff,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Neither garner, nor plaster, nor clean;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis superior far to be just what we are,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And do naught but make love to the Queen.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess</i></h3> + + +<p>All through their song Nuova had given the drones her absorbed +attention. She admired them greatly for their fine appearance, and when +she learned from their song that they did no work, but had all day only +to follow their own sweet will, she became especially interested in +them. She was a little puzzled, too, for, from what she had heard from +Saggia and the others, and from all she had seen, she had come to +believe that all bees worked all the time. And here were all these +stout-bodied, vigorous bees proudly singing that they loafed all the +days through. She was so much interested in this that she approached one +end of the line of drones and spoke to the one nearest her.</p> + +<p>"What a fine time you drones must have," she said. "Don't you ever have +to do any work?"</p> + +<p>The drone did not hear her at first and paid no attention to her, but as +she repeated her question louder and more insistently, he turned and +stared at her amazed.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, bless my eyes!" he said, stammering in his amazement at +being addressed by a common worker bee. "Bless my eyes! I say, work? +Work? Me work? Who ever heard such a question? What sort of a bee are +you? Who are you, anyway?" He touched the drone next to him to call his +attention. "Look here, who is this bee?"</p> + +<p>Nuova was nettled by his manner and by what he said. She answered, +rather sharply, "Well, I'll tell you who I am. I am a bee that works; +anyway, I am the kind of a bee that works, like all the others except +you, and you" (looking defiantly at the second drone, who was staring +insolently at her) "and I want to know why you do not work—you and you +others that loaf around all the time and eat what we bring in, and do +nothing but sing and dance in the hive, or fly around doing nothing in +the garden, and keep all dressed up and just look handsome."</p> + +<p>The drone was more and more astonished, but he was also a little +flattered by her reference to his clothes and appearance.</p> + +<p>"Well, you are a silly little bee," he said; "that's what we are here +for. Drones work? It isn't done, you know. Our business is to love. And +singing and dancing and looking handsome, and not getting all dusty with +pollen and sticky with wax and dirty with cleaning, is part of it. +That's our work; not working, but loving."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus8" id="illus8"></a> +<img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Drones work? It isn't done, you know."</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Nuova was so astonished by hearing this, and so excited to learn that +some bees did not have to work, and also so angry to think that these +bees were allowed to live without working, while she was always being +told to work, and scolded for resting for even the shortest time, that +when she answered him she spoke so loudly as to attract the attention of +other bees near her, including Saggia, who was moving around near by, +cleaning the floor.</p> + +<p>"So that is what you call your work, is it?" she burst out. "Well, I am +glad to know there is some kind of bee work besides feeding babies and +sweating out wax and filling up cracks and scrubbing up floors. Loving, +you call it; well, I want to do some of that; show me how."</p> + +<p>The two drones were stupefied with astonishment by Nuova's words, but +the one nearest her, to whom she was speaking directly, was rather taken +by the audacity of the pretty little bee's demand, and he involuntarily +strutted and swaggered a little and eyed her with special attention. He +even smiled down at her rather pleasantly, and seemed to be about to +speak to her again when Saggia and three or four other bees, who had +heard her last words and were scandalized to see and hear her talking +with the drone, especially in such a manner, bustled up to her.</p> + +<p>This last unheard-of behavior of Nuova was too much for Saggia. Her +patience and sympathy with her were exhausted, and she broke out in a +tirade of scolding.</p> + +<p>"Well, I never in my life!" she exclaimed, grasping Nuova and jerking +her around; "what in the world are you doing and saying? Talking to a +drone about love! You don't know anything about love. You can't know +anything about it. Only drones and princesses know what love is, or can +know. You are worse than a silly bee; you are a bad bee!" She jerked her +again and again; at the same time she went on with her scolding. "Well, +I wash my hands of you! If you can't be a sensible bee we don't want +you! Our thinking has all been done for us long, long ago. All we have +to do is what custom tells us to. And if you can't behave as the rest of +us do, you are useless. Here, take her, throw her out of the hive!"</p> + +<p>Again Saggia jerked her vigorously, and other bees, especially Uno, Due, +and Tre, hustled her and struck at her. A couple of soldiers even came +up and began jabbing at her with their lances. Poor Nuova seemed about +to be torn piecemeal, like the Bee Moth, and turned out of the hive, +when one of the drones, who was in the line some little distance from +Nuova and Saggia, was attracted by the uproar. He came over to the group +in a lordly and leisurely manner, shouldering his way through the crowd +and carelessly driving off the jostling bees. They left Nuova +reluctantly, casting dark looks and making malevolent gestures toward +her as they turned their attention again to the excitement still raging +about the cell of the Princess. Poor Nuova, half dead from her +ill-treatment, could hardly utter her thanks to her rescuer. In a weak +voice she attempted to say something, but finding it too much of an +effort she contented herself with looking up gratefully into the face of +the newcomer. He looked down at her curiously.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you?" he said, not unkindly. "Can you not do as +other bees do? What are you—a nurse, a wax-maker, or what? Why don't +you stick to your work? Why don't you do what you are expected to do? +Are you one of those dreadful creatures they call 'new bees'?"</p> + +<p>Nuova, although still weak and faint from her jostling and fright, was +made angry again by these questions. "I do not know what I am," she +said, "but I'd rather die than be just a puppet in this hive. Is all my +life cut out for me, and not according to what I want to do and can do, +but just according to rules made by somebody I don't know anything about +and who doesn't know anything about me?"</p> + +<p>She tried to say more, but a faintness came over her, and she staggered +a little and would have fallen if the drone had not unconsciously put a +wing behind her and supported her. She looked up at him, unable to thank +him in words, but expressing her gratitude in her eyes.</p> + +<p>As she rested this way, leaning heavily against him, she closed her +eyes, happy to be protected, and even feeling strange little thrills +running over her body that were mysteriously enjoyable. Without opening +her eyes she murmured: "I am very grateful to you. You are very good." +He said nothing, but looked with more and more interest at the +sweet-faced little bee beside him.</p> + +<p>Soon she opened her eyes again, and this time a pathetic little smile +ran over her face. Indeed, it grew to be a roguish smile as an +interesting idea formed more and more clearly in her brain.</p> + +<p>"But you," she said—"aren't you rather breaking bee tradition by +helping me? If I am a useless bee, and only in the way, and a trouble to +the community, shouldn't you let them sting me and throw me out of the +hive? Are you" (she smiled again)—"are you, a—new bee, too?"</p> + +<p>The drone, whose name was Hero, and who was truly the handsomest and +finest drone in the hive, was first surprised and then a little +embarrassed by what Nuova was saying. He looked rather fearfully around +to see if other bees were observing them and tried gently to take his +wing from behind Nuova, who, however, on realizing his intention, gave +new signs of weakness and leaned more heavily than ever on it. In fact, +it must be confessed, she nestled as closely against him, enclosed by +his protecting wings, as she could.</p> + +<p>"No, I am not a new bee," he said, rather stiffly. "I know my duty, and +I try to do it." He looked again into his companion's pretty face, and +then spoke more gently.</p> + +<p>"Still, I admit that some of our ways are old-fashioned, rather absurd +in fact," he said, with a manner and voice growing more and more +confidential. "I have often had a curious feeling as if I should like to +work." He smiled down at her. "Terrible, isn't it? And sometimes it is +pretty hard to work up a violent love for a Princess you never see until +you are just about to dash after her in the Great Courting Chase. Still, +that's something worth while. One such flight is excitement and exertion +enough for a whole life."</p> + +<p>"Have you ever done it?" asked Nuova, curiously and even a little +enviously. "And did you win?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Hero, "I have been in one chase. But I was so young my wings +were hardly dry and, of course, I didn't win, or I shouldn't be here +now. Don't you know that the winner always dies in the winning?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Nuova, shocked. "And how silly! To die just as +you become King. How is it worth it?"</p> + +<p>"What!" said Hero, surprised, and in a reproving and even stern voice. +"Not worth while to win in the Great Courting Chase? To prove yourself +the fastest and strongest and boldest of all the drones, and to be the +consort of the Queen, the father of all the Queen's children? Not worth +while dying for? What do I live for but that?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," cried Nuova, carried away for the moment by his enthusiasm, +"that <i>is</i> something to live for!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly, however, she realized that if Hero won in the Great Chase that +was soon to occur—that is, would take place when the Princess, already +trying to get out of her cell, was really out and ready for her wedding +flight—he would really have to die for a bee, so far unseen and +unknown, and who had done nothing to deserve such a sacrifice, and who +would give her love as well to any other drone as to Hero, this handsome +and kind new friend.</p> + +<p>This made her angry and bitter again, and very sad, too, for she was +beginning to realize that she liked this beautiful, strong bee much more +than she liked Saggia or Beffa. He was different from all the other bees +she knew, and her liking for him was different. She wanted to be with +him all the time, and to have him talk to her or even just to look at +her. This must be loving, she thought, or part of it, anyway. She began +to dislike this Princess that was soon to come out of her cell. Probably +she would be very beautiful. When she thought of that she disliked her +more than ever. She could not bear to think of Hero's loving her or of +her loving Hero.</p> + +<p>She looked keenly at Hero, and then spoke to him slowly and cautiously, +growing suddenly wise because of her new feeling for him.</p> + +<p>"But how do you know you will love the new Princess?" she said. "Is she +certain to be beautiful and sweet? And will she certainly love you?"</p> + +<p>Hero looked at her curiously. It was strange how this pretty little bee +attracted him. And it was strange that she seemed to have very clearly +certain thoughts that were already rather hazily in his own mind.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," he said musingly, "I shall not see much of her. It is not, +in a sense, love for her, but the response to the call of the race, the +fulfilling of my duty to our community, that will drive me to my best +effort to win her. But, of course, it is love for her, too; that is, so +far as there is love at all among bees. We can love only Princesses, you +know, we drones; that is honey-bee tradition."</p> + +<p>Hero had seen no betrayal of Nuova's real feeling in her questions. He +only saw in them the expression of her odd, independent way of looking +at things and thinking about them. Nuova realized this and so became +bolder by his blindness. And she was made bitter, too, by hearing this +hero of hers repeat that always irritating phrase of "honey-bee +tradition."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," she exclaimed, "you can only do what your grandfathers and +your great-grandfathers did! You must keep your eyes closed and your +heart cold and loll and loaf through all your life until they tell you +to go and love—love a Princess—love her, sight unseen—love her so +hard that if you win her you kill yourself! You are not <i>you</i>; you are +not a bee with a heart and brain and strong body of your own, to live +and strive and suffer and succeed after your own way and your own +desires, but you are a machine, an automaton, to do what custom has +fashioned you to do! You are not a bee; you are a clock-work; big and +strong and handsome—and hollow!"</p> + +<p>Hero, amazed at her vehemence and her breaking of all bee tradition, +looked at her more and more interestedly. He found a responsive feeling +in himself, not only to the ideas expressed by her words, but to her own +attractiveness and boldness.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said amazedly, but also sympathetically—"well, you <i>are</i> a +silly little bee!"</p> + +<p>But now the excitement around the Princess's cell broke out afresh. She +was evidently about to come forth. From inside her cell she piped more +loudly and more often than ever. Suddenly a loud, answering trumpeting +was heard, and Beffa came hopping and humming to announce the approach +of the old Queen. It was the Queen who was making the answering +trumpeting. She came majestically along toward the cell of the Princess +with a group of attendant bees about her. These attendants always kept +circling slowly, but animatedly, about her, facing toward her, and +although constantly shifting and changing places, always maintaining a +complete circle around her. Every now and then she gave a loud +trumpeting, and each time she was answered by a shrill piping from the +cell. Or perhaps it was the old Queen who was defiantly answering the +challenges of the Princess.</p> + +<p>All the bees were enormously excited. They moved about constantly, +buzzing and grouping in dense masses, now here, now there, but mostly +close to the great cell. They were, however, plainly divided in their +feeling, for some of the groups were intent on keeping near the Queen.</p> + +<p>All the drones, however, clustered around the Princess's cell. Only +Hero, who still stood by the side of Nuova a little to one side, had not +joined the group of drones which was giving all its attention to the +awaited appearance of the Princess. None of them paid the slightest +attention to the Queen.</p> + +<p>The excitement steadily increased. It was evident that the climax was at +hand. Suddenly a breathless silence succeeded the buzzing whir. All the +bees stood still with eyes fastened on the royal cell, and there came +slowly forth from it, with beautiful but cold, set face and slow +automatic movement, the new Princess.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus9" id="illus9"></a> +<img src="images/illus9.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>There came slowly forth—the new Princess</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>As she stepped clear of her cell, with long, slender body erect, and +shining delicate wings already nearly dry and straight, the whole mass +of the bees quivered with renewed excitement. She carried a long, +shining silver lance which she held point upward and used to support her +first rather uncertain steps.</p> + +<p>The old Queen, staring defiantly at the shining Princess, seemed to +realize that the end of her reign had come. But she lifted her own long +lance threateningly in the air and gave out a challenging trumpet call +that sounded loud through all the hive.</p> + +<p>The Princess, though obviously not yet in full control of her movements +because of her long confinement in the cell, nevertheless faced the +threatening old Queen with full defiance, and piped back a vigorous +answer.</p> + +<p>The Queen seemed to lose all her self-control at this, and stooping a +little, and putting her lance in place so that it pointed directly at +the Princess, started to rush at her. But a mass of bees threw +themselves in front of her, blocking her way and pushing her lance up.</p> + +<p>Thwarted in her intention of killing the Princess or putting her to +flight, the old Queen hesitated a moment, and then with a loud cry of +"Who loves me, follow me to make a new home," she rushed for the opening +of the hive followed by a great swarm of worker bees.</p> + +<p>Nuova turned anxiously to Hero to see if he were going to follow the old +Queen from the hive. Her own inclination was to go with her, for she +detested the haughty, cold-faced new Princess, both because of her +appearance and insolent manner and because she felt that Hero would +surely win in the Great Courting Chase and hence become the Royal +Consort of the Princess and have to die for her sake. So she timidly +touched him with one of her antennæ to attract his attention, which was +all being given to the stirring scene before them.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to follow the old Queen?" she asked, "or stay with the +Princess?"</p> + +<p>Hero started, as she spoke, as if awakened from a daze. He looked down +at her curiously, as if only half recognizing her. Then he turned again +to look intently at the Princess and the group of drones about her. With +a quick turn back to Nuova he answered her as if astonished by her +question:</p> + +<p>"I shall stay with the Princess of course." Then he straightened up +proudly and added: "Indeed, I think she will be my Princess; my Queen."</p> + +<p>He looked toward the Princess again, this time eagerly and bending +rather toward her as if impatient to go to her. And even as he looked +toward her, her eyes, moving slowly and proudly over the whole group of +bees who had elected to remain in the hive with her, rested on him, and +stopped there. As she saw the handsome drone bending toward her with his +eager eyes fixed on her, a slow smile came over her face. It was the +first appearance of anything but defiance or cold insolence to which she +had yet given expression. Both Hero and Nuova saw it. Poor Nuova! It was +too much for her. She could hardly stand. Hero felt her trembling at his +side. He turned his face to look down at her, and was astonished and +then suddenly touched and even moved to see in her wet eyes the revealed +love of this pretty little worker bee for him.</p> + +<p>He spoke to her half curiously, half tenderly. "And are you going with +the old Queen, or will you stay here with the Princess?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Stay, stay," whispered Nuova, almost sobbing. "I think—she will +be—my—Queen, also."</p> + +<p>As she said this she turned away. Just then the old Queen and the swarm +of bees about her rushed from the hive. All the bees remaining began to +sing a loud song of gladness and welcome to the Princess who was to be +their new Queen. And they all joined in a mad dance of joy—except +Nuova, who hid her tear-stained face and limp body behind the nearest +great honeycomb.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova goes Outside</i></h3> + + +<p>When Nuova felt that she could face again the scene near the cell, she +left her hiding-place and came slowly out into the open space where she +had left Hero. He was gone. She knew, without looking, that he was now +with the other drones pressing about the cold, proud Princess. She +looked rather for her old friends Saggia and Beffa. Though Saggia had +lost all patience with her because she had spoken to the drones, and had +punished her, and even given her over to Uno, Due, Tre, and the other +bees who disliked her, she still liked Saggia and believed that Saggia +liked her.</p> + +<p>So she looked around for them. But they were not in the mass about the +Princess nor in any of the groups which were beginning to take up again +the different kinds of work of the hive.</p> + +<p>Nuova noticed some bees going in and out the entrance hole of the hive, +and although she knew, by instinct, that she was still too young to +leave the hive, yet that strange driving spirit in her, which was +always impelling her to do things against bee traditions and custom, +urged her to the bright opening. Once there she hesitated. The brilliant +sunshine outside was blinding to her eyes, accustomed so far only to the +half-light of the hive. She had a curious sensation too, half of fear of +this unknown world outside, half of fascination to plunge recklessly +into it to see and learn the new things there must be in it, and to +escape from the automatic, heartless life of the hive, and the latest +and bitterest unhappiness this life had just brought to her.</p> + +<p>As she stood, uncertain, at the edge of the opening, she heard a +familiar humming just outside the opening, and at once stepped out. She +found herself on a broad platform as wide as the hive and extending +forward for what seemed to her a long distance, but which was in reality +only a few inches. On either side of the platform and beyond it were +grass and flowers and bushes, and still farther away some great trees, +all new and wonderful things to her. Above was the blue sky, and she +heard birds twittering, and far away the song of a woman working in the +garden. And it was all very light and fresh and fragrant. Nuova liked +it.</p> + +<p>She heard the familiar humming again. She turned her attention to the +entrance platform. There were only a few bees on it. A few guards moved +easily and half-lazily around, and a few foraging bees were coming and +going with loads of pollen and honey or with pollen baskets and honey +sacs empty. But suddenly she saw Beffa. It was he who was making the +familiar humming. With tired, drawn face and with only grimaces for +smiles, he was slowly hopping and humming near the front edge of the +platform. He often came to a standstill to look with fixed gaze out into +the distance. Beffa was a sad bee, for his Queen had gone and he could +not follow her. Poor Beffa! It made Nuova sad, too, to see him.</p> + +<p>And then she saw Saggia, too. She was at one side of the platform with +dustpan and brush, and occasionally stooping over to brush up something. +She, too, seemed sad and tired. She looked older than Nuova had seen her +look before. Saggia, like Beffa, every now and then stood quite still +and gazed far away into the garden or sky as if hoping to see again +the old Queen whom they had lost. Saggia and Beffa had come close +together without noticing each other or Nuova, so occupied with their +own thoughts were they. But soon Saggia noticed Beffa and moved up close +to him.</p> + +<p>"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia, in a low voice so that only Beffa +should hear.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus10" id="illus10"></a> +<img src="images/illus10.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Even Beffa did not hear her at first, or, at least, he did not heed her. +But when Saggia repeated what she had said, Beffa came out of his +reverie with a jerk, and awkwardly made a little hop and grimace.</p> + +<p>"Sad," said he. "Great Apis forfend. Haven't we a shining new Princess +to our hive; a virgin new Princess to wed and be a new Queen to us all? +Why should we mourn for an old Queen that's gone? Why be sad with a new +Queen to come? Ha-ha," he laughed sardonically and bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sad," repeated Saggia again, still speaking low and significantly, +"when we have just lost our old Queen who liked her jester, Beffa, and +even her old floor-cleaner, Saggia, who neither of them know whether +the new Queen will like them or not. Oh, sad, sad! Ha-ha!" And she +half-imitated Beffa's sardonic laugh and his hop and grimace.</p> + +<p>Beffa turned and faced Saggia squarely, surprised to find wise old +Saggia troubled and depressed just as he was. After a long, keen look at +her, he made a solemn gesture to the distance, and then a mocking bow +toward the hive entrance.</p> + +<p>"The Queen has passed: long live the Queen!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Several of the guard and forager bees near him heard his cry and called +out after him—</p> + +<p>"The Queen has passed: long live the Queen!"</p> + +<p>But one old guard of testy temper added, speaking rather roughly to +Beffa: "What are you doing here? Doesn't the Princess laugh at your old +tricks? Can't you find some new ones?"</p> + +<p>Beffa turned angrily toward the guard, as if to answer sharply, but +suddenly checked himself and began capering and humming. Then he sang in +a bitter voice:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Let the guards guard, and the jester jest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Saggia clean, and the new queen wed,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Let all the bees do all they did,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For life is doing what we're bid.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Oh, life is doing what we're bid.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Ha-ha!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Saggia felt a little anxious on Beffa's account, for his song seemed +bitter, and she saw that the guard was looking both puzzled and sour as +she listened to it. So Saggia spoke to her hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"The odor from our full pantries comes strong from the hives this +morning," she said. "I hope it won't attract the Black Bees."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the Black Bees," said the guard, superiorly. "Let them come. We'll +show them how robbers are treated."</p> + +<p>Just as the guard finished speaking, a commotion began on the other side +of the platform, and Nuova saw a large black-and-yellow-striped creature +with a long spear lunging fiercely toward the entrance of the hive. It +was a Yellow Jacket. She knew it at once, because she had heard some of +the nurse bees one day talking about these fierce +black-and-yellow-banded robbers that sometimes fought their way into +the hive to steal honey.</p> + +<p>The guard near Saggia and Beffa hurried across the platform brandishing +her lance. But already three or four other guards had thrown themselves +on the intruder and were beating it back, striking it viciously with +their lances. The Yellow Jacket made a good fight, but the bee Amazons +were too many for it. It was wounded, began to weaken, and soon was +hustled back off the platform and on through the grass behind a near-by +bush.</p> + +<p>The guard who had been talking with Saggia came back proudly to her, +still brandishing her long lance.</p> + +<p>"That's the way we do it," she said. "And a Yellow Jacket is stronger +than a Black Bee."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Saggia, wagging her old head wisely, "but not stronger +than ten Black Bees, or a hundred, and that is the way <i>they</i> come."</p> + +<p>As Saggia finished speaking, the guards who had driven the Yellow Jacket +away returned boisterously, and joining all the other guards on the +platform, formed in a line, and half-marching, half-dancing, went +through some military maneuvers. While they were doing this, another lot +of guards came out of the hive, and forming in a line opposite them, +also went through the martial dance. At the end of it all the guards who +had been outside marched into the hive, while the new ones remained +outside on the platform. It was the "relief of the guard."</p> + +<p>All during the guards' dancing and marching, Nuova had stood still +watching them intently. Neither Saggia nor Beffa had seen her yet. And +she was afraid to speak to them for fear of being made to go back into +the hive again. She had made up her mind to stay outside. It was all so +much more beautiful and exciting out here. She had decided that she +would not be a nurse or wax-maker or anything else inside the hive any +longer. She wanted to be a forager and be free to go in and out as she +liked, and to fly far out into the garden and spend long, sunshiny hours +there.</p> + +<p>Just then, however, Saggia caught sight of her. It was, indeed, Beffa +who saw her first. He quietly touched Saggia with one of his antennæ and +waved the other in Nuova's direction. Saggia hurried over to her, +looking anxiously around her to see if any other bees had noticed Nuova.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing out here?" whispered Saggia to her as she reached +her side. "Who sent you out? It isn't time for a week yet for you to +come outside."</p> + +<p>Saggia wanted to be angry with her, but the sight of Nuova, so sad and +forlorn-looking, and with tear-marks still on her face, was too much for +her kind heart. And she really loved Nuova very much. Indeed, all that +Nuova had done, and what she had said, had made a strange appeal to the +wise old bee. She was almost frightened sometimes to feel that down deep +in her heart she not only sympathized with much of Nuova's revolt +against the rigid traditions and automatic life of the bees, but that +she realized that this stifling of all independent action and all +personal emotions was not always the way to the highest happiness nor +even the wisest conduct for the bees. She shuddered to think that +perhaps she, too, was a "new bee."</p> + +<p>Nuova was half-frightened by Saggia's discovery of her and by her hard +words. But she answered her willfully and defiantly, although with a +touch of attractive mischievousness.</p> + +<p>"Nobody sent me out," she said. "I have just decided to be a forager; +that's all. While I was in the hive a little while ago a forager came in +with two great loads of pollen in her pollen baskets. She was very tired +and seemed sick. While she was looking around for an empty cell in which +to put her pollen, she suddenly sank down—and—and died."</p> + +<p>Nuova shivered as she said this, and dropped her antennæ down over her +eyes for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," said Saggia sadly but proudly; "worked herself to death. That +is the noble death we have. We die in the harness—working for others, +working for the hive. The bees know that death well and honor it."</p> + +<p>"They may know it well," broke in Nuova sharply, "but they do not honor +it well. Anyway, not by their actions. Nobody paid any attention to the +poor forager when she was staggering along with her load, and none when +she sank down on the floor and died. Except pretty soon a couple of +cleaners came along and dragged her body away. I suppose they brought +it out here and flung it off the platform somewhere. A noble death, well +honored, indeed! Well, I don't want that kind. I am going to die out in +the garden, under a flower."</p> + +<p>While Nuova was speaking, Beffa had hopped and hummed his way over to +them, and now he broke in with a song, which he sang as he hopped and +danced about them. This is what he sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Work, no play; work all day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A useful life; a usual life;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The good bee's way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All day, all day.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then die and lie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till Saggia spy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The carrion stuff—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A tug; a shove,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the friend you love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is gone to grass:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ha, ha, alas, is gone to grass.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A noble life; a halted breath:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The epitaph: 'She worked to death.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Both Saggia and Nuova listened to Beffa and watched him till he had +finished singing. They both saw clearly his own unhappiness and his own +revolt against the rigor of the bee tradition that demands always the +full sacrifice of the individual for the community. Saggia realized that +Beffa, too, was a "new bee."</p> + +<p>Nuova, in the meanwhile, was looking off again into the beautiful +garden; at the green grass and bushes; the many-colored flowers; the +blue sky and warm, bright sunshine over all. She was enchanted. She drew +a long breath of relief and happiness. She turned to Saggia.</p> + +<p>"Will they keep me in," she whispered, "if I go back into the hive? If +they will, I shan't go," she added positively.</p> + +<p>Saggia looked about again to see if other bees were paying attention to +them. None was.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, speaking in a low voice, "they won't keep you. They +won't pay any attention to you as long as you keep busy, coming and +going. You can be a honey-gatherer. The honey-flowers are only a little +way off, there in the garden. But first you must get acquainted with the +outside of the hive and the entrance. Look around. See, we are just by +the side of this big bush, with that long branch hanging over. You can +go out a little way from the platform, then turn around and see how the +hive looks from there. Then go a little farther and look back again. +Then go a little way to one side, and then to the other, and notice +everything that will help you to find your way back. If you get lost, +see if you can't see other honey-gatherers or pollen-foragers flying +with full loads; they are returning to the hive; follow them. As to +collecting the honey, you will learn that easily; in fact, you will be +surprised when you get to the flowers, to find that you already know +how. Be careful and not get into the poppies that shut up on you, and +watch always for the great-crested bee-bird that swoops down on you, +and, peck"—Saggia exaggeratedly imitated a bird's pecking—"and that is +the end. Now, be off for your first flight. But not too far—not for the +first time."</p> + +<p>Nuova's face shone with eagerness. "Oh, thank you, Saggia, thank you. +You are good to me. You are different from the others. Thank you, +dearest Saggia."</p> + +<p>Nuova started quickly forward toward the edge of the platform. Just then +Beffa, who had been hopping gently about Nuova and Saggia while they +were talking, now hopped and danced along in front of Nuova, singing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The new bee and the old world;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flowers are there and butterflies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But ugly toads and big bee-birds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If the old bee thinks she knows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The new bee knows she doesn't.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, new bee knows the world-old truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the old world's ever new."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nuova had slowed her steps so that she could hear all of Beffa's little +song, and as he finished she came up to him and touched him caressingly +with one of her antennæ. But Beffa shrank from her caress. It meant so +much to him, and yet he knew it meant so little to her. He knew Nuova +liked him; yes, but he knew that he more than liked Nuova: he loved her. +Poor Beffa! Love! A pitiful, deformed drone that could not fly; that +could never be in the Great Courting Chase! And it was only then that +the drones loved; and then only a Princess that could be loved. What he +felt was impossible for a bee to feel; bee tradition told him that; and +yet, he knew that he did feel this impossible thing.</p> + +<p>"Beffa, you are good to me too," said Nuova to him; "you and Saggia are +both good to me. And you two are the wisest bees in the hive, for you +know that I am not the same as the other bees. No bees are exactly the +same, I believe. We can't be all exactly alike, and we can't all like +the same things, or think the same way, can we? I wish I could be a +Queen so that I could have you always for my jester; always by to say +funny things and wise things."</p> + +<p>Beffa made a grimace—to hide a sob. And he hopped more grotesquely than +ever, while he sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ah, well, who knows?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">New things unheard of may be true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For every day the world is new.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, well, who knows?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, well, who knows?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Good-bye, Beffa," said Nuova. And she stepped to the edge of the +platform, and spread her wings for her first flight, her first plunge +into the outside world of grass and flowers and butterflies and +bee-birds. And just then something happened that postponed this flight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle</i></h3> + + +<p>Just as Nuova was about to launch herself into the air, a sudden +commotion at the hive opening made her look back. After this look she +had no further thought of the garden. What she saw was the group of +drones coming out of the hive, with another group of worker bees +attendant upon them. These attendants were cleaning the drones' bodies +and wings and evidently preparing them for some great event. It was +plain to Nuova that this was the preparation for the Great Courting +Chase. Her heart gave a leap, her eyes became misty; she stumbled and +almost fell. She was so dizzy that she thought sudden death had struck +her. It was only, however, the blow of her heart and mind in realizing +that Hero—her Hero—must be in the group and preparing to leave her +forever. He had, in a sense, already left her forever she knew, for he +had made his decision—or rather she felt that the cruel bee tradition +had made the decision for him—to follow the Princess. And if he +followed her he could but win. Her wonderful, handsome, powerful Hero +would be easily the successful one in the Great Courting Chase.</p> + +<p>She ran her eyes anxiously over the group of drones now well out of the +entrance and spreading out on the platform. At first she did not see +Hero. But in a moment she did. He was a little apart from the others, +and showed none of the excitement of the other drones. Indeed, he seemed +to be rather depressed, and was evidently keeping quite by himself. He +had not even an attendant with him. Nuova saw in this her chance.</p> + +<p>She turned back from the edge of the platform, merged into the excited +crowd, none of the bees paying any attention to her at all, and began to +work her way through the press toward Hero.</p> + +<p>Just then, however, Uno appeared by his side and began to brush his +wings. He turned on her with an impatient gesture. Surprised and angry, +Uno made a grimace and left him. A moment later, Due, noticing that he +had no helper, hurried over to him, but she, also, much to her surprise +and chagrin, was treated as Uno had been.</p> + +<p>Hero seemed to be in an irritable mood. As the drones and their +attendants came farther out, he moved away toward the front of the +platform. This brought him rather near Nuova, who was able to reach him +before any other bee could offer him her services.</p> + +<p>Nuova, unperceived by Hero, slipped behind him and began nervously and +awkwardly, glancing at the attendants on the other drones for guidance, +to clean his wings. Soon an awkward tug apprised Hero that some one was +again trying to attend him, and he turned with an angry movement to +drive her off, when he recognized Nuova, and arrested his gesture. He +stood still, looking at her keenly, and, without a word, let her go on +caring for him. She grew even more nervous and awkward. Then he smiled +gently, and spoke to her in a low voice.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus11" id="illus11"></a> +<img src="images/illus11.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Nuova began to clean his wings</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"How do you come to be out here?" he asked. "You weren't sent as an +attendant to us. Only the older and more experienced bees are given +that—honor." He smiled again. "You didn't come out just now?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Nuova almost in a whisper—"no, I was going out for honey."</p> + +<p>"Oh, fine!" said Hero. "Out into the world already! You must have done +your work in the hive very well."</p> + +<p>"Yes," murmured Nuova demurely.</p> + +<p>Just then two or three Black Bees slipped out from behind a bush near +the platform, but no one noticed them.</p> + +<p>"But why don't you go, then?" asked Hero. "It is beautiful over there +among the flowers." He waved an antenna toward the garden. "And +fragrant, and exciting. Other kinds of creatures; beetles and +grasshoppers and big buzzing flies. Some bad ones, too; spiders and +giant bee-birds always watching, watching to catch you." Nuova +shuddered. "But you are not afraid, are you?" Hero looked at her keenly. +"Or are you? Do you prefer to stay here in safety and just wait on the +drones?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Nuova slowly, "I prefer to wait on a drone."</p> + +<p>"I am surprised," said Hero sternly and even half-contemptuously.</p> + +<p>Just then Nuova made an awkward tug at his wing. He winced. "Ouch!" he +said; then half-laughed. "Your champion will never win Principessa if +you pull his wings out."</p> + +<p>As he said this, Nuova involuntarily, in response to her feelings, gave +an even harder tug at his wings.</p> + +<p>Hero exclaimed again, and half-pulled away from her. He spoke almost +angrily.</p> + +<p>"Here, what <i>are</i> you doing?" he cried. Then, as he looked into the +eager, excited, pretty face of his little attendant, he felt his heart +give a curious throb. And when he spoke again it was almost tenderly.</p> + +<p>"Well, you are good to try and help me, anyway. But"—and now he spoke +rather moodily—"I don't need much preparing. I can beat any of +them"—and he waved contemptuously toward the other drones—"easily, +just as I am."</p> + +<p>Poor Nuova! He could hardly have said a more discouraging thing to her, +or one to hurt her more. She drew back a little and had hard work not +to cry. She half-sobbed as she said: "That—is—fine. I am sure—you +can." She paused. Then she said slowly: "And if you do beat them, are +you sure to get—her? Are you sure to be able to catch—her?"</p> + +<p>The excitement on the platform was growing. The drones seemed to be +getting impatient, and the attendants worked feverishly at the cleaning +and making ready for the wonderful event about to happen. The infection +of all this excitement began to seize Hero. He had turned his face away +from Nuova to stare intently at the opening of the hive. It was there, +of course, that the Princess would soon appear.</p> + +<p>At Nuova's last question he started a little. "Eh?" he said rather +brusquely. "Oh, yes, of course, I can catch her. She will fly faster +than we at first, but she can't keep it up as long as we can. She will +try to go higher and higher in the air, but that is hard work. That is +when we shall catch up with her." He paused, then added, musingly: "It +is odd; she is trying her best to get away from us and yet she wants to +get caught all the time. She must get caught, you know, or we shouldn't +have any Queen, and the hive would go all to pieces. The old Queen never +comes back, of course. The Princess is our one chance to have a Queen at +all."</p> + +<p>Nuova seemed to be thinking hard. Something was puzzling her. "But," she +asked insistently, "what really does happen if a Princess doesn't get +caught, or something happens to her. There must be some way to save the +community, isn't there?"</p> + +<p>Hero seemed to have lost interest again in Nuova and her questionings. +He was gazing fixedly at the hive entrance.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said carelessly, "I don't know. I've heard sometimes that a +worker bee can—"</p> + +<p>He was suddenly interrupted. There was a new and very violent commotion +on that side of the platform which the few Black Bees had approached, +unnoticed, a few minutes before. Now there was a whole group of them +plainly in sight and many others were coming quickly out from behind the +bush. A great and angry buzzing was heard from the guards on the +platform and cries of "Lotta, Lotta! The Amazons! Call Lotta! Call the +Amazons! Hurry! The Black Bees! The Black Bees!"</p> + +<p>The guards, few as they were in comparison with the oncoming horde of +Black Bees, threw themselves bravely at them, and a moment after Lotta +and her Amazons began issuing pell-mell from the hive entrance. They +were met almost immediately by the foremost Black Bees, who had easily +killed or were driving back the few guards, and were making rapid +headway over the platform toward the entrance. A few even had passed in +through the entrance, but they were driven out again at once by the +issuing Amazons. In fact, most of the first Black Bees to gain a +foothold on the platform and to push forward to the entrance or into it +were killed. But that brought no terror to the others. They pressed on +over the dead bodies of their comrades, lunging and striking viciously +with their long lances.</p> + +<p>But Lotta and the Amazons were fighting fiercely, too. They were making +a heroic defense of the hive and its stores. The battle raged with great +fury, but for a little while with no apparent advantage to either side. +The Black Bees seemed, on the whole, the more expert and the more +furious fighters—they are, indeed, a race of bees famous for their +fighting—but Lotta's wonderful personal courage and deeds of prowess +were a great inspiration to the defenders. She appeared to be everywhere +at once, and her shouts of defiance to the enemy and of encouragement to +her followers made up in some measure for the feebler strength and less +experience of her band.</p> + +<p>This was so obvious to the Black Bees that she was soon singled out for +special attack by groups of her adversaries. Two or three Black Bees +would combine to assail her from different sides, but her lightning +movements and dashing bravery had so far saved her even from being +touched by an enemy's lance. But just at the moment when Nuova had +recovered a little from her amazement and terror at this sudden +invasion, Lotta received her first wound. The fierce Black Bees were +closing around her too closely. Nuova felt a violent rage rising within +her as she realized that at any cost the Black Bees were going to kill +the leader of the Amazons. Lotta was staggering, and a half-dozen lances +were lunging at her. She stumbled, gave one final shout of +defiance—and fell.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible blow to the Amber Amazons. They were seized with +dismay. They had no one to lead them. They hesitated, gave way here and +there, and the Black Bees with triumphant shouts pressed forward. Some +of them had even reached the entrance, when a new, shrill battle-cry and +call of encouragement to the Amber fighters rose above all the noise of +the battle.</p> + +<p>The cry came from Nuova. She had watched the whole terrible struggle in +a sort of daze; half of terror, half of utter amazement. But when Lotta +was struck down, the rage rising within her seized her completely, and +when the Black Bees had pressed on over the fallen leader's body with +shouts of triumph, she sprang forward, grasped Lotta's own lance from +her sinking hand, and threw herself with such fury on the rear of the +marauders that they had to turn to defend themselves. Then it was that +she had uttered her first battle-cry. As the Amber bees heard it and saw +at the same time that some of the black fighters had turned to defend +themselves against an attack in the rear, they checked their retreat +and began answering back this new shrill call. In the next moment they +saw something that filled them all with rejoicing and gave them at once +a new courage.</p> + +<p>Nuova, taking a lesson from the method of the attackers, had looked +about, even as she leaped into the fight, for the leader of the Blacks, +and had fought her way fiercely directly toward her. In a moment they +were face to face, and in another moment thrusting and parrying in +deadly personal combat.</p> + +<p>But nothing could withstand the vigor and audacity of this rage-maddened +new warrior's assault, and the black leader, first contemptuous, then +amazed, then terrified, found herself fighting vainly for her life. She +managed to strike Nuova one or two glancing blows with her lance, but +for answer received a thrust fairly through the body, and fell with a +great cry of defeat and pain.</p> + +<p>This it was that filled the despairing Amber bees with a new courage and +reanimated them to fresh resistance. Turning on their attackers, they +renewed the battle with an irresistible surge toward Nuova, and reaching +her and following her lead in but few moments more they had rushed the +disheartened Black Bees off of the platform. They even followed them +into the grass, where they killed many of them one by one. Then they +hurried back with shouts of victory, and ranged themselves in lines for +marching and dancing. While the foragers busied themselves with carrying +the bodies of the fallen off of the platform, all the Amazons marched +and danced and sang loud songs of triumph.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus12" id="illus12"></a> +<img src="images/illus12.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Nuova was among the fallen</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>But Nuova was not among them. She was among the fallen. Not far from the +body of the dead leader of the Black Bees whom she had so brilliantly +overcome, Nuova lay huddled. Saggia, who had been hustled out of the +press and into the entrance of the hive while the battle was going on, +now hurried to her fallen friend. Beffa, also, came hopping anxiously to +her, and Hero, who knew now that Nuova was no coward, and had, indeed, +been seized with a great admiration and at the same time a great +solicitude for his extraordinary little worker-bee friend, also hastened +to her side and bent over her. Other bees, too, came crowding around, +and Nuova's body would almost have been trampled under foot by the +surging crowd if Hero had not angrily cleared a little space about her. +Saggia, who had found already to her great joy that Nuova showed no +lance wound, but had only been stunned by a glancing blow, was lifting +her gently to her feet. And just as Hero came to her side, Nuova, dazed +and faint, first opened her eyes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3><i>Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase</i></h3> + + +<p>"My brave little Nuova," said Saggia, joyfully and tenderly. And Beffa +hopped happily about, singing softly to her:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For a new bee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A new way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From nurse to warrior<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All in a day.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What's for to-morrow?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who can say?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the newest bee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The newest way."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The other bees about her were all talking confusedly together. "She +saved our stores! Who is she?" they cried. "She is Nuova, the nurse! +Nuova, the wax-maker! She is Nuova, the honey-gatherer! She was not even +an Amazon! Is she hurt? She is killed! She is wounded! What a brave +bee!"</p> + +<p>Hero had said nothing yet, but now, as he leaned over her with his face +close to hers and her eyes opened slowly, he murmured tenderly, "Little +Nuova!"</p> + +<p>Nuova looked languidly up at him and around at Saggia and Beffa; then +closed her eyes again with a weak but happy smile, and spoke in a low, +trembling voice: "She struck me, but I hit her back; I hit her harder."</p> + +<p>"You killed her, Nuova," broke in Hero, proudly. "You were wonderful."</p> + +<p>Nuova shuddered. "Killed her!" she said sadly. "Dreadful! I am sorry."</p> + +<p>"Sorry?" cried Saggia. "You silly! You saved us! You won the victory by +killing her!"</p> + +<p>"Who was she?" asked Nuova, still sadly.</p> + +<p>"Why, the Chief of the Black Bees," said Hero, proudly and tenderly. +"Their greatest fighter! And you, little Nuova, alone, killed her."</p> + +<p>Nuova looked up at him thoughtfully. "Are you glad?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Hero turned with stupefaction to Saggia. She could only lift her hands +in amazement. Nuova's mental processes were too much for them, although +Beffa, hopping near, nodded his head wisely to himself.</p> + +<p>"Glad? I glad? Of course, you absurd warrior!" said Hero. "We are all +glad, aren't we?" he asked of the others about.</p> + +<p>"Glad? Of course, we are glad! You saved us!" said they all.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Nuova, smiling gently, and looking up at Hero, "if you are +glad, I am glad." And then she let her head sink down again and closed +her eyes.</p> + +<p>While Saggia and Beffa and Hero had been caring for Nuova and talking to +her, most of the other bees had gradually resumed their normal +occupations, the guards moving watchfully about over the platform, the +foragers coming and going, and two or three cleaners scrubbing the floor +here and there to remove all stains of the battle.</p> + +<p>But Uno, Due, and Tre had not yet gone back into the hive to resume +their nursing work, but with a few other bees had formed a group +standing a little way off from the group about Nuova. They were +whispering and looking and pointing toward Nuova. Uno finally left her +group and came over and joined the bees about Nuova. She whispered to a +few of them, and finally spoke out loud enough to be generally heard.</p> + +<p>"Nuova was not an Amazon," she said. "Why should she fight? Is this the +way of bees?"</p> + +<p>Due and Tre shook their heads vigorously and murmured, "No, no."</p> + +<p>And several other bees of their group shook their heads dubiously.</p> + +<p>"No," spoke up Due, "this is not the bee custom. A good bee does the +thing she is set to do. For a nurse to use a lance! No, that is unheard +of."</p> + +<p>"No, no, it isn't done, you know," said a drone near by, wagging his +head wisely.</p> + +<p>"If it hadn't been done, you loafer," cried Saggia angrily, "you would +have starved to death before we could have refilled our pantries again +after the Black Bees had taken all our food!"</p> + +<p>"But it is not the bee way," interjected Tre; then adding boldly and +tauntingly to Saggia, "Are you a new bee, too?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Saggia vigorously, "I am an old bee—old enough to have +learned a little more than I knew when I was a nurse bee—a loafing +nurse bee," she added, looking significantly and hard at Uno, Due, and +Tre in turn.</p> + +<p>They all started guiltily and began to move slowly toward the entrance, +but all the time looking back malevolently at Saggia and Nuova.</p> + +<p>"It's not the right bee way," they muttered. "It isn't the usual way."</p> + +<p>Several other bees joined them in their muttering and head-shaking.</p> + +<p>Just then, however, a new excitement became manifest at the hive +entrance. Those drones who had gone back into the hive were issuing now +post-haste, while those still outside joined those coming out. To them +hastened their attendants, and in a moment all was busy preparation and +expectation again.</p> + +<p>Beffa, who had moved over to the entrance as the drones began to come +out, now came hopping and humming across the platform toward Saggia, +Nuova, and Hero. As he came near he was singing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"She comes; she comes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Principessa now would wed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She seeks the sky for marriage-bed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let drones aside their languor fling;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bethink the prize; to be a King."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Hero started up, infected by the excitement and driven by the still +potent bee tradition. "She is coming," he murmured, "the Princess."</p> + +<p>All the bees were growing more and more excited. The drones began to +form in a line. Their attendants worked feverishly at cleaning and +preparing them. The other bees cleared a space near the entrance, in +front of the drones, whose eagerness was betrayed by their bending +forward like runners on the starting-line. Hero started forward to take +his place at the nearest end of the line. Nuova tried to stand, Saggia +helping her. She tottered as if to fall, but regained her balance. Her +face was drawn and tears welled from her eyes. She pushed Saggia to one +side and totteringly followed Hero. As he moved to his place, as if in a +sort of daze and hypnotized and driven by another will than his, Nuova +staggered into place behind him, as attendant, and made feeble attempts +to brush his wings. He did not seem to see her nor even to realize her +presence, but kept his eyes fixed on the entrance.</p> + +<p>The commotion among the bees increased. All watched incessantly the +opening of the hive. Suddenly the Princess was seen to be coming slowly +and proudly out, still cold and set of face, but beautiful in figure and +carriage, truly queenly in all her seeming.</p> + +<p>Three or four attendants were busy behind her, brushing her long, +slender wings, and removing every speck or stain from her body. The +drones all leaned farther forward, their eagerness infecting her. For +she became more animated and began spreading out and fluttering her +wings. The drones did the same.</p> + +<p>Beffa was hopping about with ridiculous activity and awkwardness, +humming inaudible words. Suddenly, with a jerk, Hero turned his eyes +from the Princess and let them wander about as if seeking something. +They rested on Beffa, who in response made motions in his dancing that +unmistakably directed Hero to look behind him. He did so and saw Nuova. +He stared fixedly at her a moment. Then he leaned toward her and said +in a curious, tense, but almost appealing tone, as if he were asking her +for advice or help:</p> + +<p>"The Great Courting Chase is on! A Queen is to be won! The prize is to +be a King!"</p> + +<p>Nuova called on all her strength, physical and spiritual.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," she gasped. "Be ready! Lean forward! They are starting! You +will win!" Her voice broke a little. "You can't lose, Hero—wonderful +Hero. You will be King—our King—my King. Good-bye!" She stifled a sob. +"Good luck! Good-bye!"</p> + +<p>She could say no more. She turned her face away from his, sobbing +unrestrainedly. Saggia, who had come to her side, caught her and +supported her just as the Princess, with wings outspread and eyes fixed +outward and upward, ran quickly to the outer edge of the platform, +followed a little way behind by the drones in a group. As the Princess +reached the platform's edge, she launched herself beautifully into the +air and flew swiftly, first straight out and up and then curving gently +away to the left. One after another the drones flew after her.</p> + +<p>Nuova gazed fixedly after the following drones. Hero's delay with Nuova +made him the last to spring into the air. But he flew so strongly that +it seemed certain that he would quickly make up for this handicap in the +great race. Indeed, some of the onlooking bees began to call out, "See +how Hero is gaining! He will surely win! Hero will be King!"</p> + +<p>Nuova had strained her gaze after Hero until he with all the others had +passed from sight far out and up in the bright sky. As she gazed she had +lifted on tiptoe and had even spread out her wings as if she would fly +after him, but now as he disappeared she collapsed and fell back heavily +with closed eyes and a pitiful sob into Saggia's supporting embrace.</p> + +<p>Just then Beffa came hopping and humming over to them and sang, as if +mockingly, but really with sympathetic and comforting meaning:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ha, ha, the sad attendant!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her champion is too slow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He'll never win the Princess,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her kiss he'll never know."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3><i>Nuova in the Beautiful Garden</i></h3> + + +<p>When Nuova had recovered enough to face squarely the situation in her +life and in the life of the hive, she found herself very weak and very +sad. Above all, she found the thought of going again into the dark hive +to work extremely repugnant to her. And almost the first thing she said +to Saggia, who had remained faithfully by her, supporting and caring for +her, was that she would not go back into the hive to nurse or make wax +or do anything else that meant staying inside.</p> + +<p>Saggia comforted her by saying that she would not have to work inside. +The kindly old bee whispered to her that there was always so much +confusion and such change in the hive arrangements whenever a new +Princess was born, and either she or the old Queen went out with many of +the workers, that she could easily change her kind of work now without +any notice being taken of it. And to confirm this Saggia pointed to +several of the nurses, among them Uno, Due, and Tre, making one after +another the little trial flights that Saggia had told Nuova to make +preparatory to going into the garden out of sight of the hive. These +nurses were plainly intending to become foragers. Even as Saggia and +Nuova watched them, one after another flew out higher and farther and +disappeared into the garden.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful garden on the edge of which the hive was set. The +owner of the garden was a great lover and student of flowers. He liked +bees and beetles and birds, too; all kinds of live things, plant or +animal. And no one was ever allowed to kill any creature, little or big, +in his garden, so it was full to overflowing with life and animation. +Birds made their nests in it; squirrels barked in the trees; even moles +and gophers made their underground runways unmolested. There were open, +sunny grass-plots for playing, and close little copses and coverts for +hiding, and great trees for climbing to see out into the still wider +world beyond the garden walls. But the garden itself was world enough +for most of the creatures that lived in it. There were flowers enough +for the bees; seeds and worms enough for the birds; nuts enough for the +squirrels. And if some of the happy family in the garden had to live by +eating some of the others, still that was the way of life, and the only +thing was to hope and try to make sure that the end would not come too +soon.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus13" id="illus13"></a> +<img src="images/illus13.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>In the Garden</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Nuova already loved the garden, although so far she had not been in it; +at least not been any more in it than standing on the entrance platform +of the hive and looking into it from this vantage-ground. But now she +was really to go out into it, and sad and tired though she was, she felt +a little thrill of happiness as she thought of what she might see over +there beyond the near-by bushes, out there among the brilliant flowers +and the lush grasses. She turned to Saggia gratefully.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, dear Saggia," she said gently. "I am going to go into the +garden now. I will make the little flights first as you told me, so as +to be able to find my way back to the hive—but, I don't know, Saggia, I +don't feel like ever coming back to the hive." Her eyes filled with +tears. "He—he will never come back. He will win, and he will—will +die." She shuddered and nearly collapsed again.</p> + +<p>Saggia could say nothing. She believed, too, that Hero would win in the +Great Courting Chase. And if he won, he would die. It was really, she +thought with some anger, a very stupid sort of arrangement; very unfair +to the King; to be crowned because he was the finest, strongest, and +swiftest drone in the hive, or in any of the other near-by hives whose +drones also joined in any Courting Chase they noticed going on, only to +die at once. It was simply not only stupid; it was brutal.</p> + +<p>She did not like to think of Nuova's going off alone into the garden so +soon. And she could not put out of her mind the uneasy feeling that +Nuova would never come back to the hive at all; not even as a forager +who might go out and in as she pleased. Nuova had too plainly shown that +her interest in living was gone, and her surrender to her impulses of +the moment was likely at any time to be complete even though it might +lead to death itself. Saggia decided that she and Beffa were needed in +the garden. As Nuova left her to go to the edge of the platform for her +first flights, Saggia scurried off in search of Beffa.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A number of bees were busy at a little group of flowers in the garden +when one of them, Uno, who had just turned around facing the general +direction of the hive, suddenly uttered an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Well, of all things!" she said. "Beffa in the garden!" The other bees +turned and stared.</p> + +<p>"And Saggia!" exclaimed one of them. "Beffa and Saggia! Beffa in the +garden! What can he do here?"</p> + +<p>Beffa, hearing them, released himself from Saggia's support, and began +to make weak little hoppings and to sing. Poor Beffa; he was sadly +tired, for because of his deformed wings he had had to walk all the way +from the hive. And Saggia was tired, too, because she had walked with +him, and not only that, but had helped him over some of the rougher +places.</p> + +<p>Beffa sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Beffa in the garden;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The prisoner in the sun;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No Queen in the palace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No jesting to be done."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He stopped to rest, and Saggia went slowly to a flower, where she busied +herself putting a little pollen into her pollen baskets.</p> + +<p>Due turned to Beffa. "Hi, Beffa, you can sing and dance for us while we +gather pollen and honey. And you can watch for Bee-Bird to see that he +doesn't surprise us. Oh, you can be useful. Hop, hop, hop-la!" And she +made a little hop or two, in mimicry of Beffa.</p> + +<p>Tre had been looking sharply at Saggia. "And Saggia doesn't seem to be +doing much," she said, with asperity. "Foraging again, is she? That is +rather a dangerous business for such an old bee, isn't it?" she said +malevolently. "The two-legged man giant that owns this garden likes the +two-legged bird giants. He is a brute! He protects the birds! And they +eat the insects! He might protect us, rather. Brute!"</p> + +<p>"Brute!" cried the other bees. "Protect the horrid birds, indeed! Sting +him if you see him."</p> + +<p>Just then a big blue-bottle fly that had been buzzing about the flowers +ventured too near a dark corner lower down in the bush, and was lunged +at by a big black spider, which barely missed it. The blue-bottle +dashed excitedly away with a tremendous buzzing, and all the bees jumped +about nervously a little.</p> + +<p>Beffa began to sing without rising from the ground, just moving his feet +as if dancing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bee-birds in the tree-tops,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spiders in the grass;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death rides down the sunbeam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death leaps as you pass."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Ugh!" said Uno. "Can't you sing something more cheerful? Be funny, +can't you?"</p> + +<p>Beffa got up and hopped about a little. Then he sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Out among the flower-cups,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dancing in the sun;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now a drink of nectar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then another one.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brushing up the pollen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hurry 'gainst the gloam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pail and basket over-full,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Off to hive and home!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>All the bees skipped and danced and sang after him:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Pail and baskets over-full,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Off to hive and home!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After singing this refrain several times and dancing happily about a few +moments, the bees set at their work again industriously. It was so +beautiful and so bright and so warm in the garden that one could not +help being happy in it.</p> + +<p>And yet just then Nuova stepped out from behind a flowering bush looking +very weary and very sad. Saggia, who had been glancing around for her +all the time, slipped quickly and quietly over to her without attracting +the attention of any of the bees, and before any other one had seen her.</p> + +<p>Saggia led Nuova around to the side of the bush where they would be out +of sight of the other bees, and then spoke to her in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"Are you all right, Nuova?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>Nuova smiled wearily and sadly. "Of course, I am all right," she said +gently; "who would not be out here in this wonderful world, this golden +sunshine, this fragrant air? It's a place to be all right in all the +time. I am going to stay here."</p> + +<p>"Stay here? What do you mean?" asked Saggia.</p> + +<p>"Simply that, dear Saggia," she replied gently, smiling; "stay right +here in the warm sun, near the beautiful flowers. Do you think I am +going back into the dark hive to die like that poor forager and be +dragged off and tossed out like a piece of dirty wax?" She shuddered. +"No, no; I am going to die out here, and lie in the soft grass under +that heliotrope there."</p> + +<p>Saggia spoke anxiously but sternly. "Die? Die? Why do you talk of dying? +Have you a right to die yet? Have you done all you should do for the +hive? Are you going to shirk your duty? Anyway"—and her voice grew more +kindly—"do you really want to die? Don't you want to do first all the +things a bee can do, to nurse—"</p> + +<p>"I have nursed," Nuova interrupted.</p> + +<p>"And make wax—" Saggia went on.</p> + +<p>"I have made wax," Nuova broke in.</p> + +<p>Saggia persisted, "And build cells—"</p> + +<p>"I have built cells," interrupted Nuova again.</p> + +<p>"And gather honey—" Saggia continued.</p> + +<p>Nuova touched a near-by flower. "I am gathering honey," she said.</p> + +<p>Saggia hesitated a moment, then began again. "And—and—" she +stammered; then exclaimed suddenly and triumphantly—"and clean floors!"</p> + +<p>Nuova smiled at Saggia's anticlimax. "No, I haven't scrubbed the floor +yet. I suppose I ought to enjoy that a little before I die. But you see +I am not really old enough to have had time for <i>everything</i>."</p> + +<p>"That's it," broke in Saggia warmly. "You are not old enough yet. It is +nonsense to talk of dying so young. You must live a long time yet. Look +at me! Think how old I am!"</p> + +<p>Nuova smiled again, but grew earnest as she spoke. "It is not how long +you live, Saggia; it is how much you live. I have not done everything, +but I have done most things. You, you dear wise, old, sensible bee, you +have done the things calmly one after another as it came time for you to +do them. But I have tried everything that was interesting and for only +as long as it was. You have lived a long and useful life with much in +it. I have lived a short and useless one; but also with much in it. You +have lived mostly for others, and have been mostly happy. I have lived +mostly for myself, and been mostly unhappy. But that is the way I am, +Saggia. That is my way of living and really I suppose, my way of being +happy; happily unhappy. And, Saggia"—and Nuova bent close over to her, +as if to tell her a secret—"you know, don't you, that if I have missed +cleaning floors, I have done something else in place of it; something +you haven't done. I have loved! And that is the happiest unhappiness I +have had."</p> + +<p>Saggia was truly shocked. "Nuova," she exclaimed, "haven't I told you +before not to say such things! You have <i>not</i> loved," she added, firmly, +"because you <i>cannot</i> love. Poor little Nuova, you have much to learn +yet about bee life."</p> + +<p>"There is much about it I don't want to learn," muttered Nuova.</p> + +<p>"There is much you must learn," replied Saggia sternly, but kindly. "And +some of it you must learn now. When I say you cannot love, I mean +exactly that; not that you ought not or must not, because other bees do +not, but simply that you cannot. Bee loving is not just liking and +sighing and laughing and dancing and crying, and being always happy and +unhappy at once, but it is becoming the mother of babies, many babies, +and that only Princesses can become. And when they are the mothers of +babies, they are Queens. In bee land to be a mother is to be a Queen, +and to be a Queen is only to be a mother."</p> + +<p>Nuova was silent. She felt compelled to believe Saggia, who surely knew +about the life of bees if any one did, and who had always spoken +truthfully to her. And yet she had a feeling within her that seemed some +way to contradict Saggia's knowledge.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, Saggia," she said slowly, "I haven't loved, but I have +wished to love." And she added in a whisper, "I <i>want</i> to love!"</p> + +<p>"You cannot love," repeated Saggia firmly. "Only Princesses can love. +You should not think of it any more."</p> + +<p>Nuova looked up into the sky. And when she spoke it was as if she were +speaking in a dream. "I want to love and I cannot love! Only a Princess +can love. And I am not a Princess. What can I do? Clean floors?" She +turned to Saggia and smiled sadly. "No, I cannot clean floors, either," +she said softly. "I am an unfortunate sort of bee, Saggia, a worthless +sort. A new bee, but not new enough to love, and too new to clean +floors. Just a bee to lie under the heliotrope bush."</p> + +<p>Just then Beffa, who had come hopping and gently humming up to them +unperceived by either, and who had overheard Nuova's last words, began +to sing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A heliotrope or a rose-bush,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pale-blue flower or pink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But a dead bee sees no colors<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor smells sweet smells, I think.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An old world for old bees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A new world for the new,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, ah, who knows the real truth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The untrue may be true."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nuova was delighted, in her sadness, to see Beffa again. "Beffa, you +dear, funny Beffa!" she cried. "But how did you get out here in the +garden?"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He couldn't come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And so he came.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can or cannot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All's a name,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>sang Beffa in reply, hopping about more vigorously than ever.</p> + +<p>As Beffa finished, Saggia saw some of the other bees looking scowlingly +toward them. She touched Nuova with an antenna.</p> + +<p>"Nuova," she said in a low voice, "we must get to work. The other bees +are noticing us. We are idling. We must go to work. Beffa can sit here +in the sunshine and watch us." She moved off toward a flower.</p> + +<p>Nuova looked after her a moment, and then she turned to Beffa.</p> + +<p>"Good old Saggia," she said. "She is an example of industry, isn't she? +But I don't like her to work just because others are noticing us. That +makes me want <i>not</i> to work." She stood loitering by him.</p> + +<p>Beffa deliberately stretched himself, with a yawn, and settling down +comfortably near a dandelion, he hummed, as if half-asleep already:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Some work because others talk;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some talk because others work;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wisest bee keeps wisest way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He—goes—to—sleep!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And as he finished he closed his eyes.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus14" id="illus14"></a> +<img src="images/illus14.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Beffa settled down comfortably</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Nuova saw through Beffa's transparent means of sending her off to +work, and was as much amused as vexed. "Oh," she said, "I much prefer +working to talking with bees whose wisdom might put me to sleep, too. +Good-bye." She made a mocking curtsy and went off slowly to a small +group of flowers which was hidden by a large bush from the rest of the +bees.</p> + +<p>As soon as she had started, Beffa opened one eye to spy on her, and as +she disappeared behind the bush he slowly straightened up, very much +awake and evidently strongly possessed by some idea. He let his eyes +roam over all of the garden he could see, and he even scanned the air in +all directions. Apparently not finding what he sought, he remained +quiet, but alert, on the flat dandelion leaf. The bees at the flowers +worked industriously. The garden was fragrant and quiet in the sun.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3><i>Hero finds Nuova in the Garden</i></h3> + + +<p>Saggia had joined a group of foragers at work, among whom were Uno and +Tre. These two bees at first moved away a little as Saggia came over, +but in their foraging work they gradually came close to her again. +Pretty soon Uno, after glancing toward Beffa sitting quietly by the +dandelion, spoke to Saggia.</p> + +<p>"The garden is not a place for jesting," she said sharply; "nor for +listening to jesting. Beffa is not a good example for bees who work." As +she said this she looked significantly at Saggia, and several of the +other bees, overhearing her, smiled maliciously.</p> + +<p>Saggia said nothing at first, but busied herself at her flowers. As she +changed, however, from one flower to another one near by, she said +quietly: "Beffa works harder than most of us."</p> + +<p>"Do you call jesting work?" asked Tre indignantly.</p> + +<p>"I call Beffa's work hard work—for Beffa; and useful work," Saggia +replied.</p> + +<p>"What other hive has a jester, a bee that does no work, that just hops +and sings?" demanded Uno angrily.</p> + +<p>"We are more fortunate than other hives," said Saggia evenly. "We have a +bee who has time to think, and a clever tongue to say what he thinks."</p> + +<p>No one spoke for a moment, then Tre said mechanically, as if repeating +by rote: "Bees ought not to think; and if they do they ought to keep +their thoughts to themselves." Then she added maliciously: "I think I +learned that from you, Saggia."</p> + +<p>The other bees turned and smiled.</p> + +<p>"One lives and learns," said Saggia, a little confused.</p> + +<p>"Oh, worse yet!" exclaimed Uno. "'Bees do not learn: they know.' That +also is from Saggia," she said, turning to the other bees.</p> + +<p>They all smiled again enjoying Saggia's discomfiture.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Saggia desperately, "bees do know most things, +but—not—everything."</p> + +<p>Just then Beffa came hopping toward them hurriedly. He was singing +loudly, too, and was evidently much excited about something. As he +reached the group of foraging bees he did not stop, but kept hopping +right on by them singing loudly as he passed:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Hoptoad squats beneath the flower;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waits that pleasant fateful hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When honey-bee on food intent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Comes within his leafy tent;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open! Shut! Poor bee, good-bye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An ugly, horrid way to die!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As the bees heard this, they all became much frightened and excited, +skipping about and peering in all directions.</p> + +<p>"The Toad!" they cried. "Where? There! I don't see him! Where, Beffa? +Beffa, where?"</p> + +<p>Beffa's movements plainly indicated the direction of danger to be toward +where he had come from, and the way of safety correspondingly in the +direction of his hopping. All the bees, therefore, with much buzzing and +jumping about, moved along with the hopping and singing Beffa. Only +Saggia seemed a little slow to take alarm or to follow him closely. She +watched him curiously, and kept turning to look in the direction from +which he had come. She remembered that Nuova was back there somewhere, +and she could not believe that Beffa would leave her in danger in order +to warn ever so many other bees. Saggia knew well poor Beffa's hopeless +love for Nuova.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Beffa had seen not a toad, but something else, +which, under the circumstances of bee life and tradition, was much more +extraordinary, and he had come hopping over to lead off the other bees +that they might not also see it.</p> + +<p>What he had seen was something that his keen wits had told him all along +he might see: in fact, he had been looking for it all the time since he +had been in the garden; it was something that made him happy and unhappy +at the same time. It was something that would make Nuova the happiest +bee in the world, for a little while at least, though it might mean +something very dreadful to her in the end. And what could make Nuova +happy made him happy—even though her happiness should come from seeing +somebody else who would almost make her forget that Beffa ever lived. +What Beffa had seen was Hero flying slowly down into the garden near +where Nuova was. It was certain that they would see each other in a +moment.</p> + +<p>In fact, Nuova, turning away from the flower which she had been slowly +and listlessly rifling of nectar, saw Hero just a moment after he +alighted. Her heart gave a great jump, and her first impulse was to slip +away before he could see her; but when she saw how dejected and sad he +seemed, she felt a great pity for him and wanted to comfort him. Just +then he lifted his eyes and saw her. He started, then controlled himself +and came to her. "Nuova," he said quietly but earnestly; "Nuova, I am +glad you are here."</p> + +<p>Nuova could hardly speak. She was so tense with excitement, with wonder, +with happiness that they were together again. But what had happened? How +could this be?</p> + +<p>"You did not win?" she stammered. "You are not dead?" She stared at him +with painful intentness.</p> + +<p>"I did not go on," said Hero slowly and somberly.</p> + +<p>Nuova did not understand. "An accident?" she cried. "You could not fly? +Your wings were not—" she stopped, alarmed and almost in tears at her +thought. "Surely I did not hurt them when I—I—pulled them?"</p> + +<p>Hero did not understand clearly what she meant. In fact, he was too +intent on the overwhelming fact of what he had just done, of the +absolute break he had just made with bee tradition, to think, for the +moment, of anything else.</p> + +<p>"No, no," he said; "I just decided not to go on. I—wanted to come to +you."</p> + +<p>Nuova could not realize at once all he meant by these words. The thing +clearest in her mind just now was what Saggia and all the others had +told her so often. She began to speak slowly and almost mechanically as +her memory guided her.</p> + +<p>"But you can't do that," she said. "It—it—isn't done, you know. You +<i>must</i> chase the Princess; you <i>must</i> win her; and you—you"—she +sobbed—"you <i>must</i> die."</p> + +<p>She stepped toward him, excitedly, with her hands outstretched to urge +him on. "Go on!" she exclaimed. "Go on! Start again! You are so much +swifter and stronger than the others! You can beat them yet! Hurry! +Fly!"</p> + +<p>In her excitement and half-crazed exaltation she pressed against him to +push him into starting. He held her closely to him for a moment, +caressing her gently. But soon she drew violently away, and spoke again +with choking voice. "Fly!" she said. "Go on! Go on!"</p> + +<p>Hero shook his head doggedly. "No, I will not go. I cannot go. I never +wanted to go. I wanted to come to you. I didn't know you were in the +garden. But here you are." In his joy at being with her, he began to +dismiss the dark thoughts of his break with bee custom. He looked +intently and eagerly at her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, here you are, I have come to you. I have come to tell you that +I"—he stumbled a little in his speech, and smiled slightly—"I—am a +new bee, too!"</p> + +<p>Nuova laughed happily. Then she grew serious and puzzled. "And Saggia +and Beffa," she said. "Are we all new bees in this hive?"</p> + +<p>Hero smiled. "Uno, Due, and Tre—" he said.</p> + +<p>"Ugh! horrid bees," said Nuova with a grimace. "They would like to kill +me."</p> + +<p>"Beasts!" broke in Hero, "I'll kill them!" But then he remembered the +fact that he had no lance nor by bee tradition could have any. "Absurd," +he said in disgust. "What a world, where only the women may carry lances +and fight and work, and the men are only loafers and lovers, and can +only love by tradition, at that. Bah! I'd rather be even a human being. +They are silly enough, those awkward giants, and can't fly and eat other +animals as spiders and snakes do, but their men can work and fight; and +they can love whom they like. At least they can if they don't try to be +too much like us, as some of them seem to want to be. It's a terrible +thing to be a man bee. We have no rights at all!"</p> + +<p>Nuova looked up at him wonderingly. "Why, the other drones seem to like +to loaf," she said. "Anyway, they don't object."</p> + +<p>"Don't object!" exclaimed Hero contemptuously. "They don't think; they +don't feel! Each just does what the others do and all just do what +drones have always done."</p> + +<p>"But how else are we to know what to do," persisted Nuova, who had +learned her lesson well from Saggia, "except by seeing what others do, +and being told what the bees before us did?"</p> + +<p>Hero was amazed and disconcerted to hear Nuova talk in this way.</p> + +<p>"Why, you talk like Saggia!" he said. "What do you mean? Haven't you +always objected to doing what the others do? Haven't you always tried to +do what you most wanted to? And haven't you wanted to talk with me? I +thought you—liked me."</p> + +<p>Nuova was disconcertingly calm. "Oh, yes, I have objected to some +things, and I do like to talk with you. And I like you. But all that +must not interfere with the work and life of the community. And I am +afraid it is interfering. I ought to be getting more honey, and you +ought to be flying after the Princess." She paused; then she added, +determinedly and even severely: "You must go right away. You can catch +up with them yet, and beat them, and—and—win her." Nuova had grown +more excited and earnest as she continued urging him, but her voice +broke a little as she uttered the last words.</p> + +<p>Hero, paying too little attention to her manner and reading nothing in +it, so seized was he by surprise at Nuova's new attitude, was yet +doggedly intent on speaking out his own feelings. "No, I am not going +after the Princess," he declared, speaking almost roughly in his +vehemence. "I stopped flying because I wished to, and I came here +because I wished to, and I shall talk to you because I wish to. You +<i>must</i> hear me! Nuova, it is not the Princess that I love; it is you." +Nuova started. "Yes, you; just you; all you. I love <i>you</i>, Nuova."</p> + +<p>Nuova had stood rigidly at first, but then unconsciously swayed a little +toward him. Then she caught herself and stepped back, all the time +staring at him fixedly. He leaned toward her as he finished speaking, +but made no other motion.</p> + +<p>Nuova began to speak, still holding herself rigid and staring at him. +She spoke in an even, monotonous voice, even mechanically, and as if +directed by some foreign influence.</p> + +<p>"You cannot love me," she said. "You can only love a Princess. I cannot +love you. I cannot love anybody. There are other things for me to do. I +have not cleaned floors; I must clean floors. And you, you must chase +Princesses, chase Princesses, chase—Princesses—all—the—time." Her +voice trailed away into tense silence, and she swayed as if about to +fall, but recovered herself, and half-turned as if to move away.</p> + +<p>Hero stepped forward, caught hold of her roughly, and spoke harshly. +"You shall not clean floors," he said, "and I will not court the +Princess." Then suddenly he spoke tenderly, "Nuova, I love you. Saggia +says I can't; all of them say I can't; you say I can't. Well, I do. That +is all. That is the answer. I have never loved a Princess and I do love +you; I have loved you from the moment I saw you." He spoke more +impetuously. "I didn't know what it was at first; now I do. I found out +when I started to fly after Principessa. I can fly faster than any other +drone; yet every one was beating me. I can fly higher than any other +bee; but I couldn't rise at all. Why? Because of <i>you</i>, Nuova; because I +loved <i>you</i>, Nuova, and could not love Principessa. And they say that +you cannot love me. Saggia says so, does she?—and all of them say so, +do they?—and you say so, do you? Well, they are all mistaken. Just as +they are all mistaken about me. I can love <i>you</i>, because I <i>do</i>. You +can love me, because you are going to. You were not an Amazon, yet you +fought. You are not a Princess, but you are going to love. I can teach +you; I <i>will</i> teach you."</p> + +<p>Nuova was almost carried away by Hero's speech—and her own +inclinations. But she still fought blindly and feebly against what she +wanted most. "No, no," she stammered; "I must work; I must go; I am only +a worker bee; I <i>cannot</i> love; it is all fixed; it has been that way for +a long time; <i>I</i> know; Saggia knows; <i>Beffa</i>—"</p> + +<p>She stopped short, remembering some of Beffa's cryptic words.</p> + +<p>Just then Beffa's voice was heard. He was coming toward them hopping and +singing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3><i>The Happy Ending</i></h3> + + +<p>Beffa had not been able to hold the foragers any longer away from that +part of the garden where Nuova and Hero were. The flowers here were more +abundant and sweeter with honey, and the bees soon forgot their fright +of the toad they had not seen—and that Beffa had not, either.</p> + +<p>Hero and Nuova were still concealed by the bush, behind which they +stood, from the returning bees, but it was only a matter of a short time +before they would certainly be seen. Beffa, therefore, came hopping +toward them and singing. He could at least warn them of the approach of +the others. So he sang loudly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ah, well, who knows?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, well, who knows?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The old world for the old bee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The new world for the new;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For who may know the real truth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The untrue may be true.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, well, who knows?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, well, who knows?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Hero turned triumphantly to Nuova. "Yes, yes, you hear?" he said. "Beffa +knows. Say it; say it. Beffa knows: not Saggia; not the others; but +Beffa. They are all blind. They only see what has been, but Beffa sees +what may be. And you see it, Nuova, and I see it. You are a new bee, +Nuova, and so is Beffa, and so am I. And we shall do new things; live a +new life. Ah, Nuova, my little Nuova! I love you, and you love me. My +little Nuova!"</p> + +<p>Nuova could say nothing, do nothing. It was too much. She could only +look up through a mist of tears into Hero's face and smile happily at +him; it was half-smiling, half-crying, but unmistakable to Hero for what +it truly was; the full revelation of Nuova's consent to all he had said. +They stood together, silent in their great happiness. And thus Uno saw +them. Uno was the first of the returned foragers to come, in seeking new +flowers, around the bush and in sight of them. She stared at them +amazed. Then, angry and malevolent, she beckoned, without calling out, +to her companions to come to her. They crowded up and looked where Uno +pointed. They were astounded and outraged. Uno first spoke up.</p> + +<p>"They call themselves bees!" she said with scorn and malice.</p> + +<p>"Beasts, rather!" said Due similarly.</p> + +<p>"No, human beings," said Tre. "Like the daughter of the owner of the +garden and her lover. In secret, and against all the customs. Shame and +scandal!"</p> + +<p>"Drive them out! Kill them!" burst out all the other bees, who had come +crowding up at the words of Uno, Due, and Tre. "Call the Amazons! Sting +them to death! Hero, the faithless one! Nuova, the silly new bee! Hero, +our finest drone! Nuova, the pretty little nurse! Traitors! Kill them!"</p> + +<p>It was a terrible moment for Nuova and Hero, for death looked them in +the face. But they stood quietly side by side realizing their impending +fate, yet fearless in their exaltation. Neither one spoke. They looked +at each other with great eyes shining with love and happiness. +Death—together—was such a little thing. It was even a thing, under the +circumstances, to be courted. There seemed, indeed, nothing else that +could be a "happy ending" for Nuova and Hero's romance. And as the +Amazons pressed forward with lances set and already almost touching the +devoted pair, it seemed to be the inevitable and immediate end. Yet, +just at the moment when Nuova, with one last look of love and joy to +Hero, turned full toward the shining lance points as if to say, +"Welcome, sweet Death!" something happened.</p> + +<p>A cry from the air just above them was heard. A messenger bee, greatly +excited and almost breathless, was dropping down to them and gasping: +"The Princess! The Princess! The Princess is lost! The Bee-Bird has +caught the Princess!"</p> + +<p>The mob about Hero and Nuova stopped in its attack and stood still, +thunderstruck by the news. The messenger dropped to the grass just +between the foremost Amazons and the pair of lovers, and there collapsed +with fatigue and grief. She was caught and supported by Saggia and +Beffa, who had pushed forward out of the crowd at the first cry from the +messenger.</p> + +<p>The horror-stricken bees were dumb for a moment, overwhelmed by the +catastrophe. Then they began to call out, all speaking confusedly +together: "The Princess is lost! The Bee-Bird has killed Principessa! +Our only Princess! The old Queen gone, the new Queen killed! Our hive is +doomed! We are queenless! No more children in our hive! It is our end!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus15" id="illus15"></a> +<img src="images/illus15.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"The Princess is lost!"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>All the while they were speaking they surged back and forth, turning to +each other. They seemed utterly at a loss what to do. None any longer +paid any attention to Nuova and Hero standing there, still silent and +motionless together, as if with no more thought of their present +momentary escape from the death that was so close to them than they had +had for their apparent certain destruction a moment before.</p> + +<p>Saggia had not called out with the other bees. Nor had she moved away +from her position near Hero and Nuova, where she was still supporting +the messenger. But she had been looking keenly first at the shouting +bees and then at Nuova and Hero. Her face was alight with a new thought +and strong purpose. As the cries of the bees died down from exhaustion +for a moment, she lifted her head and began to speak in a loud, clear +voice.</p> + +<p>"Bees," she said, "a terrible thing has happened to us!" Some of the +bees cried out again in lamentation. Saggia paused a moment till there +was silence again. Then she went on.</p> + +<p>"But we stand before a wonderful happening that may be our saving." As +she said this, she half-turned toward Hero and Nuova so as to call the +attention of the bees to them. As she did this a few bees, notably Uno, +Due, and Tre, began to gesture angrily again toward the couple, and to +mutter against them. But Saggia paid no attention to this, except +perhaps to lift her voice a little higher and to speak more rapidly.</p> + +<p>"I am an old bee," she said, "and know the lore of bees better than any +others of you. And I tell you plainly that the death of the Princess +does not mean that all is lost. I tell you that we have a means of +saving our hive. Sometimes a bee is born, who is not a Princess, but who +is of a different sort from the rest of us workers; a bee who can not +only work, but <i>love</i>; who can love and be loved and be the mother of +bees."</p> + +<p>She turned now swiftly to Nuova, stretched out her antennæ and wings +dramatically, and spoke as with the voice of an oracle.</p> + +<p>"Nuova is such a bee!" she exclaimed solemnly. "Nuova can be a Queen for +us! She loves Hero. Do you, Nuova?" Nuova turned a rapt face up to +Hero's.</p> + +<p>"And Hero loves Nuova. Do you, Hero?" Hero leaned down to Nuova and +kissed her.</p> + +<p>Saggia turned again to the bees. "That Hero loves Nuova proves that she +can be loved; that Nuova loves Hero proves that she can be our Queen. +Let Nuova, the new bee, be our new Queen!"</p> + +<p>The bees were already buzzing and fluttering about in great excitement +again. They were not able to comprehend immediately all that Saggia's +words implied, but they saw in them a hope for their hive, and some of +the bees already began to call out joyously. Just then Beffa began +dancing vigorously and waving his wings and antennæ in triumph and +singing loudly and clearly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bee-Bird may yet be beaten;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We yet may peal the wedding bell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Although our Queen is eaten!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then he made a grand whirl which brought him squarely in front of Nuova, +and with a deep curtsy and elaborate gesture he called out to all the +bees, like a herald:</p> + +<p>"The Queen has passed. Long live the Queen!"</p> + +<p>And Saggia immediately echoed him, also bowing low before Nuova: "The +Queen has passed. Long live the Queen!"</p> + +<p>Other bees took up the shout, which soon spread to all. Beffa beckoned +all to follow him in a triumphal march and dance around the amazed and +happy pair, and altogether they set up a great song of joy and triumph. +Nuova and Hero were not only saved, but they were become in a second +King and Queen of the hive. It was breath-taking. They could only look +at each other in utter thanksgiving and love. But as Beffa, tiring of +the exertion of the dance, stopped by the side of Nuova, she put out an +antenna caressingly to him and then turned to Hero.</p> + +<p>"Hero, my King," she said proudly.</p> + +<p>"Hero, our King!" proudly shouted all the bees.</p> + +<p>And then she turned to Beffa.</p> + +<p>"Beffa, my jester," she said lovingly.</p> + +<p>"Beffa, our jester!" shouted all the bees.</p> + +<p>Beffa gave a little hop; then looking up at Nuova, he sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ah, well, who knows?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, well, who knows?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>THE END</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nuova, by Vernon Kellogg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUOVA *** + +***** This file should be named 39248-h.htm or 39248-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/4/39248/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Nuova + or The New Bee + +Author: Vernon Kellogg + +Illustrator: Milo Winter + +Release Date: March 24, 2012 [EBook #39248] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUOVA *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + NUOVA + + or THE NEW BEE + + + A Story for Children + of Five to Fifty by + + VERNON KELLOGG + + With Songs by + CHARLOTTE KELLOGG + + Illustrated by + Milo Winter + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + Boston and New York + + COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY VERNON KELLOGG AND + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + TO + JEAN + WHO IS FIVE + + + + +[Illustration: "Nuova, I love you"] + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +Most of this that I have written about bees is true: what is not, does +not pretend to be. Some of the true part sounds almost like a +description of what human life might in some respects be, if certain +social movements of to-day were followed out to their logical extreme. I +suppose that in this likeness lies the moral of the book. + + +V. K. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. Nuova Appears 1 + + II. Nuova's First Experiences 7 + + III. Nuova as Nurse 16 + + IV. Nuova sees Some Other Things Done 29 + + V. Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa 44 + + VI. Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess 60 + + VII. Nuova goes Outside 78 + + VIII. Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle 93 + + IX. Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase 106 + + X. Nuova in the Beautiful Garden 115 + + XI. Hero finds Nuova in the Garden 130 + + XII. The Happy Ending 142 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + +"Nuova, I love you" _Colored Frontispiece_ + +The beginning of a new life for Nuova 4 + +Industriously cleaning the floor 12 + +"I am so tired," replied poor Nuova 26 + +She would like that kind of work 32 + +"What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee" 42 + +"The stupid one! The faithless one!" 48 + +"Drones work? It isn't done, you know" 62 + +There came slowly forth ... the new Princess 74 + +"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia 80 + +Nuova began to clean his wings 96 + +Nuova was among the fallen 104 + +In the Garden 116 + +Beffa settled down comfortably 128 + +"The Princess is lost!" 146 + + + + +THE NAMES OF THE BEES + + +As all the bees of this story are Italian bees, they all, except one, +have Italian names. And they should really be spoken as the Italians +speak them. Besides, they are prettier that way. Therefore, a list of +them, with the proper way to pronounce them, is given here. + + _Nuova_ (noo-o'va) + _Uno_ (oo'no) + _Due_ (doo'ay) + _Tre_ (tray) + _Saggia_ (saj'jia) + _Mela_ (may'la) + _Cera_ (chay'ra) + _Fessa_ (fess'sa) + _Aria_ (ah'ri-a) + _Principessa_ (prin-chee-pess'sa) + _Lotta_ (lawt'ta) + + + + +_NUOVA_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_Nuova Appears_ + + +Nuova seemed to be gradually awakening. It would have seemed that way to +any one who could have seen her just at this moment, and it seemed that +way to Nuova herself. It was just as if one were in a comfortable, warm +bed, and began to be conscious of a faint light outside and of soft +voices and of other subdued sounds. The light and sounds grow stronger +and louder, until, with a start, one is really awake, and sees that the +light is the sunlight of a beautiful morning coming in at the curtained +window, and recognizes the sounds to be those of the household already +busy with a new day's work. + +It was, indeed, an awakening for Nuova; but it was more. It was the +beginning of a new life for her. Until now she had been in a sort of +pollywog stage for a bee--a stage in which she had no legs nor wings, +and in which she could do nothing for herself at all, not even as much +as a pollywog can--and had lain all the time in a long, narrow, +six-walled, waxen cell that was bed and room all in one. That is, we +might say, she had always so far in her life been in bed. + +For when she was born in her cell, she was just a tiny white thing, +without wings or legs, blind, and quite helpless. Really about all she +could do was to squirm a little in her horizontal cell, and keep opening +her mouth when she was hungry to let somebody know she must be fed. She +was immediately taken care of, however, by the nurse bees who kept near +the nursery cells all the time except when they had to go to the pantry +cells for more food for the babies. This food was flower nectar and +pollen that had been brought into the hive by the active forager bees +and stored in the pantry cells. The nurses made a sort of very good and +nutritious jelly out of it which made Nuova grow very fast. + +After she had been fed in this way for five days, she was many times +larger than she had been at first. At the end of this time, however, the +nurse bees did what might seem, at first thought, a rather heartless +thing. They made a thin cap or cover of wax over the open mouth of +Nuova's cell, thus shutting her up tight in her bedroom. She was so +large that she almost filled her cell, but there was still a little room +left, and this the nurses filled, just before putting the waxen cap on +the cell, with pollen and nectar mixed. For a few days Nuova lay quietly +in her dark, sealed-up cell, eating, when hungry, from the lump of +pollen and nectar which lay by her side. And then she stopped eating and +simply lay there in a sort of trance for several days more. + +To Nuova herself all her life in the cell, from first day to last, must +have seemed little more than a sort of dream; a confused dream of not +being able to walk or fly, or see or hear, but only to squirm a little, +and be hungry and then be fed, and to feel dimly strange growing pains +from the rapidly growing legs and wings when they began to come, and of +always being rather comfortably warm and sleepy. + +But this sleeping time had come to an end now; this helpless pollywog +stage was finished for Nuova. And the light she saw through the big +eyes that had grown out on her head, during the last few days in the +shut-up cell, was the faint but real light of a new day filtering its +way through the crowded hive. And the sounds she heard by means of the +many tiny little hearing organs on the long, delicate, sensitive +feelers, or antennae, that had also grown out near her eyes and were +connected by fine nerves with her brain, were the humming and murmuring +of the thousands of industrious bees of the hive who were already at +work at their various duties all around her. + +Nuova's awaking, then, was much more than the mere waking-up after a +night's sleeping. It was the waking from a life of doing nothing but +lying in bed and sleeping and eating and growing, to a life of taking +care of one's self and helping to take care of others; it was the waking +from a baby life to real bee life. For Nuova was now a full-grown bee, +with all the wonderful body and all the wonderful instincts and the high +intelligence that we know bees to have. But she was still shut up in her +nursery cell. + +[Illustration: The beginning of a new life for Nuova] + +However, to escape from it was not difficult. She could see that the +faint light came in strongest through the capped end of the cell. The +waxen cap was the thinnest part of the walls of her room, and as Nuova's +head was already lying close to the cap, it was a simple and easy matter +for her to begin biting it away with her two strong, little, trowel-like +teeth. In a few moments she had made a little hole in the cap, and the +light and sounds came in suddenly much brighter and louder than before, +although the light was really not bright at all nor the sounds loud, as +we reckon such things. For the inside of a honeybee's house, the hive, +is always pretty dark, and the sounds the bees make are not all loud, +except occasionally when things are especially exciting and all the bees +are buzzing together at once, or when a princess is about to come from +her nursery cell and both she and the old queen do a lot of +extraordinary trumpeting. + +But to Nuova, biting her way out through the thin wax cap of her cell, +having never heard nor seen anything at all through all of her baby +life, things seemed very bright and noisy indeed. This, however, +instead of frightening her, made her only the more anxious to get out +and be a part of this exciting world around her, and so she worked away +as fast as she could, until suddenly the hole was large enough for her +to crawl out. This she did, feeling, we may imagine, rather strange at +using her new legs for the first time, and finding her new wings all +folded up and rather damp and heavy. But out she came and, with a long +breath or two, she started to walk over the uneven surface of the waxen +comb in which her nursery cell was situated. But after only a few steps +she felt tired and limp. Indeed she _was_ limp, for all the outer part +of her body, that was later to be firm and strong, was still rather soft +and damp and weak; her legs could not hold her up well yet, and her +unexercised muscles needed a little practice to work together just +right. So she soon stopped, trembling all over from her unwonted +exertion, and let her big eyes gradually take in the strange sight about +her. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_Nuova's First Experiences_ + + +It was truly a remarkable sight. She found that she was part way up a +vertical wall or comb of waxen cells, each of six sides and all lying +horizontally in the wall. This wall of cells towered far above her even +to the very roof of the hive, and below her it stretched away down to +the floor. Facing it towered another similar wall of cells, and there +was but little more space between the two than was needed for the free +movement of the scores, aye, even hundreds of bees that were clambering +about over the opposite faces of the walls. + +In each wall some of the cells were open and some capped over. In the +open ones were either baby bees lying on their stomachs with their heads +near the opening of the cells, and their mouths opening and shutting in +a most comical way, or there was some pollen or honey; or there was +nothing at all. The cells with babies in them were those in the middle +part of the wall, while around these were the food cells. Near the open +nursery cells were many capped ones, and Nuova saw that some of these +caps were being gnawed through from the inside. She knew what that +meant; she had just been doing that herself. But also near the open and +half-filled pollen and honey cells were other capped ones, and Nuova +guessed, and quite rightly, that these were filled and sealed-up honey +cells. The open pollen cells were pretty to look at because the pollen +in them was of different colors, yellow, orange, red, etc., and they +made a sort of uneven but attractive color-pattern on the face of the +great vertical wall. + +Nuova was a little dizzy at first, with looking up and down the towering +wall, and she had to hang on tightly to keep from falling. But she soon +grew accustomed to the great heights above and below her, and even began +to feel quite at home in her peculiar situation. A pang of hunger came +to her as she saw a bee walk up to an open honey cell and take a long +drink. She started to walk toward the same cell, when she felt a tug at +one of her wings, and heard an impatient voice, evidently addressing +her. + +"Here, wait a minute; we haven't got you clean yet; and your wings +aren't half dry. Don't be in a hurry!" + +Nuova was startled; remember, it was the first bee-talking, or any kind +of talking, she had ever heard. Yet she understood it perfectly, and +understood at once, too, just what was going on. For as she turned her +head to see who was speaking, she saw that two nurse bees were most +industriously cleaning her body all over, and unfolding and smoothing +out her wings, so that they would dry rapidly, and dry all properly +spread out. Sometimes young bees do not get their wings properly spread +before they dry, and then their wings are crumpled up and useless all +through their lives. + +Nuova had, indeed, for some time rather vaguely felt this gentle +cleaning and wing-spreading operation going on, but at first she had +felt so dizzy and faint, and then when she felt better had become so +intent on looking up and down the two great walls of wax, with their +various cells and the many active bees moving about over them, that she +had paid no attention to the gentle rubbing and pulling and stretching. +Indeed, it was done so gently that unless she had started to walk away, +or had accidentally looked around, she might not have known that it was +going on at all. It was a performance much like that a just-born kitten +goes through at the hands, or rather tongue, of its mother. The pollen +and honey, put into her cell when it was capped, had, of course, rather +soiled Nuova's body and much of her hair was stuck together by it. So +like every young bee, just come from its nursery cell, she needed a good +cleaning. And she was getting it. + +Without thinking twice about it Nuova did a very surprising thing. Or +rather it was not surprising for a bee to do, but it would have been if +one of us, just born, as it were, and without any teaching or practice +or chance of hearing any one else first, should do it. For we always +call surprising, in bees or other creatures, what would be surprising in +us, which is a rather silly way of judging things, but one we are all +very much given to. As we think we are the most important kind of +creatures on earth--as certainly we are, to ourselves--we think our ways +of doing things are the usual or normal or even best ways, and all +other ways "surprising." But we shall find, the more we learn about +Nuova, that bees have their own manner of life and ways of doing things, +and one of the most important many differences between their ways and +our ways is that they know so many things right off without any learning +or practice or imitating of others. They are born knowing how; they do +not have to be taught. + +For example, the surprising thing that Nuova did right away, without +thinking twice about it, was to begin talking to the two nurse bees who +were cleaning her. What Nuova said, and what was said to her in return, +is of no particular interest to us. It was simply commonplace talk, for +Nuova's coming out of her cell, her first dizziness, the high walls of +cells, the many bees moving about, the spreading-out of Nuova's wings +and cleaning her body, and even Nuova's ability to understand things +about her and to begin talking right away--all these were taken for +granted in the hive as the most usual things in the world, which +therefore needed no special exclaiming or talking about. In fact Nuova +felt already that, as soon as she was properly clean and dry, she must +join the other active bees, who were all busy with the different kinds +of work they were doing, and begin work herself. And she felt that she +knew just what this first work for her should be. It should be the work +of a nurse. And the nurse bees cleaning her seemed to take this for +granted too. For one of them soon said: + +"I think you had better begin on the other side of the comb; there are +enough of us on this side already." + +Nuova looked up and down the great comb and then to right and left. The +nurse noted this, and added: + +"You can get around by going either to the top or the bottom, or to +either end." + +Nuova thanked her, and decided to crawl down to the bottom, for she +could see, far down there, a number of bees moving about industriously +cleaning the floor and some others that stood still, apparently on their +heads, and kept their wings buzzing like mad. She was not quite sure +what this performance meant; and the floor-cleaning, too, seemed a +little curious. The fact is that, although bees do seem to know right +off about things, they know these things one at a time, as it were; that +is, when it is time for them to do a thing, they know pretty well, +without any telling, how to do it, but they do not seem to know about +other things at the same time. They seem to know things only as the time +comes for each special thing to be done. Nuova seemed to know that she +should begin working as a nurse, and to know how to do the work, for as +soon as she started she did just about as well as any of the nurses, but +floor-cleaning, and standing on one's head and fanning one's wings like +mad, were not things she knew about yet. + +[Illustration: Industriously cleaning the floor] + +She worked her way carefully down to the bottom of the comb and found +herself in a very busy place indeed. There was a free place under this +comb and under the one opposite to it as well. When she looked under the +comb which she had just walked down, she saw a great, low-ceilinged +place stretching away in all directions, rather dim and getting darker +the farther away it extended, except in one direction. In this +direction, however, it was lighter, and the farther the distance the +lighter it was. From this lightest part many bees were hurrying toward +her with great loads of vari-colored pollen in their pollen baskets, or +with their honey sacs filled to overflowing with fresh nectar. They +hurried on, paying no attention to any one, and disappeared one by one +by climbing up and out of sight, except the few that climbed up the face +of either of the combs that towered just over her. These bees she could +still watch, and she could see that they carried their loads far up to +the open food cells into which they emptied the food they had brought. +Also she saw other bees, without loads, hurrying along the floor toward +the light, and she had a wonderful thrill as she saw them, and something +within her urged her to run with them toward the distant light; +something inside her that sang of sunshine, blue sky, green grass and +bushes, and many-hued fragrant flowers. But something else, even +stronger, within her, told her not to go; that her work awaited her +close at hand; that she must nurse bee-babies here in the dimly lighted +hive. + +So she turned away from the alluring light with only a glance at the +floor-cleaners and the silly bees on their heads with their wings going +like mad. So strong within her had grown the feeling that there was just +one thing for her now, that she walked under the broad, lower edge of +the comb from whose high wall she had descended and came into the bottom +of another high space between two other towering walls of waxen cells. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_Nuova as Nurse_ + + +When Nuova had come into this new high space, she looked up and realized +that one of its side walls was simply the other side of the comb in +which her nursery cell had been, while the other was that of another +comb opposite it, just as she had seen that there was another comb +opposite its other side. Nuova, seeing this, easily understood that +probably this was the arrangement all through the hive, and that the +broad and long, low, free space running through the whole hive just +above the floor was a space just underneath the lower edges of many +great vertical combs standing side by side. Which, of course, was true. + +Right away, however, Nuova saw that one of the walls above her was +incomplete; it did not reach, along its whole length, from the ceiling +clear to the floor, but at one end, the end toward the lighter end of +the hive, it came down but a little way from the ceiling. Clinging to +this unfinished part of the wall was a great mass of bees, the upper +ones hanging to the free edge of the wall, but the ones below clinging +to them and to each other, thus forming a festoon or curtain of bees +hanging down from the lower edge of the incomplete wall. Many bees in +this living curtain were buzzing their wings violently, while others +were quiet, with thin sheets or plates of some shining, silver-yellowish +substance forming on the under side of their bodies. + +Beneath the lower edge of the bee-curtain there was a broad, free space +beyond which the vertical wall of another more distant comb appeared. On +the floor in this open space were gathered many bees, most of which +appeared to be picking up little pieces of the shining, silver-yellowish +substance that had broken off from the bees in the festoon above, and +fallen to the floor. + +As this open space was lighter than the space she had come from, Nuova +could see everything quite clearly here, and the activity of all the +bees and their concentration on whatever they were doing impressed her +very much. No one so much as spoke to her; no one spoke to any one else; +but every one worked away for dear life. It made her feel that she must +get at her own work just as soon as possible. + +She glanced up the part of the wall that was all finished, and saw +toward its middle a group of nurse bees, and a lot of open and capped +nursery cells. She could even see, sticking out of some of the open +ones, the comical heads of the babies, each with its mouth regularly +opening and shutting. And then she heard a song, a gentle lullaby sort +of song. It was the nurse bees singing as they worked. This is the song +they sang: + + We watch beside the cradles + When the bee-babies sleep; + We guard the shining pantries + Where the bee-milk we keep. + + And when the countless tiny + Bee-mouths open wide, + We rush with drink and bee-bread + And drop them inside. + + Our bread's the daintiest morsel + A wee babe could eat; + We knead it of soft pollen + And flower nectar sweet. + + When ends our busy bee-day + The nurseries we right, + Then wash our countless bee-mites + And tuck them in tight. + + Just try to feed our family, + And swiftly you'll see + That never were there nurses + So busy as we. + +So she started to climb up to them. Just as she had gone a little way +up, however, her attention was called to a very active and apparently +excited group of bees crowding about a very different sort of cell from +the ones that made up all the rest of the comb. This was five or six +times as large as any of the others, and not six-sided, but shaped +something like a pear with its small end down. It did not lie horizontal +in the comb, but vertical, or nearly so, and had a rough, thick wall, +and was open at its smaller, lower end. Nuova could not see what was in +it, for she was already as high or higher than it was, as it was near +the lower edge of the comb, its lower end, indeed, being but a little +way above the floor. + +As she hesitated a moment, attracted by the sight of the strange cell +and the many excited bees about it, most of whom were nurses, she heard +a bee, hurrying away from the cell, say to another hurrying toward it: + +"How fast the princess is growing!" + +This did not enlighten Nuova much, but the feeling inside of her was now +so strong that she must begin work at once that she hurried on up to the +nursery cells lying a little way above the curious large cell without +trying to find out anything about it. Which shows again, of course, how +different bees are from us. + +When Nuova got to the nursery cells with their hungry babies she went +right to work. She seemed to know just what to do; to go to the pollen +and honey cells and drink honey and eat pollen and swallow them, but not +too far, and then wait a few minutes, and then give this food up again, +all properly mixed, through her mouth right into the open mouths of the +hungry babies. And she knew just what babies were ready to have their +cells capped with wax--with a nice little lump of food stored inside +first, of course--and how to call some bee with a pellet of wax in its +mouth to do the capping. She understood at once that the shining, +silver-yellowish plates on the bodies of the bees in the festoon at the +end of the comb were wax, and that the pieces being picked up by other +bees from the floor underneath the festoon were to be used for capping +cells, and for making new cells where the vertical wall of comb was +still incomplete. + +All these things, and whatever other new ones came up in the next few +days in connection with taking care of the babies, she seemed to +understand right away, and indeed she seemed to know how to do all her +work without having to reason about it, or to observe and draw +conclusions; in fact, without even once really having to think about it +at all. And because it was all so simple, and so easy to understand, an +extraordinary thing came to pass with Nuova; that is, an extraordinary +thing for a bee. The thing was that _Nuova got tired of her work_! + +Yes, she got tired of it; tired physically, which is not perhaps so +extraordinary, for bees sometimes fall dead from being over-tired +physically; but she also got tired and impatient of the simplicity and +monotony of what she was doing. She got, I suppose we may fairly say, +mentally and spiritually tired of it. Which happening marks Nuova as a +bee of a strange and rare kind: a bee that is--is--well, all I can say +is, a bee that is different. Other bees, if they had known of it, would +have called her a "funny" bee, or a "peculiar" bee; or perhaps something +worse. Indeed, this something worse is just what she was soon called. +For Nuova, after a few days of this steady care of babies, one hot +afternoon--the hive was so set in the garden that it was quite exposed +to the sun--Nuova, I say, one hot afternoon stopped working, and crawled +slowly down past the great pear-shaped cell clear to the lower edge of +the comb and there she sat and simply did nothing! + +Pretty soon Uno, one of the nurse bees in Nuova's group, who had already +shown herself to have a rather spiteful nature, noticed that Nuova was +not working, was not, indeed, to be seen anywhere about the nurse cells. +So she touched another nurse bee near her, named Due, with her antennae +so as to call her attention, and said in a low voice: "Where is Nuova?" + +Due looked around, and not seeing Nuova, said: "Why, where is she?" Then +both bees touched a third nurse bee, named Tre, with their antennae. She +turned around and joined them. + +"What's the matter?" she said. Then looking at the group of nurses, she +added: "Where is Nuova?" + +"That's it," said Uno and Due together. "Where is Nuova? She isn't +here--she has stopped working." + +"Exactly," said Tre. "I thought she would come to that--I've been +noticing her lately. She doesn't seem to like to work." + +"Whoever heard of such a bee!" exclaimed Uno and Due together. + +"Let us find her," said Tre. + +So all three started to move around over the comb looking for Nuova. +They made wider and wider journeys from the nursery cells, until Uno, +who had got down almost to the very bottom of the comb and was quite +close to Nuova but had not yet seen her, heard a low voice murmuring, "I +am so tired." + +Uno turned quickly and saw Nuova. She was sitting with her head hanging +down on her breast, and she looked very tired and dejected. But that +aroused no sympathy in Uno, who, together with Due and Tre, had taken a +strong dislike to Nuova, feeling in her, some way, a rather different, +even a rather superior sort of bee. Nuova was so unusually pretty, for +one thing. And she had such a lively interest in everything around her. +Uno, Due, and Tre, who were bees almost exactly like each other, and +like most other bees, felt an instinctive malice toward her, probably +based on a certain envy which they did not, however, even admit to +themselves. + +Uno quickly called Due and Tre, and the three stared malevolently at +Nuova for a moment and then said together, speaking loudly so that the +other bees near by could hear: "Well, what a bee! To stop work! Just +think of it!" + +Then Uno leaned over her and called to her: "Lazy!" + +And Due stepped up to her and said: "Loafer!" + +And Tre came up on the other side of her and hissed: "Shirk!" + +Then all three, lifting their wings to strike poor Nuova, who had sat +very still through all this, shrinking from the vicious bees, called +out: "We'll teach her!" And then they began to strike her all over with +their strong wings. + +It was going pretty badly with Nuova, when an old floor-cleaner named +Saggia stepping up to the group shouldered off the three angry nurse +bees. Saggia had noticed at other times that Nuova went rather slowly +back and forth between the nursery cells and the food cells, but she had +a good heart and thought it was because Nuova was sick, perhaps, for +bees often get ill just as we do. She spoke to Nuova rather sharply, but +still in a kindly way. + +"Nuova! what are you doing here? You mustn't stop." + +"But I am so tired," replied poor Nuova. "Thank you for driving them +away," she added. + +[Illustration: "I am so tired," replied poor Nuova] + +"Tired, nonsense," said Saggia. "That's nothing. Of course you are +tired. We all are. But what difference does that make? Go back to the +babies, and keep on with your work." + +"That is what they all say," cried Nuova, bitterly and half angrily. +"Here am I a full week out of my nursery cell, and I haven't had a bit +of rest or fun yet. It is time I began to have some. Doesn't any one +ever rest or have a good time?" + +Saggia was painfully surprised to hear Nuova talk in this manner. She +began to fear that Nuova's tiredness was not just physical tiredness. +She answered her therefore in a strongly reproving manner. "Of course +nobody rests, and of course every one has a good time. Look at them +all," and she waved an antenna toward the workers at the nursery cells, +"don't you see what a good time they are having? It is having a good +time to be always working; always working for each other and for our +children." + +"But they aren't our children," Nuova broke in, "yours and mine, that +is, nor anybody's but the Queen's children. She is the mother of them +all. And she keeps on having more. And we have to take care of them all, +and all the time." + +"They _are_ our children," Saggia interrupted, speaking very positively +and still more reprovingly. "They are the children of the community; the +children of the race. It is our race we are working for; the children +of the race. Think of it!" + +Nuova made a little face. "Well, I am tired of the race and the race's +children," she said. "I want some children of my own." + +Old Saggia was dreadfully shocked by this. And she was terrified on +Nuova's account for fear some other bees might have heard her. It was, +indeed, about as rebellious a thing as a bee can say. + +"Hush, child," said Saggia in a whisper. "You mustn't say such things. +You mustn't even think them. Other bees don't. And you must hurry back +to your work before the others miss you." She helped Nuova up, and urged +her to begin climbing back up to the nurse cells. "If you are tired of +taking care of the babies you can do something else next week. You will +be old enough then to make wax and build cells or help clean the hive. +And then in another week you can go out and gather pollen and nectar +from the flowers. But go back now to the babies; the other nurses are +looking for you." She urged Nuova along again, and this time Nuova +started up, but she went very reluctantly and slowly. + +"No," she said, "they pay no attention to me. Nobody but you pays any +attention to me, except when I stop working. They never notice me when I +am hard at work." + +"Why, of course not," replied Saggia gently. "Why should you be noticed +then? That is what we all do all the time; just keep everlastingly at +it. That is what makes the bees such a great people. There is something +wrong about a bee that doesn't want to work all the time; you mustn't be +different from the others. I am afraid you are sick." + +All the time she was saying this Saggia was urging Nuova along up the +comb toward the nursery cells, and now they had quite reached the group +of nurses. As Uno, Due, and Tre saw Nuova again they closed in around +her so as to strike or pinch her. But Saggia kept them off. And Nuova +slipped into her place again in front of a hungry baby. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Nuova sees Some Other Things Done_ + + +Just as Nuova took her place again, however, she heard in the distance a +joyful singing. It came from the lightest place in the hive, and looking +in this direction Nuova saw a whole group of nectar gatherers coming +along together, half-dancing and turning about, and all singing together +in the happiest way possible. This is what they sang: + + Take a peep into the pail, + Nectar to the brim, + Carried over down and dale + Till the ways were dim. + + On a dawn-ray forth we sped, + A thousand wings in tune, + By a new-born wind were led + Down the paths of June. + + Silvery world of buzz and whirr, + Fragrance on the wing, + Sod and root and blade astir, + Sped our garnering. + + Long in Nature's honey-room + We dipped and drank at will; + Brushed the purple lilac plume, + Sipped from thyme and dill. + + Till when evening softly bore + Over dune and dell, + Hastened we with golden store + Home to Queen and cell. + +And then she heard another song, and saw a group of pollen gatherers +following the nectar gatherers. And this is what they sang: + + Here's saffron dust and crimson dust, + And dust of rarest blue; + In lavish Nature's pollen mines + Each mines his favorite hue. + + Some buzzed and burrowed all the morn + Within a clover hold, + Till fuzzy backs were powdered fine + And thigh-bags bulged with gold. + + And some delved deep in lily cups, + Or hung from blossomy bells-- + The story of their mazy flight + The rainbow treasure tells. + + There's pollen sweet for roof and wall, + And more for soft bee-bread; + For all, from wondrous Mother-Queen + To bee-mite, must be fed. + + Here's palest pink and lilac dust, + And green and brown and blue; + In lavish Nature's pollen fields + Each finds his favorite hue. + +They liked their work, these foragers, that was sure, and Nuova felt +that she would like that kind of work too. Just then Mela, one of the +pollen gatherers, climbing up the comb where Nuova was, with her pollen +baskets filled by two great masses of golden yellow pollen, stopped for +a moment for breath. Nuova stretched her antenna toward Mela and touched +her, attracting her attention. + +[Illustration: She would like that kind of work.] + +"Oh, Mela, tell me about it," she said to her eagerly. "Do you hear the +birds sing and see the butterflies dance out there? Mela, take me with +you when you go back." + +Mela was very much astonished to hear a pretty young nurse bee talk to +her this way, and she looked first sharply and then rather +contemptuously at Nuova. + +"You upstart young thing," she said, "take you out with us? Well, I +rather think not until you have finished your nursing work. And you are +loafing now! Well, you will do your work better in the hive or you can +never go out at all, that's sure." + +And Uno, Due, and Tre, who had overheard this conversation, buzzed at +her one after another: "Lazy! Loafer! Shirk!" and they tried to strike +her once more, but Saggia, who had not yet gone down to the floor, again +kept them off and whispered rapidly to Nuova: + +"Yes, you shall go out some time. But you must be a good bee and do your +work in the hive first, nurse the babies, then help make wax and build +cells. So go on with your work now. Hurry, the soldiers are coming, and +they have their stings all ready for loafing bees as well as for wasps +and black bees that come to rob us. Hurry, hurry!" + +Saggia pushed Nuova back into her place, and Uno, Due, and Tre also +hurried to their own places as the marching song of the Amazons was +heard. Into the hive and down the long aisles between the great vertical +walls of comb they came marching rapidly and brandishing their long, +sharp lances all ready for use. This was their song: + + Now fierce black bee and yellow wasp + With cunning seek to rush the hive; + Up warriors, aim the poisoned dart, + Let no bold hornet pass alive! + + Defenders of the golden stores, + Swoop down upon the robber band, + No foe escapes the Amazon spears, + For Hive and Queen we make our stand! + +As they finished their song the files of the Amazons broke up and the +soldiers scattered themselves through the hive, although most of them +kept in the lighter part near the entrance. + +In the special quiet that followed the cessation of the song Nuova heard +a voice calling loudly from a group of bees near the wax-making festoon +at the unfinished end of the comb. This group was busily engaged in +moulding new cells, using the wax which was being made by the bees in +the living festoon. + +"Look here," called the voice, which was that of Cera, chief of the +cell-builders and wax-makers, "we must have more wax-makers." She waved +an antenna toward the festoon. "They can't furnish us wax fast enough. +Some of you older nurses come here." + +Nuova who had stopped working and stepped a little out from the group of +nurses at Cera's first words, now started quickly to go over to her. +Uno, Due, and Tre all called angrily to her and tried to stop her but +Nuova easily evaded them and hurried over, with several other nurses +following, to Cera. + +"Let me make wax," she said eagerly to Cera. + +Cera looked at her, then away and to the others. "You! No, you are too +young," she said. Then more loudly to the others: "More wax-makers, I +say, and right away." + +But Nuova insisted. "Take me," she urged. "Teach me to make wax." + +Cera stared at her. "What a funny bee! Teach you! That shows you are not +old enough. If you were you would know without any teaching. Bees don't +have to be taught. They simply know how to do everything they need to +when the right time comes for doing it. And if they don't know it is +because the right time hasn't come." + +But Nuova still stood squarely in front of her. Cera stared at her more +and more surprised and more and more angry. "Here," she said finally, +and very roughly, "keep out of the way. Go back to your babies." + +Nuova fluttered her wings angrily and her sensitive antennae trembled. "I +won't," she said. "I won't be nurse any more; I'll make wax or go out +for pollen. Yes, I'll go out into the garden." + +Then she actually started to run toward the hive entrance, but was +promptly stopped by Saggia, who had noticed her altercation with Cera +and had hurried over. + +Cera who had only half heard Nuova's angry outburst was nevertheless +greatly astonished, and was about to make an indignant reply and to call +the attention of the other bees to the audacious little rebel, but the +candidates to make wax crowded about her so closely and chattered so +distractingly to her that all thought of Nuova was, fortunately, +immediately driven out of her mind. + +In the meantime Nuova was tugging away from Saggia, and had even dragged +her a little along toward the entrance. But Saggia held fast to one +wing, and at the same time talked to her rapidly. + +"Nuova, stop!" she said in a low voice, at the same time glancing back +to see if the crowd around Cera was noticing them. "You mustn't say such +things. Bees never do. Listen, you can make wax. Listen to me, I'll tell +you what to do." + +Nuova stopped tugging at the poor old bee, who was getting rather +breathless and could hardly go on with her speaking. What she had last +said, however, made Nuova want to hear more. + +So as Nuova stopped pulling away Saggia went on talking. "The first +thing the wax-makers do is to go to the pantry cells and eat all the +honey and pollen they can. Then they all crowd together in close rows +like that," pointing to the festoon of wax-makers, "so as to get very +warm, and pretty soon the wax begins to come. It comes out in little +drops on your wax-plates"--touching one of the ten curious little +five-sided plates on the under side of Nuova's body--"and hardens right +away into a thin sheet of wax on each one of the plates. Now all you +have to do is to keep quiet and just mix with the others when they go to +the food cells to eat and drink. Say nothing to any one, and nobody will +pay any attention to you, not even Cera, as long as you are busy. There, +see, they are going," she added, as the group around Cera began to break +up, some of the bees going back to the babies while others, who had been +accepted by Cera, moved to the open food cells and began eating pollen +greedily and taking long drinks of honey. + +"Slip over among them," said Saggia in a whisper, "and stuff yourself. +Then go when they do to the festoon and hang on to it." + +Nuova was so eager to try this new experience that she hardly paused to +thank Saggia, although she did let a grateful smile flit over her pretty +fresh face as she hurried away. + +Just as she reached the food cells she heard a gentle, rather monotonous +singing, and glancing in the direction of the group of cell-builders +and wax-makers from which it came she saw that under the direction of +Cera who had already rejoined her workers, the cell-builders were going +through a sort of dance or rhythmic gymnastics, moving their bodies and +waving their wings and legs in a sort of exaggerated imitation of +moulding and building, and that the wax-makers in the festoon were +buzzing their wings to make their bodies warmer and swinging back and +forth, and that all of them together were singing a pretty song about +their work. This is the song they sang: + + Cling close in living curtain, + One thousand swing as one, + Now ooze the amber jellies-- + The work has just begun. + + Haste, mould the dainty wax flakes + And ply the trowels swift; + Pat, pat--the floors spread wider; + Tap, tap--the light walls lift. + + Through all the long hive-twilight, + The patterned cell draw true;-- + Tap, tap, with tiny trowel, + We've neither nail nor screw. + + Ten thousand honey pantries + And rooms for pollen store;-- + Build high the whole bee-city, + And still there's need of more. + +As the song and motion dance ceased, Cera called loudly again. This time +she wanted cleaners to come. "Here," she cried. "Cleaners! Let a cleaner +come. We are getting too much dust on the floor. Cleaners! Cleaners!" + +But no one came. Cera, looking impatiently about, saw Nuova glancing up +from the food cell over which she was standing, and motioned to her. +"Here, you," she said, without seeming to remember that it was with +Nuova that she had just had a dispute, "you don't seem to be doing much. +You run down to those cleaners," pointing to several cleaners on the +floor near the great pear-shaped cell, "and tell one to come here right +away. Look lively, now." + +Nuova, who seemed always ready for a new thing, gladly ran down the comb +to the floor and danced happily across it to a bee that was busily +cleaning and touched her with her antennae. As the cleaner looked up +Nuova said: "Cera wants you; they are making too much dust over there." + +The cleaner straightened up a little and without a word shuffled slowly +across to a place just under the festoon and began to clean the floor +there. Nuova started to follow her, rather dawdling along, for the +prospect of hanging motionless in a wax-making festoon was not +especially attractive to her, when she was startled by the falling at +her feet of a lump of something soft and sticky-looking. She looked up +and saw far up on the vertical wall of the comb rising above her a bee +peering down at her and the lump. This bee was indeed right up by the +roof of the hive. As the bee saw Nuova look up she called to her loudly +and rather gruffly, "I say, pretty young bee, bring me up that lump of +propolis, won't you?" + +Nuova picked up the soft brownish ball in her mouth and climbed quickly +up to the top of the comb with it. As she offered it to the waiting bee +on the ceiling, she found it sticking to her teeth in a very +uncomfortable way. + +"Oh, the sticky stuff," she said in disgust, "and how it tastes and +smells!" + +The bee to whom she was awkwardly trying to give it, whose name was +Fessa, and who was a crack-filler, replied disgustedly and wonderingly: +"Oh, the stupid bee. And it smells like what it is. And that's propolis. +And when you've worked with it day and night for a week, as you will +sometime, you will learn how to handle it, and not be sickened by its +smell. It has really a good healthy smell, for it comes from beautiful +great pine trees and balsam firs." + +"Oh," cried Nuova, "from outdoors? From the garden where the flowers and +butterflies are? Shan't I go out and get you some?" And she turned as if +to start right away. + +Fessa was much astonished, and as she was an irritable bee, she was +angry too. "What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee. Go +out? You--you silly young thing. Don't you know you can't go out until +it is time for you to go? And then you'll have to go whether you want to +or not. Don't you know that bees do things according to custom? You +don't do what you like: you like what you do. That's the bee way, you +stupid. What kind of bee are you, anyway? Here now, hand over that +stuff, and go back to your work." And Fessa took the last of the +propolis from her very roughly. + +[Illustration: "What?" she cried, "Well, you really are a stupid Bee"] + +Nuova, who did not like to be handled so roughly, and talked to so +sharply, was almost in tears. She seemed to be always getting reproved. +However, she said rather maliciously to Fessa: "Well, do you like to +work with that sticky stuff? What do you do with it, anyway?" + +But Fessa had already turned back to her work and paid no attention to +her. In fact she had already begun, with her two or three other +crack-filling companions, to sing a slow, "sticky" sort of song, as they +kept stuffing propolis into a crack in the roof. Although I cannot give +you the strange, monotonous melody of the song, I can give you the +words. They were these: + + We're the soft putty crew, + Dripping the oozy glue, + Squeezing our resins through + Cranny and crack. + + Stuffing with pure cement + Crevice and chink and rent, + Where creeping airs have sent + Warning of Bee Moth bent + On sly attack. + + Yes, we are the safety crew, + Spreading with trowel true + Fragrant and golden glue, + Gumming each crack. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa_ + + +As the crack-fillers kept on singing their monotonous song over and over +while they worked, and as they paid no attention whatever to Nuova, she +turned away after a few minutes of listening to them, and stared around +her. + +It was the first time she had been clear up to the roof of the hive and +she saw that here, as at the bottom, there was a low, free space for the +whole length and breadth of the hive. It was rather dark up here, and +very warm and stuffy, for the warm air rising from the body of the hive +could not escape, as the propolis workers had filled all of the crevices +and cracks in the roof and where the great flat roof-board rested on the +vertical sides of the hive. + +Nuova felt glad she was not a crack-filler, and turned to go down to the +wax-making group where she belonged, when she saw a curious, dusky-gray +creature, not a bee, although with big eyes and long antennae and wings, +which are all things that bees have also. But this creature's body was +much slenderer than a bee's, its antennae very much longer and slenderer, +and its wings not only longer, but covered over, as was the body, with +myriads of small scales and hairs. These wings were so folded that they +covered all the back and most of the sides of the body and trailed out +beyond the tip of the body. The creature was walking rapidly and +nervously along the broad, upper edge of the comb on which Nuova stood, +and seemed to be quite at home in the dim light of this space just under +the roof. + +Nuova stared at the creature a moment, and then began to approach her. +But the creature had stepped quickly over the edge and was now running +rapidly down the face of the comb. In this lighter place Nuova could see +that she was engaged in hiding every here and there small, white eggs +that she seemed to carry somewhere in her body. She would dart nervously +in one direction and then another, hesitating a moment after each swift +movement long enough to drop an egg in an open cell or squeeze it into a +crack in the comb. + +Nuova, not being able to catch up with the creature, called loudly to +her a couple of times. "Who are you? What are you doing?" she cried; but +the creature did not reply, but only worked at her egg-hiding the more +rapidly. Nuova called to her again, this time so loudly that the +attention of several bees in the group of nurses was attracted. + +The minute they saw the creature, they set up a great shouting and began +racing after her. + +"Bee Moth! Bee Moth! After her!" they cried. "Call the soldiers! +Amazons! here! here!" + +Nuova was amazed at the uproar, and then she was shocked to see how the +Amazons and all the bees in fact dashed at the poor Bee Moth and began +to tear her literally to pieces. First her long antennae and then her +wings were torn off and brandished in the air victoriously, and then her +delicate body was stung and hacked into bits, and the fragments tossed +down to the floor to be picked up and thrown out of the hive by the +cleaners. And during all this violent scene, which horrified Nuova +because, strange as it may seem, she really did not understand the +reason for it, all the bees kept up the most excited buzzing and +exclaiming. + +"The villain!" they cried; "when did she get in? Has she laid any eggs? +How did she get in? Who saw her first? Where did she lay her eggs?" + +Some began now to peer about for the eggs, while others continued to +talk and gesticulate. + +Uno, who had been standing silent for a moment as if in thought, +suddenly spoke up loudly, while she looked significantly at Nuova. + +"Nuova saw her first," she said; "she called to us." + +At that several of the bees turned to Nuova. + +"Nuova, Nuova, saw her first!" they cried. "Did she lay any eggs? Why +didn't you call us sooner? _Did_ she lay any eggs, we say?" + +"Why, yes," Nuova answered innocently, "a good many; all the way from up +there"--indicating the top of the comb--"clear down to--to--" and Nuova +shuddered so she could not finish. + +With this the bees burst out into a new, violent excitement, and they +seemed to be very angry with poor Nuova. "Bee Moth laid a lot of eggs!" +they shouted. "Nuova saw her! Nuova let her! The stupid one! The +faithless one! Kill her! Kill her!" And they crowded around Nuova in a +most threatening manner, some trying to strike her, and two or three +Amazons trying to reach her with their lances. Nuova thought her fate +was to be that of Bee Moth's, and it really seemed so for a moment. And +then Saggia was heard calling loudly. + +[Illustration: "The stupid one! The faithless one!"] + +"A crack! There must be a _crack_! She must have come in through a +crack! She couldn't have come in past the guards at the door." + +This distracted the attention of the bees from Nuova, for at once they +all turned toward Saggia and began shouting all together: "A crack! +There's a crack somewhere! Why haven't the crack-fillers found it?" + +Then they all began to crowd toward and clamor at the propolis-workers, +who, up on their scaffolding, scowled down on the mob, seemingly +unafraid and unexcited. + +"Well," said Fessa roughly, "find the crack and we'll fill it. That's +all we've got to say. Find the crack." + +"Yes, that's right," spoke up Saggia loudly. "Some of us hunt for the +crack, and some hunt for the eggs and break them or throw them out. +Every one that isn't found and hatches in the hive means danger for us. +Find them all." + +At this the bees all began hunting about for the crack and the eggs. +Every now and then an egg would be found and with a loud shout it would +be seized and thrown down to the floor of the hive. Nuova, disheveled +and still trembling from the fright caused by the attack of the bees on +her, crept down to the floor at the side of the hive just under the +wax-makers, who had paid no attention to all the hubbub. From here she +was looking on at the search for the eggs with astonishment, when +Saggia, who had been looking anxiously about for her, saw her and came +over close to her. + +"Go up and get back into your place in the wax-curtain, and they'll +forget all about you," she whispered. "But why didn't you shout out +about the Bee Moth when you first saw her?" + +"But why should I?" answered Nuova blankly and rather bitterly. "She was +such a pretty and such an interesting creature." + +Saggia raised her antennae in astonishment and despair. "Nuova, you _are_ +a funny bee. You are so different. What _is_ the matter with you +anyway? Don't you know--but, of course, for some extraordinary reason +you don't--that your 'pretty and interesting creature' is one of the +most dangerous enemies we have? From any of her eggs that we don't find +and break, there will hatch a horrible little grub that will keep hidden +in the cracks or dark places in the hive, feeding on the wax of the +cells and on the pollen and honey, too, and spinning wherever it goes a +terrible, sticky, silken web that catches our feet and wings and +interferes with our getting around easily. And if there are enough of +the Bee Moth's grubs they spin so much web that finally we can't carry +on our work in the hive at all, and all our babies starve and the Queen +starves, and the whole community goes to ruin. 'Pretty and interesting,' +indeed; she is sneaky and despicable, that's what she is. And if you +ever see another, rush for her at once and call everybody. Being pretty +doesn't necessarily mean being good." + +"Yes; but, Saggia," said Nuova slowly, "if her grubs have to have wax +and pollen and honey for food, and if there is nobody but Bee Moth to +get them for them, and she can't, of course, doesn't she rather have to +lay her eggs in a bee-hive where, when her grubby babies hatch out, +there will be enough food for them? And don't they have to spin the web +to keep us bees from killing them as soon as we see them?" + +Saggia stared at her; and then, strange as it may seem, even this old +bee began to understand a little that Nuova's mind was a bit different +from that of the other bees in the hive, and that she had a heart that +could be hurt even by the killing of a dangerous enemy of the hive. +However, Saggia contented herself with repeating, "Well, you _are_ a +funny bee!" and then she urged Nuova again to start up the comb to the +group of wax-makers, and went back to see how the search for Bee Moth's +eggs was getting on. + +Just as Nuova was about to begin climbing up, she heard a strong, +buzzing sound near her and found that she was almost stumbling over a +bee that was standing in a most odd position, with its head down and +almost touching the floor, and its body lifted up at an angle of forty +or fifty degrees, and all of its wings going like mad, although it was +not, of course, beating its wings to fly, for it remained constantly in +the same position. There were two or three other bees near this one +doing the same thing, and farther away, nearer the hive entrance, were +two or three more. + +The wing-buzzing bee nearest Nuova, whose name was Aria, seemed to be +quite vexed with Nuova, for she said to her sharply: "Look out where you +are going, you stupid! Are you blind and deaf?" + +Nuova was startled, and rather frightened, too, by the sharp speech, but +her curiosity was even stronger than her fear. "Good gracious!" she +said; "what are you doing?" + +"What matter to you what I am doing?" said Aria, in a thick, "buzzy" +voice. "I am doing my work--which is more than you seem to be doing. +Aren't you bee enough yet to know that each of us has her own appointed +work and does it without worrying about what others are doing? If we all +do our work, then the whole community gets on all right. So if you will +look out for your work, I'll look out for mine." + +Here Aria buzzed more energetically than ever for a moment without +saying anything. Then she began speaking again, "Still if you have to be +told, you pretty little stupid bee, I'll tell you that I and my +companions are ventilating the hive, and if we should stop to loaf and +moon about like you, you and all the rest of us would suffocate, that's +what you'd do." And she stopped talking. But in a moment she began to +sing a curious little song which was partly made up of just buzzing and +humming, and partly of words. These were the words of her song, in which +all the other ventilating bees joined: + + Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz; + Back and forth, back and forth, + Fanning and stirring and driving and churning; + Old air we're forcing forth, new air's returning. + On our heads all the day; + This is the only way + We can keep sweet the hive + And our dear bees alive. + + Whirr, whirr, whirr, whirr; + Roundabout, roundabout, + Living fans ceaselessly driving and churning; + Foul air we're forcing forth, fresh air's returning. + Upside down all the day; + Beating our wings away; + So we keep sweet the hive + And our dear bees alive. + +While the ventilating bees were singing and Nuova stood idly watching +and listening to them, a small, old drone bee with crumpled-up, that is, +deformed wings, came, half walking and half comically hopping, down the +long aisle between the vertical combs from the back and darker part of +the hive. He was humming a song to himself as he came along. Beffa was +the name of the deformed bee, and he was the jester of the hive, as +could be guessed by his hopping way of walking, and by the words of his +song. + +When Nuova heard Beffa singing, she turned toward him, but did not +interrupt him. She was ever so much interested in his appearance, and by +his sort of hopping dance which he kept up all the time he was singing, +and by the song itself, which told her something about him, but not +enough. As he stopped singing, Nuova spoke, speaking to herself at +first, and then to him. + +"Oh, what a funny bee," she said. "You _are_ a bee, aren't you?" + +Beffa stared at her a moment, then made her a deep, mocking bow and gave +a hop or two. "Yes, pretty one, which is, of course, to say, stupid one, +I be a bee--just as you be, only not just so, for I be doing my work, +which I don't see that you be." Then he hopped comically about, humming +to himself the refrain of his song. + +No one, however, paid any attention to him except Nuova, who exclaimed +rather petulantly: "Oh, work, work, work; always that word!" + +"Yes," said Beffa, mockingly bowing and hopping about her, "but not +always that work"; imitating grotesquely for a moment Nuova's idle +attitude. + +"Do you call that hopping and singing work?" indignantly exclaimed +Nuova. "Why don't you go and nurse babies?" + +Beffa, who was again at his hopping and humming, stopped a moment to +stare at her in surprise; then replied, in a sing-song: "I can't, oh, I +can't nurse babies." + +"Then make wax," said Nuova. + +"I can't, oh, I can't make wax," hummed Beffa. + +"Then build a comb, or fill cracks, or clean the floor, or"--and she +pointed to the ventilating bees near them--"ventilate," persisted Nuova. + +"I can't," sang again Beffa, "oh, I can't build cells, or fill cracks, +or scrub floors, or--" and he broke off suddenly with a sort of catch in +his voice. + +But Nuova blindly persisted. "Well, then, why don't you go out and +gather pollen and bring nectar; out into the sunshine, out into the +garden." + +The poor, deformed bee, now angry, indeed, began jumping up and down +violently right in front of Nuova, and then suddenly whirled around, +bringing his back and crumpled wings fairly in her face. "Oh, silly +little pretty, pretty little silly!" he cried; "which is to say, blind +one, stupid one, heartless one, _would_ I like to go out, out into the +warm sunshine, out into the fragrant garden! Would I like to go! Blind, +stupid, brutal one!" + +When Nuova saw the poor, crumpled-up, useless wings, she suddenly +understood, and she felt like striking herself in the face as she +realized all the stupid, brutal things she had said. "Oh, you poor, poor +bee!" she cried as she touched Beffa caressingly again and again with +her antennae. "I didn't see; I didn't understand; I am so sorry! Won't +you forgive me? Please?" + +Beffa, though partly appeased, was still half angry, and still spoke +bitterly. "Oh, you _do_ understand now! You _do_ understand why I hop +and sing; why I dance for the Queen; and why I do anything I can do when +I can't do other things; can't do what a drone ought to do, fly wide and +high in the Great Courting Chase after the Princess. I am glad you +understand now. But hush, listen!" He whirled around, facing toward the +great pear-shaped cell in the lower center of the comb. "Hark! +Principessa, the new Princess, calls. Hark!" + +Beffa and Nuova stood silent and expectant, facing toward the Princess's +cell as did all the other bees. There was a tense excitement everywhere. +Nuova felt that something very important was happening. And then came a +strange sound, first faint and low, then louder and shriller. It was the +piping of the young Princess shut up in her great cell, but ready now to +come out. It sent a shiver of excitement through all the bees. +Ventilators stopped buzzing and wax-makers and comb-builders turned +their faces intently toward the sound, and even the crack-fillers, far +up at the roof, stopped their work and peered down excitedly. + +There had come, indeed, one of the most exciting and tense moments that +ever come to a bee community. It was the moment that precedes the birth +of a new royal bee, a Princess who is destined to be the new Queen of +the hive, or to go out from the hive with many of the workers to +establish a new community of her own. + +Again came the shrill piping of the Princess in the royal cell. Another +wave of excitement ran over the hive. And again and again the weird +sound came. Suddenly the royal nurses began excitedly to plaster wax on +the outside of the great cell, especially over its mouth. + +Beffa whispered to Nuova: "She is trying to work her way out, but they +don't want to let her out yet. See, the drones are coming." + +And even as he spoke a gay song was heard, in voices very different from +any that Nuova had yet heard in the hive; and suddenly, as the song grew +louder, there came a half-dancing, half-marching file of +splendid-looking, robust bees, moving spiritedly directly toward the +royal cell. They were a fine-looking lot, these drones, these dandy +drones, and Nuova had a thrill she had never felt before. She gazed at +them entranced. + +The drones made a half-circle about the cell of the Princess and lined +up there, strutting and dancing and singing loudly. This is the song +they sang: + + We are the courtiers, the beaux of the hive; + Of the dandy drones surely you've heard! + Our wings are a rainbow, our bodies are gold, + To soil them would be most absurd. + + No, we never mix up with the common hive stuff, + Neither garner, nor plaster, nor clean; + 'Tis superior far to be just what we are, + And do naught but make love to the Queen. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess_ + + +All through their song Nuova had given the drones her absorbed +attention. She admired them greatly for their fine appearance, and when +she learned from their song that they did no work, but had all day only +to follow their own sweet will, she became especially interested in +them. She was a little puzzled, too, for, from what she had heard from +Saggia and the others, and from all she had seen, she had come to +believe that all bees worked all the time. And here were all these +stout-bodied, vigorous bees proudly singing that they loafed all the +days through. She was so much interested in this that she approached one +end of the line of drones and spoke to the one nearest her. + +"What a fine time you drones must have," she said. "Don't you ever have +to do any work?" + +The drone did not hear her at first and paid no attention to her, but as +she repeated her question louder and more insistently, he turned and +stared at her amazed. + +"Well, well, bless my eyes!" he said, stammering in his amazement at +being addressed by a common worker bee. "Bless my eyes! I say, work? +Work? Me work? Who ever heard such a question? What sort of a bee are +you? Who are you, anyway?" He touched the drone next to him to call his +attention. "Look here, who is this bee?" + +Nuova was nettled by his manner and by what he said. She answered, +rather sharply, "Well, I'll tell you who I am. I am a bee that works; +anyway, I am the kind of a bee that works, like all the others except +you, and you" (looking defiantly at the second drone, who was staring +insolently at her) "and I want to know why you do not work--you and you +others that loaf around all the time and eat what we bring in, and do +nothing but sing and dance in the hive, or fly around doing nothing in +the garden, and keep all dressed up and just look handsome." + +The drone was more and more astonished, but he was also a little +flattered by her reference to his clothes and appearance. + +"Well, you are a silly little bee," he said; "that's what we are here +for. Drones work? It isn't done, you know. Our business is to love. And +singing and dancing and looking handsome, and not getting all dusty with +pollen and sticky with wax and dirty with cleaning, is part of it. +That's our work; not working, but loving." + +[Illustration: "Drones work? It isn't done, you know."] + +Nuova was so astonished by hearing this, and so excited to learn that +some bees did not have to work, and also so angry to think that these +bees were allowed to live without working, while she was always being +told to work, and scolded for resting for even the shortest time, that +when she answered him she spoke so loudly as to attract the attention of +other bees near her, including Saggia, who was moving around near by, +cleaning the floor. + +"So that is what you call your work, is it?" she burst out. "Well, I am +glad to know there is some kind of bee work besides feeding babies and +sweating out wax and filling up cracks and scrubbing up floors. Loving, +you call it; well, I want to do some of that; show me how." + +The two drones were stupefied with astonishment by Nuova's words, but +the one nearest her, to whom she was speaking directly, was rather taken +by the audacity of the pretty little bee's demand, and he involuntarily +strutted and swaggered a little and eyed her with special attention. He +even smiled down at her rather pleasantly, and seemed to be about to +speak to her again when Saggia and three or four other bees, who had +heard her last words and were scandalized to see and hear her talking +with the drone, especially in such a manner, bustled up to her. + +This last unheard-of behavior of Nuova was too much for Saggia. Her +patience and sympathy with her were exhausted, and she broke out in a +tirade of scolding. + +"Well, I never in my life!" she exclaimed, grasping Nuova and jerking +her around; "what in the world are you doing and saying? Talking to a +drone about love! You don't know anything about love. You can't know +anything about it. Only drones and princesses know what love is, or can +know. You are worse than a silly bee; you are a bad bee!" She jerked her +again and again; at the same time she went on with her scolding. "Well, +I wash my hands of you! If you can't be a sensible bee we don't want +you! Our thinking has all been done for us long, long ago. All we have +to do is what custom tells us to. And if you can't behave as the rest of +us do, you are useless. Here, take her, throw her out of the hive!" + +Again Saggia jerked her vigorously, and other bees, especially Uno, Due, +and Tre, hustled her and struck at her. A couple of soldiers even came +up and began jabbing at her with their lances. Poor Nuova seemed about +to be torn piecemeal, like the Bee Moth, and turned out of the hive, +when one of the drones, who was in the line some little distance from +Nuova and Saggia, was attracted by the uproar. He came over to the group +in a lordly and leisurely manner, shouldering his way through the crowd +and carelessly driving off the jostling bees. They left Nuova +reluctantly, casting dark looks and making malevolent gestures toward +her as they turned their attention again to the excitement still raging +about the cell of the Princess. Poor Nuova, half dead from her +ill-treatment, could hardly utter her thanks to her rescuer. In a weak +voice she attempted to say something, but finding it too much of an +effort she contented herself with looking up gratefully into the face of +the newcomer. He looked down at her curiously. + +"What is the matter with you?" he said, not unkindly. "Can you not do as +other bees do? What are you--a nurse, a wax-maker, or what? Why don't +you stick to your work? Why don't you do what you are expected to do? +Are you one of those dreadful creatures they call 'new bees'?" + +Nuova, although still weak and faint from her jostling and fright, was +made angry again by these questions. "I do not know what I am," she +said, "but I'd rather die than be just a puppet in this hive. Is all my +life cut out for me, and not according to what I want to do and can do, +but just according to rules made by somebody I don't know anything about +and who doesn't know anything about me?" + +She tried to say more, but a faintness came over her, and she staggered +a little and would have fallen if the drone had not unconsciously put a +wing behind her and supported her. She looked up at him, unable to thank +him in words, but expressing her gratitude in her eyes. + +As she rested this way, leaning heavily against him, she closed her +eyes, happy to be protected, and even feeling strange little thrills +running over her body that were mysteriously enjoyable. Without opening +her eyes she murmured: "I am very grateful to you. You are very good." +He said nothing, but looked with more and more interest at the +sweet-faced little bee beside him. + +Soon she opened her eyes again, and this time a pathetic little smile +ran over her face. Indeed, it grew to be a roguish smile as an +interesting idea formed more and more clearly in her brain. + +"But you," she said--"aren't you rather breaking bee tradition by +helping me? If I am a useless bee, and only in the way, and a trouble to +the community, shouldn't you let them sting me and throw me out of the +hive? Are you" (she smiled again)--"are you, a--new bee, too?" + +The drone, whose name was Hero, and who was truly the handsomest and +finest drone in the hive, was first surprised and then a little +embarrassed by what Nuova was saying. He looked rather fearfully around +to see if other bees were observing them and tried gently to take his +wing from behind Nuova, who, however, on realizing his intention, gave +new signs of weakness and leaned more heavily than ever on it. In fact, +it must be confessed, she nestled as closely against him, enclosed by +his protecting wings, as she could. + +"No, I am not a new bee," he said, rather stiffly. "I know my duty, and +I try to do it." He looked again into his companion's pretty face, and +then spoke more gently. + +"Still, I admit that some of our ways are old-fashioned, rather absurd +in fact," he said, with a manner and voice growing more and more +confidential. "I have often had a curious feeling as if I should like to +work." He smiled down at her. "Terrible, isn't it? And sometimes it is +pretty hard to work up a violent love for a Princess you never see until +you are just about to dash after her in the Great Courting Chase. Still, +that's something worth while. One such flight is excitement and exertion +enough for a whole life." + +"Have you ever done it?" asked Nuova, curiously and even a little +enviously. "And did you win?" + +"Yes," said Hero, "I have been in one chase. But I was so young my wings +were hardly dry and, of course, I didn't win, or I shouldn't be here +now. Don't you know that the winner always dies in the winning?" + +"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Nuova, shocked. "And how silly! To die just as +you become King. How is it worth it?" + +"What!" said Hero, surprised, and in a reproving and even stern voice. +"Not worth while to win in the Great Courting Chase? To prove yourself +the fastest and strongest and boldest of all the drones, and to be the +consort of the Queen, the father of all the Queen's children? Not worth +while dying for? What do I live for but that?" + +"Ah, yes," cried Nuova, carried away for the moment by his enthusiasm, +"that _is_ something to live for!" + +Suddenly, however, she realized that if Hero won in the Great Chase that +was soon to occur--that is, would take place when the Princess, already +trying to get out of her cell, was really out and ready for her wedding +flight--he would really have to die for a bee, so far unseen and +unknown, and who had done nothing to deserve such a sacrifice, and who +would give her love as well to any other drone as to Hero, this handsome +and kind new friend. + +This made her angry and bitter again, and very sad, too, for she was +beginning to realize that she liked this beautiful, strong bee much more +than she liked Saggia or Beffa. He was different from all the other bees +she knew, and her liking for him was different. She wanted to be with +him all the time, and to have him talk to her or even just to look at +her. This must be loving, she thought, or part of it, anyway. She began +to dislike this Princess that was soon to come out of her cell. Probably +she would be very beautiful. When she thought of that she disliked her +more than ever. She could not bear to think of Hero's loving her or of +her loving Hero. + +She looked keenly at Hero, and then spoke to him slowly and cautiously, +growing suddenly wise because of her new feeling for him. + +"But how do you know you will love the new Princess?" she said. "Is she +certain to be beautiful and sweet? And will she certainly love you?" + +Hero looked at her curiously. It was strange how this pretty little bee +attracted him. And it was strange that she seemed to have very clearly +certain thoughts that were already rather hazily in his own mind. + +"Oh, well," he said musingly, "I shall not see much of her. It is not, +in a sense, love for her, but the response to the call of the race, the +fulfilling of my duty to our community, that will drive me to my best +effort to win her. But, of course, it is love for her, too; that is, so +far as there is love at all among bees. We can love only Princesses, you +know, we drones; that is honey-bee tradition." + +Hero had seen no betrayal of Nuova's real feeling in her questions. He +only saw in them the expression of her odd, independent way of looking +at things and thinking about them. Nuova realized this and so became +bolder by his blindness. And she was made bitter, too, by hearing this +hero of hers repeat that always irritating phrase of "honey-bee +tradition." + +"Oh, yes," she exclaimed, "you can only do what your grandfathers and +your great-grandfathers did! You must keep your eyes closed and your +heart cold and loll and loaf through all your life until they tell you +to go and love--love a Princess--love her, sight unseen--love her so +hard that if you win her you kill yourself! You are not _you_; you are +not a bee with a heart and brain and strong body of your own, to live +and strive and suffer and succeed after your own way and your own +desires, but you are a machine, an automaton, to do what custom has +fashioned you to do! You are not a bee; you are a clock-work; big and +strong and handsome--and hollow!" + +Hero, amazed at her vehemence and her breaking of all bee tradition, +looked at her more and more interestedly. He found a responsive feeling +in himself, not only to the ideas expressed by her words, but to her own +attractiveness and boldness. + +"Well," he said amazedly, but also sympathetically--"well, you _are_ a +silly little bee!" + +But now the excitement around the Princess's cell broke out afresh. She +was evidently about to come forth. From inside her cell she piped more +loudly and more often than ever. Suddenly a loud, answering trumpeting +was heard, and Beffa came hopping and humming to announce the approach +of the old Queen. It was the Queen who was making the answering +trumpeting. She came majestically along toward the cell of the Princess +with a group of attendant bees about her. These attendants always kept +circling slowly, but animatedly, about her, facing toward her, and +although constantly shifting and changing places, always maintaining a +complete circle around her. Every now and then she gave a loud +trumpeting, and each time she was answered by a shrill piping from the +cell. Or perhaps it was the old Queen who was defiantly answering the +challenges of the Princess. + +All the bees were enormously excited. They moved about constantly, +buzzing and grouping in dense masses, now here, now there, but mostly +close to the great cell. They were, however, plainly divided in their +feeling, for some of the groups were intent on keeping near the Queen. + +All the drones, however, clustered around the Princess's cell. Only +Hero, who still stood by the side of Nuova a little to one side, had not +joined the group of drones which was giving all its attention to the +awaited appearance of the Princess. None of them paid the slightest +attention to the Queen. + +The excitement steadily increased. It was evident that the climax was at +hand. Suddenly a breathless silence succeeded the buzzing whir. All the +bees stood still with eyes fastened on the royal cell, and there came +slowly forth from it, with beautiful but cold, set face and slow +automatic movement, the new Princess. + +[Illustration: There came slowly forth--the new Princess] + +As she stepped clear of her cell, with long, slender body erect, and +shining delicate wings already nearly dry and straight, the whole mass +of the bees quivered with renewed excitement. She carried a long, +shining silver lance which she held point upward and used to support her +first rather uncertain steps. + +The old Queen, staring defiantly at the shining Princess, seemed to +realize that the end of her reign had come. But she lifted her own long +lance threateningly in the air and gave out a challenging trumpet call +that sounded loud through all the hive. + +The Princess, though obviously not yet in full control of her movements +because of her long confinement in the cell, nevertheless faced the +threatening old Queen with full defiance, and piped back a vigorous +answer. + +The Queen seemed to lose all her self-control at this, and stooping a +little, and putting her lance in place so that it pointed directly at +the Princess, started to rush at her. But a mass of bees threw +themselves in front of her, blocking her way and pushing her lance up. + +Thwarted in her intention of killing the Princess or putting her to +flight, the old Queen hesitated a moment, and then with a loud cry of +"Who loves me, follow me to make a new home," she rushed for the opening +of the hive followed by a great swarm of worker bees. + +Nuova turned anxiously to Hero to see if he were going to follow the old +Queen from the hive. Her own inclination was to go with her, for she +detested the haughty, cold-faced new Princess, both because of her +appearance and insolent manner and because she felt that Hero would +surely win in the Great Courting Chase and hence become the Royal +Consort of the Princess and have to die for her sake. So she timidly +touched him with one of her antennae to attract his attention, which was +all being given to the stirring scene before them. + +"Are you going to follow the old Queen?" she asked, "or stay with the +Princess?" + +Hero started, as she spoke, as if awakened from a daze. He looked down +at her curiously, as if only half recognizing her. Then he turned again +to look intently at the Princess and the group of drones about her. With +a quick turn back to Nuova he answered her as if astonished by her +question: + +"I shall stay with the Princess of course." Then he straightened up +proudly and added: "Indeed, I think she will be my Princess; my Queen." + +He looked toward the Princess again, this time eagerly and bending +rather toward her as if impatient to go to her. And even as he looked +toward her, her eyes, moving slowly and proudly over the whole group of +bees who had elected to remain in the hive with her, rested on him, and +stopped there. As she saw the handsome drone bending toward her with his +eager eyes fixed on her, a slow smile came over her face. It was the +first appearance of anything but defiance or cold insolence to which she +had yet given expression. Both Hero and Nuova saw it. Poor Nuova! It was +too much for her. She could hardly stand. Hero felt her trembling at his +side. He turned his face to look down at her, and was astonished and +then suddenly touched and even moved to see in her wet eyes the revealed +love of this pretty little worker bee for him. + +He spoke to her half curiously, half tenderly. "And are you going with +the old Queen, or will you stay here with the Princess?" he asked. + +"Stay, stay," whispered Nuova, almost sobbing. "I think--she will +be--my--Queen, also." + +As she said this she turned away. Just then the old Queen and the swarm +of bees about her rushed from the hive. All the bees remaining began to +sing a loud song of gladness and welcome to the Princess who was to be +their new Queen. And they all joined in a mad dance of joy--except +Nuova, who hid her tear-stained face and limp body behind the nearest +great honeycomb. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_Nuova goes Outside_ + + +When Nuova felt that she could face again the scene near the cell, she +left her hiding-place and came slowly out into the open space where she +had left Hero. He was gone. She knew, without looking, that he was now +with the other drones pressing about the cold, proud Princess. She +looked rather for her old friends Saggia and Beffa. Though Saggia had +lost all patience with her because she had spoken to the drones, and had +punished her, and even given her over to Uno, Due, Tre, and the other +bees who disliked her, she still liked Saggia and believed that Saggia +liked her. + +So she looked around for them. But they were not in the mass about the +Princess nor in any of the groups which were beginning to take up again +the different kinds of work of the hive. + +Nuova noticed some bees going in and out the entrance hole of the hive, +and although she knew, by instinct, that she was still too young to +leave the hive, yet that strange driving spirit in her, which was +always impelling her to do things against bee traditions and custom, +urged her to the bright opening. Once there she hesitated. The brilliant +sunshine outside was blinding to her eyes, accustomed so far only to the +half-light of the hive. She had a curious sensation too, half of fear of +this unknown world outside, half of fascination to plunge recklessly +into it to see and learn the new things there must be in it, and to +escape from the automatic, heartless life of the hive, and the latest +and bitterest unhappiness this life had just brought to her. + +As she stood, uncertain, at the edge of the opening, she heard a +familiar humming just outside the opening, and at once stepped out. She +found herself on a broad platform as wide as the hive and extending +forward for what seemed to her a long distance, but which was in reality +only a few inches. On either side of the platform and beyond it were +grass and flowers and bushes, and still farther away some great trees, +all new and wonderful things to her. Above was the blue sky, and she +heard birds twittering, and far away the song of a woman working in the +garden. And it was all very light and fresh and fragrant. Nuova liked +it. + +She heard the familiar humming again. She turned her attention to the +entrance platform. There were only a few bees on it. A few guards moved +easily and half-lazily around, and a few foraging bees were coming and +going with loads of pollen and honey or with pollen baskets and honey +sacs empty. But suddenly she saw Beffa. It was he who was making the +familiar humming. With tired, drawn face and with only grimaces for +smiles, he was slowly hopping and humming near the front edge of the +platform. He often came to a standstill to look with fixed gaze out into +the distance. Beffa was a sad bee, for his Queen had gone and he could +not follow her. Poor Beffa! It made Nuova sad, too, to see him. + +And then she saw Saggia, too. She was at one side of the platform with +dustpan and brush, and occasionally stooping over to brush up something. +She, too, seemed sad and tired. She looked older than Nuova had seen her +look before. Saggia, like Beffa, every now and then stood quite still +and gazed far away into the garden or sky as if hoping to see again +the old Queen whom they had lost. Saggia and Beffa had come close +together without noticing each other or Nuova, so occupied with their +own thoughts were they. But soon Saggia noticed Beffa and moved up close +to him. + +"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia, in a low voice so that only Beffa +should hear. + +[Illustration: "Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia] + +Even Beffa did not hear her at first, or, at least, he did not heed her. +But when Saggia repeated what she had said, Beffa came out of his +reverie with a jerk, and awkwardly made a little hop and grimace. + +"Sad," said he. "Great Apis forfend. Haven't we a shining new Princess +to our hive; a virgin new Princess to wed and be a new Queen to us all? +Why should we mourn for an old Queen that's gone? Why be sad with a new +Queen to come? Ha-ha," he laughed sardonically and bitterly. + +"Yes, sad," repeated Saggia again, still speaking low and significantly, +"when we have just lost our old Queen who liked her jester, Beffa, and +even her old floor-cleaner, Saggia, who neither of them know whether +the new Queen will like them or not. Oh, sad, sad! Ha-ha!" And she +half-imitated Beffa's sardonic laugh and his hop and grimace. + +Beffa turned and faced Saggia squarely, surprised to find wise old +Saggia troubled and depressed just as he was. After a long, keen look at +her, he made a solemn gesture to the distance, and then a mocking bow +toward the hive entrance. + +"The Queen has passed: long live the Queen!" he exclaimed. + +Several of the guard and forager bees near him heard his cry and called +out after him-- + +"The Queen has passed: long live the Queen!" + +But one old guard of testy temper added, speaking rather roughly to +Beffa: "What are you doing here? Doesn't the Princess laugh at your old +tricks? Can't you find some new ones?" + +Beffa turned angrily toward the guard, as if to answer sharply, but +suddenly checked himself and began capering and humming. Then he sang in +a bitter voice: + + "Let the guards guard, and the jester jest, + Let Saggia clean, and the new queen wed, + Let all the bees do all they did, + For life is doing what we're bid. + Oh, life is doing what we're bid. + Ha-ha!" + +Saggia felt a little anxious on Beffa's account, for his song seemed +bitter, and she saw that the guard was looking both puzzled and sour as +she listened to it. So Saggia spoke to her hurriedly. + +"The odor from our full pantries comes strong from the hives this +morning," she said. "I hope it won't attract the Black Bees." + +"Oh, the Black Bees," said the guard, superiorly. "Let them come. We'll +show them how robbers are treated." + +Just as the guard finished speaking, a commotion began on the other side +of the platform, and Nuova saw a large black-and-yellow-striped creature +with a long spear lunging fiercely toward the entrance of the hive. It +was a Yellow Jacket. She knew it at once, because she had heard some of +the nurse bees one day talking about these fierce +black-and-yellow-banded robbers that sometimes fought their way into +the hive to steal honey. + +The guard near Saggia and Beffa hurried across the platform brandishing +her lance. But already three or four other guards had thrown themselves +on the intruder and were beating it back, striking it viciously with +their lances. The Yellow Jacket made a good fight, but the bee Amazons +were too many for it. It was wounded, began to weaken, and soon was +hustled back off the platform and on through the grass behind a near-by +bush. + +The guard who had been talking with Saggia came back proudly to her, +still brandishing her long lance. + +"That's the way we do it," she said. "And a Yellow Jacket is stronger +than a Black Bee." + +"Yes," replied Saggia, wagging her old head wisely, "but not stronger +than ten Black Bees, or a hundred, and that is the way _they_ come." + +As Saggia finished speaking, the guards who had driven the Yellow Jacket +away returned boisterously, and joining all the other guards on the +platform, formed in a line, and half-marching, half-dancing, went +through some military maneuvers. While they were doing this, another lot +of guards came out of the hive, and forming in a line opposite them, +also went through the martial dance. At the end of it all the guards who +had been outside marched into the hive, while the new ones remained +outside on the platform. It was the "relief of the guard." + +All during the guards' dancing and marching, Nuova had stood still +watching them intently. Neither Saggia nor Beffa had seen her yet. And +she was afraid to speak to them for fear of being made to go back into +the hive again. She had made up her mind to stay outside. It was all so +much more beautiful and exciting out here. She had decided that she +would not be a nurse or wax-maker or anything else inside the hive any +longer. She wanted to be a forager and be free to go in and out as she +liked, and to fly far out into the garden and spend long, sunshiny hours +there. + +Just then, however, Saggia caught sight of her. It was, indeed, Beffa +who saw her first. He quietly touched Saggia with one of his antennae and +waved the other in Nuova's direction. Saggia hurried over to her, +looking anxiously around her to see if any other bees had noticed Nuova. + +"What are you doing out here?" whispered Saggia to her as she reached +her side. "Who sent you out? It isn't time for a week yet for you to +come outside." + +Saggia wanted to be angry with her, but the sight of Nuova, so sad and +forlorn-looking, and with tear-marks still on her face, was too much for +her kind heart. And she really loved Nuova very much. Indeed, all that +Nuova had done, and what she had said, had made a strange appeal to the +wise old bee. She was almost frightened sometimes to feel that down deep +in her heart she not only sympathized with much of Nuova's revolt +against the rigid traditions and automatic life of the bees, but that +she realized that this stifling of all independent action and all +personal emotions was not always the way to the highest happiness nor +even the wisest conduct for the bees. She shuddered to think that +perhaps she, too, was a "new bee." + +Nuova was half-frightened by Saggia's discovery of her and by her hard +words. But she answered her willfully and defiantly, although with a +touch of attractive mischievousness. + +"Nobody sent me out," she said. "I have just decided to be a forager; +that's all. While I was in the hive a little while ago a forager came in +with two great loads of pollen in her pollen baskets. She was very tired +and seemed sick. While she was looking around for an empty cell in which +to put her pollen, she suddenly sank down--and--and died." + +Nuova shivered as she said this, and dropped her antennae down over her +eyes for a moment. + +"Ah, yes," said Saggia sadly but proudly; "worked herself to death. That +is the noble death we have. We die in the harness--working for others, +working for the hive. The bees know that death well and honor it." + +"They may know it well," broke in Nuova sharply, "but they do not honor +it well. Anyway, not by their actions. Nobody paid any attention to the +poor forager when she was staggering along with her load, and none when +she sank down on the floor and died. Except pretty soon a couple of +cleaners came along and dragged her body away. I suppose they brought +it out here and flung it off the platform somewhere. A noble death, well +honored, indeed! Well, I don't want that kind. I am going to die out in +the garden, under a flower." + +While Nuova was speaking, Beffa had hopped and hummed his way over to +them, and now he broke in with a song, which he sang as he hopped and +danced about them. This is what he sang: + + "Work, no play; work all day; + A useful life; a usual life; + The good bee's way, + All day, all day. + Then die and lie + Till Saggia spy + The carrion stuff-- + A tug; a shove, + And the friend you love + Is gone to grass: + Ha, ha, alas, is gone to grass. + A noble life; a halted breath: + The epitaph: 'She worked to death.'" + +Both Saggia and Nuova listened to Beffa and watched him till he had +finished singing. They both saw clearly his own unhappiness and his own +revolt against the rigor of the bee tradition that demands always the +full sacrifice of the individual for the community. Saggia realized that +Beffa, too, was a "new bee." + +Nuova, in the meanwhile, was looking off again into the beautiful +garden; at the green grass and bushes; the many-colored flowers; the +blue sky and warm, bright sunshine over all. She was enchanted. She drew +a long breath of relief and happiness. She turned to Saggia. + +"Will they keep me in," she whispered, "if I go back into the hive? If +they will, I shan't go," she added positively. + +Saggia looked about again to see if other bees were paying attention to +them. None was. + +"No," she said, speaking in a low voice, "they won't keep you. They +won't pay any attention to you as long as you keep busy, coming and +going. You can be a honey-gatherer. The honey-flowers are only a little +way off, there in the garden. But first you must get acquainted with the +outside of the hive and the entrance. Look around. See, we are just by +the side of this big bush, with that long branch hanging over. You can +go out a little way from the platform, then turn around and see how the +hive looks from there. Then go a little farther and look back again. +Then go a little way to one side, and then to the other, and notice +everything that will help you to find your way back. If you get lost, +see if you can't see other honey-gatherers or pollen-foragers flying +with full loads; they are returning to the hive; follow them. As to +collecting the honey, you will learn that easily; in fact, you will be +surprised when you get to the flowers, to find that you already know +how. Be careful and not get into the poppies that shut up on you, and +watch always for the great-crested bee-bird that swoops down on you, +and, peck"--Saggia exaggeratedly imitated a bird's pecking--"and that is +the end. Now, be off for your first flight. But not too far--not for the +first time." + +Nuova's face shone with eagerness. "Oh, thank you, Saggia, thank you. +You are good to me. You are different from the others. Thank you, +dearest Saggia." + +Nuova started quickly forward toward the edge of the platform. Just then +Beffa, who had been hopping gently about Nuova and Saggia while they +were talking, now hopped and danced along in front of Nuova, singing: + + "The new bee and the old world; + Flowers are there and butterflies; + But ugly toads and big bee-birds, + If the old bee thinks she knows, + The new bee knows she doesn't. + Ah, new bee knows the world-old truth, + That the old world's ever new." + +Nuova had slowed her steps so that she could hear all of Beffa's little +song, and as he finished she came up to him and touched him caressingly +with one of her antennae. But Beffa shrank from her caress. It meant so +much to him, and yet he knew it meant so little to her. He knew Nuova +liked him; yes, but he knew that he more than liked Nuova: he loved her. +Poor Beffa! Love! A pitiful, deformed drone that could not fly; that +could never be in the Great Courting Chase! And it was only then that +the drones loved; and then only a Princess that could be loved. What he +felt was impossible for a bee to feel; bee tradition told him that; and +yet, he knew that he did feel this impossible thing. + +"Beffa, you are good to me too," said Nuova to him; "you and Saggia are +both good to me. And you two are the wisest bees in the hive, for you +know that I am not the same as the other bees. No bees are exactly the +same, I believe. We can't be all exactly alike, and we can't all like +the same things, or think the same way, can we? I wish I could be a +Queen so that I could have you always for my jester; always by to say +funny things and wise things." + +Beffa made a grimace--to hide a sob. And he hopped more grotesquely than +ever, while he sang: + + "Ah, well, who knows? + New things unheard of may be true, + For every day the world is new. + Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows?" + +"Good-bye, Beffa," said Nuova. And she stepped to the edge of the +platform, and spread her wings for her first flight, her first plunge +into the outside world of grass and flowers and butterflies and +bee-birds. And just then something happened that postponed this flight. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle_ + + +Just as Nuova was about to launch herself into the air, a sudden +commotion at the hive opening made her look back. After this look she +had no further thought of the garden. What she saw was the group of +drones coming out of the hive, with another group of worker bees +attendant upon them. These attendants were cleaning the drones' bodies +and wings and evidently preparing them for some great event. It was +plain to Nuova that this was the preparation for the Great Courting +Chase. Her heart gave a leap, her eyes became misty; she stumbled and +almost fell. She was so dizzy that she thought sudden death had struck +her. It was only, however, the blow of her heart and mind in realizing +that Hero--her Hero--must be in the group and preparing to leave her +forever. He had, in a sense, already left her forever she knew, for he +had made his decision--or rather she felt that the cruel bee tradition +had made the decision for him--to follow the Princess. And if he +followed her he could but win. Her wonderful, handsome, powerful Hero +would be easily the successful one in the Great Courting Chase. + +She ran her eyes anxiously over the group of drones now well out of the +entrance and spreading out on the platform. At first she did not see +Hero. But in a moment she did. He was a little apart from the others, +and showed none of the excitement of the other drones. Indeed, he seemed +to be rather depressed, and was evidently keeping quite by himself. He +had not even an attendant with him. Nuova saw in this her chance. + +She turned back from the edge of the platform, merged into the excited +crowd, none of the bees paying any attention to her at all, and began to +work her way through the press toward Hero. + +Just then, however, Uno appeared by his side and began to brush his +wings. He turned on her with an impatient gesture. Surprised and angry, +Uno made a grimace and left him. A moment later, Due, noticing that he +had no helper, hurried over to him, but she, also, much to her surprise +and chagrin, was treated as Uno had been. + +Hero seemed to be in an irritable mood. As the drones and their +attendants came farther out, he moved away toward the front of the +platform. This brought him rather near Nuova, who was able to reach him +before any other bee could offer him her services. + +Nuova, unperceived by Hero, slipped behind him and began nervously and +awkwardly, glancing at the attendants on the other drones for guidance, +to clean his wings. Soon an awkward tug apprised Hero that some one was +again trying to attend him, and he turned with an angry movement to +drive her off, when he recognized Nuova, and arrested his gesture. He +stood still, looking at her keenly, and, without a word, let her go on +caring for him. She grew even more nervous and awkward. Then he smiled +gently, and spoke to her in a low voice. + +[Illustration: Nuova began to clean his wings] + +"How do you come to be out here?" he asked. "You weren't sent as an +attendant to us. Only the older and more experienced bees are given +that--honor." He smiled again. "You didn't come out just now?" + +"No," said Nuova almost in a whisper--"no, I was going out for honey." + +"Oh, fine!" said Hero. "Out into the world already! You must have done +your work in the hive very well." + +"Yes," murmured Nuova demurely. + +Just then two or three Black Bees slipped out from behind a bush near +the platform, but no one noticed them. + +"But why don't you go, then?" asked Hero. "It is beautiful over there +among the flowers." He waved an antenna toward the garden. "And +fragrant, and exciting. Other kinds of creatures; beetles and +grasshoppers and big buzzing flies. Some bad ones, too; spiders and +giant bee-birds always watching, watching to catch you." Nuova +shuddered. "But you are not afraid, are you?" Hero looked at her keenly. +"Or are you? Do you prefer to stay here in safety and just wait on the +drones?" + +"Yes," said Nuova slowly, "I prefer to wait on a drone." + +"I am surprised," said Hero sternly and even half-contemptuously. + +Just then Nuova made an awkward tug at his wing. He winced. "Ouch!" he +said; then half-laughed. "Your champion will never win Principessa if +you pull his wings out." + +As he said this, Nuova involuntarily, in response to her feelings, gave +an even harder tug at his wings. + +Hero exclaimed again, and half-pulled away from her. He spoke almost +angrily. + +"Here, what _are_ you doing?" he cried. Then, as he looked into the +eager, excited, pretty face of his little attendant, he felt his heart +give a curious throb. And when he spoke again it was almost tenderly. + +"Well, you are good to try and help me, anyway. But"--and now he spoke +rather moodily--"I don't need much preparing. I can beat any of +them"--and he waved contemptuously toward the other drones--"easily, +just as I am." + +Poor Nuova! He could hardly have said a more discouraging thing to her, +or one to hurt her more. She drew back a little and had hard work not +to cry. She half-sobbed as she said: "That--is--fine. I am sure--you +can." She paused. Then she said slowly: "And if you do beat them, are +you sure to get--her? Are you sure to be able to catch--her?" + +The excitement on the platform was growing. The drones seemed to be +getting impatient, and the attendants worked feverishly at the cleaning +and making ready for the wonderful event about to happen. The infection +of all this excitement began to seize Hero. He had turned his face away +from Nuova to stare intently at the opening of the hive. It was there, +of course, that the Princess would soon appear. + +At Nuova's last question he started a little. "Eh?" he said rather +brusquely. "Oh, yes, of course, I can catch her. She will fly faster +than we at first, but she can't keep it up as long as we can. She will +try to go higher and higher in the air, but that is hard work. That is +when we shall catch up with her." He paused, then added, musingly: "It +is odd; she is trying her best to get away from us and yet she wants to +get caught all the time. She must get caught, you know, or we shouldn't +have any Queen, and the hive would go all to pieces. The old Queen never +comes back, of course. The Princess is our one chance to have a Queen at +all." + +Nuova seemed to be thinking hard. Something was puzzling her. "But," she +asked insistently, "what really does happen if a Princess doesn't get +caught, or something happens to her. There must be some way to save the +community, isn't there?" + +Hero seemed to have lost interest again in Nuova and her questionings. +He was gazing fixedly at the hive entrance. + +"Oh," he said carelessly, "I don't know. I've heard sometimes that a +worker bee can--" + +He was suddenly interrupted. There was a new and very violent commotion +on that side of the platform which the few Black Bees had approached, +unnoticed, a few minutes before. Now there was a whole group of them +plainly in sight and many others were coming quickly out from behind the +bush. A great and angry buzzing was heard from the guards on the +platform and cries of "Lotta, Lotta! The Amazons! Call Lotta! Call the +Amazons! Hurry! The Black Bees! The Black Bees!" + +The guards, few as they were in comparison with the oncoming horde of +Black Bees, threw themselves bravely at them, and a moment after Lotta +and her Amazons began issuing pell-mell from the hive entrance. They +were met almost immediately by the foremost Black Bees, who had easily +killed or were driving back the few guards, and were making rapid +headway over the platform toward the entrance. A few even had passed in +through the entrance, but they were driven out again at once by the +issuing Amazons. In fact, most of the first Black Bees to gain a +foothold on the platform and to push forward to the entrance or into it +were killed. But that brought no terror to the others. They pressed on +over the dead bodies of their comrades, lunging and striking viciously +with their long lances. + +But Lotta and the Amazons were fighting fiercely, too. They were making +a heroic defense of the hive and its stores. The battle raged with great +fury, but for a little while with no apparent advantage to either side. +The Black Bees seemed, on the whole, the more expert and the more +furious fighters--they are, indeed, a race of bees famous for their +fighting--but Lotta's wonderful personal courage and deeds of prowess +were a great inspiration to the defenders. She appeared to be everywhere +at once, and her shouts of defiance to the enemy and of encouragement to +her followers made up in some measure for the feebler strength and less +experience of her band. + +This was so obvious to the Black Bees that she was soon singled out for +special attack by groups of her adversaries. Two or three Black Bees +would combine to assail her from different sides, but her lightning +movements and dashing bravery had so far saved her even from being +touched by an enemy's lance. But just at the moment when Nuova had +recovered a little from her amazement and terror at this sudden +invasion, Lotta received her first wound. The fierce Black Bees were +closing around her too closely. Nuova felt a violent rage rising within +her as she realized that at any cost the Black Bees were going to kill +the leader of the Amazons. Lotta was staggering, and a half-dozen lances +were lunging at her. She stumbled, gave one final shout of +defiance--and fell. + +It was a terrible blow to the Amber Amazons. They were seized with +dismay. They had no one to lead them. They hesitated, gave way here and +there, and the Black Bees with triumphant shouts pressed forward. Some +of them had even reached the entrance, when a new, shrill battle-cry and +call of encouragement to the Amber fighters rose above all the noise of +the battle. + +The cry came from Nuova. She had watched the whole terrible struggle in +a sort of daze; half of terror, half of utter amazement. But when Lotta +was struck down, the rage rising within her seized her completely, and +when the Black Bees had pressed on over the fallen leader's body with +shouts of triumph, she sprang forward, grasped Lotta's own lance from +her sinking hand, and threw herself with such fury on the rear of the +marauders that they had to turn to defend themselves. Then it was that +she had uttered her first battle-cry. As the Amber bees heard it and saw +at the same time that some of the black fighters had turned to defend +themselves against an attack in the rear, they checked their retreat +and began answering back this new shrill call. In the next moment they +saw something that filled them all with rejoicing and gave them at once +a new courage. + +Nuova, taking a lesson from the method of the attackers, had looked +about, even as she leaped into the fight, for the leader of the Blacks, +and had fought her way fiercely directly toward her. In a moment they +were face to face, and in another moment thrusting and parrying in +deadly personal combat. + +But nothing could withstand the vigor and audacity of this rage-maddened +new warrior's assault, and the black leader, first contemptuous, then +amazed, then terrified, found herself fighting vainly for her life. She +managed to strike Nuova one or two glancing blows with her lance, but +for answer received a thrust fairly through the body, and fell with a +great cry of defeat and pain. + +This it was that filled the despairing Amber bees with a new courage and +reanimated them to fresh resistance. Turning on their attackers, they +renewed the battle with an irresistible surge toward Nuova, and reaching +her and following her lead in but few moments more they had rushed the +disheartened Black Bees off of the platform. They even followed them +into the grass, where they killed many of them one by one. Then they +hurried back with shouts of victory, and ranged themselves in lines for +marching and dancing. While the foragers busied themselves with carrying +the bodies of the fallen off of the platform, all the Amazons marched +and danced and sang loud songs of triumph. + +[Illustration: Nuova was among the fallen] + +But Nuova was not among them. She was among the fallen. Not far from the +body of the dead leader of the Black Bees whom she had so brilliantly +overcome, Nuova lay huddled. Saggia, who had been hustled out of the +press and into the entrance of the hive while the battle was going on, +now hurried to her fallen friend. Beffa, also, came hopping anxiously to +her, and Hero, who knew now that Nuova was no coward, and had, indeed, +been seized with a great admiration and at the same time a great +solicitude for his extraordinary little worker-bee friend, also hastened +to her side and bent over her. Other bees, too, came crowding around, +and Nuova's body would almost have been trampled under foot by the +surging crowd if Hero had not angrily cleared a little space about her. +Saggia, who had found already to her great joy that Nuova showed no +lance wound, but had only been stunned by a glancing blow, was lifting +her gently to her feet. And just as Hero came to her side, Nuova, dazed +and faint, first opened her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase_ + + +"My brave little Nuova," said Saggia, joyfully and tenderly. And Beffa +hopped happily about, singing softly to her: + + "For a new bee + A new way; + From nurse to warrior + All in a day. + What's for to-morrow? + Who can say? + For the newest bee, + The newest way." + +The other bees about her were all talking confusedly together. "She +saved our stores! Who is she?" they cried. "She is Nuova, the nurse! +Nuova, the wax-maker! She is Nuova, the honey-gatherer! She was not even +an Amazon! Is she hurt? She is killed! She is wounded! What a brave +bee!" + +Hero had said nothing yet, but now, as he leaned over her with his face +close to hers and her eyes opened slowly, he murmured tenderly, "Little +Nuova!" + +Nuova looked languidly up at him and around at Saggia and Beffa; then +closed her eyes again with a weak but happy smile, and spoke in a low, +trembling voice: "She struck me, but I hit her back; I hit her harder." + +"You killed her, Nuova," broke in Hero, proudly. "You were wonderful." + +Nuova shuddered. "Killed her!" she said sadly. "Dreadful! I am sorry." + +"Sorry?" cried Saggia. "You silly! You saved us! You won the victory by +killing her!" + +"Who was she?" asked Nuova, still sadly. + +"Why, the Chief of the Black Bees," said Hero, proudly and tenderly. +"Their greatest fighter! And you, little Nuova, alone, killed her." + +Nuova looked up at him thoughtfully. "Are you glad?" she asked. + +Hero turned with stupefaction to Saggia. She could only lift her hands +in amazement. Nuova's mental processes were too much for them, although +Beffa, hopping near, nodded his head wisely to himself. + +"Glad? I glad? Of course, you absurd warrior!" said Hero. "We are all +glad, aren't we?" he asked of the others about. + +"Glad? Of course, we are glad! You saved us!" said they all. + +"Well," said Nuova, smiling gently, and looking up at Hero, "if you are +glad, I am glad." And then she let her head sink down again and closed +her eyes. + +While Saggia and Beffa and Hero had been caring for Nuova and talking to +her, most of the other bees had gradually resumed their normal +occupations, the guards moving watchfully about over the platform, the +foragers coming and going, and two or three cleaners scrubbing the floor +here and there to remove all stains of the battle. + +But Uno, Due, and Tre had not yet gone back into the hive to resume +their nursing work, but with a few other bees had formed a group +standing a little way off from the group about Nuova. They were +whispering and looking and pointing toward Nuova. Uno finally left her +group and came over and joined the bees about Nuova. She whispered to a +few of them, and finally spoke out loud enough to be generally heard. + +"Nuova was not an Amazon," she said. "Why should she fight? Is this the +way of bees?" + +Due and Tre shook their heads vigorously and murmured, "No, no." + +And several other bees of their group shook their heads dubiously. + +"No," spoke up Due, "this is not the bee custom. A good bee does the +thing she is set to do. For a nurse to use a lance! No, that is unheard +of." + +"No, no, it isn't done, you know," said a drone near by, wagging his +head wisely. + +"If it hadn't been done, you loafer," cried Saggia angrily, "you would +have starved to death before we could have refilled our pantries again +after the Black Bees had taken all our food!" + +"But it is not the bee way," interjected Tre; then adding boldly and +tauntingly to Saggia, "Are you a new bee, too?" + +"No," replied Saggia vigorously, "I am an old bee--old enough to have +learned a little more than I knew when I was a nurse bee--a loafing +nurse bee," she added, looking significantly and hard at Uno, Due, and +Tre in turn. + +They all started guiltily and began to move slowly toward the entrance, +but all the time looking back malevolently at Saggia and Nuova. + +"It's not the right bee way," they muttered. "It isn't the usual way." + +Several other bees joined them in their muttering and head-shaking. + +Just then, however, a new excitement became manifest at the hive +entrance. Those drones who had gone back into the hive were issuing now +post-haste, while those still outside joined those coming out. To them +hastened their attendants, and in a moment all was busy preparation and +expectation again. + +Beffa, who had moved over to the entrance as the drones began to come +out, now came hopping and humming across the platform toward Saggia, +Nuova, and Hero. As he came near he was singing: + + "She comes; she comes; + Principessa now would wed; + She seeks the sky for marriage-bed. + Let drones aside their languor fling; + Bethink the prize; to be a King." + +Hero started up, infected by the excitement and driven by the still +potent bee tradition. "She is coming," he murmured, "the Princess." + +All the bees were growing more and more excited. The drones began to +form in a line. Their attendants worked feverishly at cleaning and +preparing them. The other bees cleared a space near the entrance, in +front of the drones, whose eagerness was betrayed by their bending +forward like runners on the starting-line. Hero started forward to take +his place at the nearest end of the line. Nuova tried to stand, Saggia +helping her. She tottered as if to fall, but regained her balance. Her +face was drawn and tears welled from her eyes. She pushed Saggia to one +side and totteringly followed Hero. As he moved to his place, as if in a +sort of daze and hypnotized and driven by another will than his, Nuova +staggered into place behind him, as attendant, and made feeble attempts +to brush his wings. He did not seem to see her nor even to realize her +presence, but kept his eyes fixed on the entrance. + +The commotion among the bees increased. All watched incessantly the +opening of the hive. Suddenly the Princess was seen to be coming slowly +and proudly out, still cold and set of face, but beautiful in figure and +carriage, truly queenly in all her seeming. + +Three or four attendants were busy behind her, brushing her long, +slender wings, and removing every speck or stain from her body. The +drones all leaned farther forward, their eagerness infecting her. For +she became more animated and began spreading out and fluttering her +wings. The drones did the same. + +Beffa was hopping about with ridiculous activity and awkwardness, +humming inaudible words. Suddenly, with a jerk, Hero turned his eyes +from the Princess and let them wander about as if seeking something. +They rested on Beffa, who in response made motions in his dancing that +unmistakably directed Hero to look behind him. He did so and saw Nuova. +He stared fixedly at her a moment. Then he leaned toward her and said +in a curious, tense, but almost appealing tone, as if he were asking her +for advice or help: + +"The Great Courting Chase is on! A Queen is to be won! The prize is to +be a King!" + +Nuova called on all her strength, physical and spiritual. + +"Yes, yes," she gasped. "Be ready! Lean forward! They are starting! You +will win!" Her voice broke a little. "You can't lose, Hero--wonderful +Hero. You will be King--our King--my King. Good-bye!" She stifled a sob. +"Good luck! Good-bye!" + +She could say no more. She turned her face away from his, sobbing +unrestrainedly. Saggia, who had come to her side, caught her and +supported her just as the Princess, with wings outspread and eyes fixed +outward and upward, ran quickly to the outer edge of the platform, +followed a little way behind by the drones in a group. As the Princess +reached the platform's edge, she launched herself beautifully into the +air and flew swiftly, first straight out and up and then curving gently +away to the left. One after another the drones flew after her. + +Nuova gazed fixedly after the following drones. Hero's delay with Nuova +made him the last to spring into the air. But he flew so strongly that +it seemed certain that he would quickly make up for this handicap in the +great race. Indeed, some of the onlooking bees began to call out, "See +how Hero is gaining! He will surely win! Hero will be King!" + +Nuova had strained her gaze after Hero until he with all the others had +passed from sight far out and up in the bright sky. As she gazed she had +lifted on tiptoe and had even spread out her wings as if she would fly +after him, but now as he disappeared she collapsed and fell back heavily +with closed eyes and a pitiful sob into Saggia's supporting embrace. + +Just then Beffa came hopping and humming over to them and sang, as if +mockingly, but really with sympathetic and comforting meaning: + + "Ha, ha, the sad attendant! + Her champion is too slow. + He'll never win the Princess, + Her kiss he'll never know." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_Nuova in the Beautiful Garden_ + + +When Nuova had recovered enough to face squarely the situation in her +life and in the life of the hive, she found herself very weak and very +sad. Above all, she found the thought of going again into the dark hive +to work extremely repugnant to her. And almost the first thing she said +to Saggia, who had remained faithfully by her, supporting and caring for +her, was that she would not go back into the hive to nurse or make wax +or do anything else that meant staying inside. + +Saggia comforted her by saying that she would not have to work inside. +The kindly old bee whispered to her that there was always so much +confusion and such change in the hive arrangements whenever a new +Princess was born, and either she or the old Queen went out with many of +the workers, that she could easily change her kind of work now without +any notice being taken of it. And to confirm this Saggia pointed to +several of the nurses, among them Uno, Due, and Tre, making one after +another the little trial flights that Saggia had told Nuova to make +preparatory to going into the garden out of sight of the hive. These +nurses were plainly intending to become foragers. Even as Saggia and +Nuova watched them, one after another flew out higher and farther and +disappeared into the garden. + +It was a beautiful garden on the edge of which the hive was set. The +owner of the garden was a great lover and student of flowers. He liked +bees and beetles and birds, too; all kinds of live things, plant or +animal. And no one was ever allowed to kill any creature, little or big, +in his garden, so it was full to overflowing with life and animation. +Birds made their nests in it; squirrels barked in the trees; even moles +and gophers made their underground runways unmolested. There were open, +sunny grass-plots for playing, and close little copses and coverts for +hiding, and great trees for climbing to see out into the still wider +world beyond the garden walls. But the garden itself was world enough +for most of the creatures that lived in it. There were flowers enough +for the bees; seeds and worms enough for the birds; nuts enough for the +squirrels. And if some of the happy family in the garden had to live by +eating some of the others, still that was the way of life, and the only +thing was to hope and try to make sure that the end would not come too +soon. + +[Illustration: In the Garden] + +Nuova already loved the garden, although so far she had not been in it; +at least not been any more in it than standing on the entrance platform +of the hive and looking into it from this vantage-ground. But now she +was really to go out into it, and sad and tired though she was, she felt +a little thrill of happiness as she thought of what she might see over +there beyond the near-by bushes, out there among the brilliant flowers +and the lush grasses. She turned to Saggia gratefully. + +"Good-bye, dear Saggia," she said gently. "I am going to go into the +garden now. I will make the little flights first as you told me, so as +to be able to find my way back to the hive--but, I don't know, Saggia, I +don't feel like ever coming back to the hive." Her eyes filled with +tears. "He--he will never come back. He will win, and he will--will +die." She shuddered and nearly collapsed again. + +Saggia could say nothing. She believed, too, that Hero would win in the +Great Courting Chase. And if he won, he would die. It was really, she +thought with some anger, a very stupid sort of arrangement; very unfair +to the King; to be crowned because he was the finest, strongest, and +swiftest drone in the hive, or in any of the other near-by hives whose +drones also joined in any Courting Chase they noticed going on, only to +die at once. It was simply not only stupid; it was brutal. + +She did not like to think of Nuova's going off alone into the garden so +soon. And she could not put out of her mind the uneasy feeling that +Nuova would never come back to the hive at all; not even as a forager +who might go out and in as she pleased. Nuova had too plainly shown that +her interest in living was gone, and her surrender to her impulses of +the moment was likely at any time to be complete even though it might +lead to death itself. Saggia decided that she and Beffa were needed in +the garden. As Nuova left her to go to the edge of the platform for her +first flights, Saggia scurried off in search of Beffa. + + * * * * * + +A number of bees were busy at a little group of flowers in the garden +when one of them, Uno, who had just turned around facing the general +direction of the hive, suddenly uttered an exclamation. + +"Well, of all things!" she said. "Beffa in the garden!" The other bees +turned and stared. + +"And Saggia!" exclaimed one of them. "Beffa and Saggia! Beffa in the +garden! What can he do here?" + +Beffa, hearing them, released himself from Saggia's support, and began +to make weak little hoppings and to sing. Poor Beffa; he was sadly +tired, for because of his deformed wings he had had to walk all the way +from the hive. And Saggia was tired, too, because she had walked with +him, and not only that, but had helped him over some of the rougher +places. + +Beffa sang: + + "Beffa in the garden; + The prisoner in the sun; + No Queen in the palace; + No jesting to be done." + +He stopped to rest, and Saggia went slowly to a flower, where she busied +herself putting a little pollen into her pollen baskets. + +Due turned to Beffa. "Hi, Beffa, you can sing and dance for us while we +gather pollen and honey. And you can watch for Bee-Bird to see that he +doesn't surprise us. Oh, you can be useful. Hop, hop, hop-la!" And she +made a little hop or two, in mimicry of Beffa. + +Tre had been looking sharply at Saggia. "And Saggia doesn't seem to be +doing much," she said, with asperity. "Foraging again, is she? That is +rather a dangerous business for such an old bee, isn't it?" she said +malevolently. "The two-legged man giant that owns this garden likes the +two-legged bird giants. He is a brute! He protects the birds! And they +eat the insects! He might protect us, rather. Brute!" + +"Brute!" cried the other bees. "Protect the horrid birds, indeed! Sting +him if you see him." + +Just then a big blue-bottle fly that had been buzzing about the flowers +ventured too near a dark corner lower down in the bush, and was lunged +at by a big black spider, which barely missed it. The blue-bottle +dashed excitedly away with a tremendous buzzing, and all the bees jumped +about nervously a little. + +Beffa began to sing without rising from the ground, just moving his feet +as if dancing: + + "Bee-birds in the tree-tops, + Spiders in the grass; + Death rides down the sunbeam, + Death leaps as you pass." + +"Ugh!" said Uno. "Can't you sing something more cheerful? Be funny, +can't you?" + +Beffa got up and hopped about a little. Then he sang: + + "Out among the flower-cups, + Dancing in the sun; + Now a drink of nectar, + Then another one. + Brushing up the pollen, + Hurry 'gainst the gloam, + Pail and basket over-full, + Off to hive and home!" + +All the bees skipped and danced and sang after him: + + "Pail and baskets over-full, + Off to hive and home!" + +After singing this refrain several times and dancing happily about a few +moments, the bees set at their work again industriously. It was so +beautiful and so bright and so warm in the garden that one could not +help being happy in it. + +And yet just then Nuova stepped out from behind a flowering bush looking +very weary and very sad. Saggia, who had been glancing around for her +all the time, slipped quickly and quietly over to her without attracting +the attention of any of the bees, and before any other one had seen her. + +Saggia led Nuova around to the side of the bush where they would be out +of sight of the other bees, and then spoke to her in a low tone. + +"Are you all right, Nuova?" she asked anxiously. + +Nuova smiled wearily and sadly. "Of course, I am all right," she said +gently; "who would not be out here in this wonderful world, this golden +sunshine, this fragrant air? It's a place to be all right in all the +time. I am going to stay here." + +"Stay here? What do you mean?" asked Saggia. + +"Simply that, dear Saggia," she replied gently, smiling; "stay right +here in the warm sun, near the beautiful flowers. Do you think I am +going back into the dark hive to die like that poor forager and be +dragged off and tossed out like a piece of dirty wax?" She shuddered. +"No, no; I am going to die out here, and lie in the soft grass under +that heliotrope there." + +Saggia spoke anxiously but sternly. "Die? Die? Why do you talk of dying? +Have you a right to die yet? Have you done all you should do for the +hive? Are you going to shirk your duty? Anyway"--and her voice grew more +kindly--"do you really want to die? Don't you want to do first all the +things a bee can do, to nurse--" + +"I have nursed," Nuova interrupted. + +"And make wax--" Saggia went on. + +"I have made wax," Nuova broke in. + +Saggia persisted, "And build cells--" + +"I have built cells," interrupted Nuova again. + +"And gather honey--" Saggia continued. + +Nuova touched a near-by flower. "I am gathering honey," she said. + +Saggia hesitated a moment, then began again. "And--and--" she +stammered; then exclaimed suddenly and triumphantly--"and clean floors!" + +Nuova smiled at Saggia's anticlimax. "No, I haven't scrubbed the floor +yet. I suppose I ought to enjoy that a little before I die. But you see +I am not really old enough to have had time for _everything_." + +"That's it," broke in Saggia warmly. "You are not old enough yet. It is +nonsense to talk of dying so young. You must live a long time yet. Look +at me! Think how old I am!" + +Nuova smiled again, but grew earnest as she spoke. "It is not how long +you live, Saggia; it is how much you live. I have not done everything, +but I have done most things. You, you dear wise, old, sensible bee, you +have done the things calmly one after another as it came time for you to +do them. But I have tried everything that was interesting and for only +as long as it was. You have lived a long and useful life with much in +it. I have lived a short and useless one; but also with much in it. You +have lived mostly for others, and have been mostly happy. I have lived +mostly for myself, and been mostly unhappy. But that is the way I am, +Saggia. That is my way of living and really I suppose, my way of being +happy; happily unhappy. And, Saggia"--and Nuova bent close over to her, +as if to tell her a secret--"you know, don't you, that if I have missed +cleaning floors, I have done something else in place of it; something +you haven't done. I have loved! And that is the happiest unhappiness I +have had." + +Saggia was truly shocked. "Nuova," she exclaimed, "haven't I told you +before not to say such things! You have _not_ loved," she added, firmly, +"because you _cannot_ love. Poor little Nuova, you have much to learn +yet about bee life." + +"There is much about it I don't want to learn," muttered Nuova. + +"There is much you must learn," replied Saggia sternly, but kindly. "And +some of it you must learn now. When I say you cannot love, I mean +exactly that; not that you ought not or must not, because other bees do +not, but simply that you cannot. Bee loving is not just liking and +sighing and laughing and dancing and crying, and being always happy and +unhappy at once, but it is becoming the mother of babies, many babies, +and that only Princesses can become. And when they are the mothers of +babies, they are Queens. In bee land to be a mother is to be a Queen, +and to be a Queen is only to be a mother." + +Nuova was silent. She felt compelled to believe Saggia, who surely knew +about the life of bees if any one did, and who had always spoken +truthfully to her. And yet she had a feeling within her that seemed some +way to contradict Saggia's knowledge. + +"Well, then, Saggia," she said slowly, "I haven't loved, but I have +wished to love." And she added in a whisper, "I _want_ to love!" + +"You cannot love," repeated Saggia firmly. "Only Princesses can love. +You should not think of it any more." + +Nuova looked up into the sky. And when she spoke it was as if she were +speaking in a dream. "I want to love and I cannot love! Only a Princess +can love. And I am not a Princess. What can I do? Clean floors?" She +turned to Saggia and smiled sadly. "No, I cannot clean floors, either," +she said softly. "I am an unfortunate sort of bee, Saggia, a worthless +sort. A new bee, but not new enough to love, and too new to clean +floors. Just a bee to lie under the heliotrope bush." + +Just then Beffa, who had come hopping and gently humming up to them +unperceived by either, and who had overheard Nuova's last words, began +to sing: + + "A heliotrope or a rose-bush, + A pale-blue flower or pink, + But a dead bee sees no colors + Nor smells sweet smells, I think. + An old world for old bees, + A new world for the new, + And, ah, who knows the real truth? + The untrue may be true." + +Nuova was delighted, in her sadness, to see Beffa again. "Beffa, you +dear, funny Beffa!" she cried. "But how did you get out here in the +garden?" + + "He couldn't come, + And so he came. + Can or cannot, + All's a name," + +sang Beffa in reply, hopping about more vigorously than ever. + +As Beffa finished, Saggia saw some of the other bees looking scowlingly +toward them. She touched Nuova with an antenna. + +"Nuova," she said in a low voice, "we must get to work. The other bees +are noticing us. We are idling. We must go to work. Beffa can sit here +in the sunshine and watch us." She moved off toward a flower. + +Nuova looked after her a moment, and then she turned to Beffa. + +"Good old Saggia," she said. "She is an example of industry, isn't she? +But I don't like her to work just because others are noticing us. That +makes me want _not_ to work." She stood loitering by him. + +Beffa deliberately stretched himself, with a yawn, and settling down +comfortably near a dandelion, he hummed, as if half-asleep already: + + "Some work because others talk; + Some talk because others work; + The wisest bee keeps wisest way, + He--goes--to--sleep!" + +And as he finished he closed his eyes. + +[Illustration: Beffa settled down comfortably] + +Nuova saw through Beffa's transparent means of sending her off to +work, and was as much amused as vexed. "Oh," she said, "I much prefer +working to talking with bees whose wisdom might put me to sleep, too. +Good-bye." She made a mocking curtsy and went off slowly to a small +group of flowers which was hidden by a large bush from the rest of the +bees. + +As soon as she had started, Beffa opened one eye to spy on her, and as +she disappeared behind the bush he slowly straightened up, very much +awake and evidently strongly possessed by some idea. He let his eyes +roam over all of the garden he could see, and he even scanned the air in +all directions. Apparently not finding what he sought, he remained +quiet, but alert, on the flat dandelion leaf. The bees at the flowers +worked industriously. The garden was fragrant and quiet in the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Hero finds Nuova in the Garden_ + + +Saggia had joined a group of foragers at work, among whom were Uno and +Tre. These two bees at first moved away a little as Saggia came over, +but in their foraging work they gradually came close to her again. +Pretty soon Uno, after glancing toward Beffa sitting quietly by the +dandelion, spoke to Saggia. + +"The garden is not a place for jesting," she said sharply; "nor for +listening to jesting. Beffa is not a good example for bees who work." As +she said this she looked significantly at Saggia, and several of the +other bees, overhearing her, smiled maliciously. + +Saggia said nothing at first, but busied herself at her flowers. As she +changed, however, from one flower to another one near by, she said +quietly: "Beffa works harder than most of us." + +"Do you call jesting work?" asked Tre indignantly. + +"I call Beffa's work hard work--for Beffa; and useful work," Saggia +replied. + +"What other hive has a jester, a bee that does no work, that just hops +and sings?" demanded Uno angrily. + +"We are more fortunate than other hives," said Saggia evenly. "We have a +bee who has time to think, and a clever tongue to say what he thinks." + +No one spoke for a moment, then Tre said mechanically, as if repeating +by rote: "Bees ought not to think; and if they do they ought to keep +their thoughts to themselves." Then she added maliciously: "I think I +learned that from you, Saggia." + +The other bees turned and smiled. + +"One lives and learns," said Saggia, a little confused. + +"Oh, worse yet!" exclaimed Uno. "'Bees do not learn: they know.' That +also is from Saggia," she said, turning to the other bees. + +They all smiled again enjoying Saggia's discomfiture. + +"Well," said Saggia desperately, "bees do know most things, +but--not--everything." + +Just then Beffa came hopping toward them hurriedly. He was singing +loudly, too, and was evidently much excited about something. As he +reached the group of foraging bees he did not stop, but kept hopping +right on by them singing loudly as he passed: + + "Hoptoad squats beneath the flower; + Waits that pleasant fateful hour + When honey-bee on food intent + Comes within his leafy tent; + Open! Shut! Poor bee, good-bye; + An ugly, horrid way to die!" + +As the bees heard this, they all became much frightened and excited, +skipping about and peering in all directions. + +"The Toad!" they cried. "Where? There! I don't see him! Where, Beffa? +Beffa, where?" + +Beffa's movements plainly indicated the direction of danger to be toward +where he had come from, and the way of safety correspondingly in the +direction of his hopping. All the bees, therefore, with much buzzing and +jumping about, moved along with the hopping and singing Beffa. Only +Saggia seemed a little slow to take alarm or to follow him closely. She +watched him curiously, and kept turning to look in the direction from +which he had come. She remembered that Nuova was back there somewhere, +and she could not believe that Beffa would leave her in danger in order +to warn ever so many other bees. Saggia knew well poor Beffa's hopeless +love for Nuova. + +As a matter of fact, Beffa had seen not a toad, but something else, +which, under the circumstances of bee life and tradition, was much more +extraordinary, and he had come hopping over to lead off the other bees +that they might not also see it. + +What he had seen was something that his keen wits had told him all along +he might see: in fact, he had been looking for it all the time since he +had been in the garden; it was something that made him happy and unhappy +at the same time. It was something that would make Nuova the happiest +bee in the world, for a little while at least, though it might mean +something very dreadful to her in the end. And what could make Nuova +happy made him happy--even though her happiness should come from seeing +somebody else who would almost make her forget that Beffa ever lived. +What Beffa had seen was Hero flying slowly down into the garden near +where Nuova was. It was certain that they would see each other in a +moment. + +In fact, Nuova, turning away from the flower which she had been slowly +and listlessly rifling of nectar, saw Hero just a moment after he +alighted. Her heart gave a great jump, and her first impulse was to slip +away before he could see her; but when she saw how dejected and sad he +seemed, she felt a great pity for him and wanted to comfort him. Just +then he lifted his eyes and saw her. He started, then controlled himself +and came to her. "Nuova," he said quietly but earnestly; "Nuova, I am +glad you are here." + +Nuova could hardly speak. She was so tense with excitement, with wonder, +with happiness that they were together again. But what had happened? How +could this be? + +"You did not win?" she stammered. "You are not dead?" She stared at him +with painful intentness. + +"I did not go on," said Hero slowly and somberly. + +Nuova did not understand. "An accident?" she cried. "You could not fly? +Your wings were not--" she stopped, alarmed and almost in tears at her +thought. "Surely I did not hurt them when I--I--pulled them?" + +Hero did not understand clearly what she meant. In fact, he was too +intent on the overwhelming fact of what he had just done, of the +absolute break he had just made with bee tradition, to think, for the +moment, of anything else. + +"No, no," he said; "I just decided not to go on. I--wanted to come to +you." + +Nuova could not realize at once all he meant by these words. The thing +clearest in her mind just now was what Saggia and all the others had +told her so often. She began to speak slowly and almost mechanically as +her memory guided her. + +"But you can't do that," she said. "It--it--isn't done, you know. You +_must_ chase the Princess; you _must_ win her; and you--you"--she +sobbed--"you _must_ die." + +She stepped toward him, excitedly, with her hands outstretched to urge +him on. "Go on!" she exclaimed. "Go on! Start again! You are so much +swifter and stronger than the others! You can beat them yet! Hurry! +Fly!" + +In her excitement and half-crazed exaltation she pressed against him to +push him into starting. He held her closely to him for a moment, +caressing her gently. But soon she drew violently away, and spoke again +with choking voice. "Fly!" she said. "Go on! Go on!" + +Hero shook his head doggedly. "No, I will not go. I cannot go. I never +wanted to go. I wanted to come to you. I didn't know you were in the +garden. But here you are." In his joy at being with her, he began to +dismiss the dark thoughts of his break with bee custom. He looked +intently and eagerly at her. + +"Yes, here you are, I have come to you. I have come to tell you that +I"--he stumbled a little in his speech, and smiled slightly--"I--am a +new bee, too!" + +Nuova laughed happily. Then she grew serious and puzzled. "And Saggia +and Beffa," she said. "Are we all new bees in this hive?" + +Hero smiled. "Uno, Due, and Tre--" he said. + +"Ugh! horrid bees," said Nuova with a grimace. "They would like to kill +me." + +"Beasts!" broke in Hero, "I'll kill them!" But then he remembered the +fact that he had no lance nor by bee tradition could have any. "Absurd," +he said in disgust. "What a world, where only the women may carry lances +and fight and work, and the men are only loafers and lovers, and can +only love by tradition, at that. Bah! I'd rather be even a human being. +They are silly enough, those awkward giants, and can't fly and eat other +animals as spiders and snakes do, but their men can work and fight; and +they can love whom they like. At least they can if they don't try to be +too much like us, as some of them seem to want to be. It's a terrible +thing to be a man bee. We have no rights at all!" + +Nuova looked up at him wonderingly. "Why, the other drones seem to like +to loaf," she said. "Anyway, they don't object." + +"Don't object!" exclaimed Hero contemptuously. "They don't think; they +don't feel! Each just does what the others do and all just do what +drones have always done." + +"But how else are we to know what to do," persisted Nuova, who had +learned her lesson well from Saggia, "except by seeing what others do, +and being told what the bees before us did?" + +Hero was amazed and disconcerted to hear Nuova talk in this way. + +"Why, you talk like Saggia!" he said. "What do you mean? Haven't you +always objected to doing what the others do? Haven't you always tried to +do what you most wanted to? And haven't you wanted to talk with me? I +thought you--liked me." + +Nuova was disconcertingly calm. "Oh, yes, I have objected to some +things, and I do like to talk with you. And I like you. But all that +must not interfere with the work and life of the community. And I am +afraid it is interfering. I ought to be getting more honey, and you +ought to be flying after the Princess." She paused; then she added, +determinedly and even severely: "You must go right away. You can catch +up with them yet, and beat them, and--and--win her." Nuova had grown +more excited and earnest as she continued urging him, but her voice +broke a little as she uttered the last words. + +Hero, paying too little attention to her manner and reading nothing in +it, so seized was he by surprise at Nuova's new attitude, was yet +doggedly intent on speaking out his own feelings. "No, I am not going +after the Princess," he declared, speaking almost roughly in his +vehemence. "I stopped flying because I wished to, and I came here +because I wished to, and I shall talk to you because I wish to. You +_must_ hear me! Nuova, it is not the Princess that I love; it is you." +Nuova started. "Yes, you; just you; all you. I love _you_, Nuova." + +Nuova had stood rigidly at first, but then unconsciously swayed a little +toward him. Then she caught herself and stepped back, all the time +staring at him fixedly. He leaned toward her as he finished speaking, +but made no other motion. + +Nuova began to speak, still holding herself rigid and staring at him. +She spoke in an even, monotonous voice, even mechanically, and as if +directed by some foreign influence. + +"You cannot love me," she said. "You can only love a Princess. I cannot +love you. I cannot love anybody. There are other things for me to do. I +have not cleaned floors; I must clean floors. And you, you must chase +Princesses, chase Princesses, chase--Princesses--all--the--time." Her +voice trailed away into tense silence, and she swayed as if about to +fall, but recovered herself, and half-turned as if to move away. + +Hero stepped forward, caught hold of her roughly, and spoke harshly. +"You shall not clean floors," he said, "and I will not court the +Princess." Then suddenly he spoke tenderly, "Nuova, I love you. Saggia +says I can't; all of them say I can't; you say I can't. Well, I do. That +is all. That is the answer. I have never loved a Princess and I do love +you; I have loved you from the moment I saw you." He spoke more +impetuously. "I didn't know what it was at first; now I do. I found out +when I started to fly after Principessa. I can fly faster than any other +drone; yet every one was beating me. I can fly higher than any other +bee; but I couldn't rise at all. Why? Because of _you_, Nuova; because I +loved _you_, Nuova, and could not love Principessa. And they say that +you cannot love me. Saggia says so, does she?--and all of them say so, +do they?--and you say so, do you? Well, they are all mistaken. Just as +they are all mistaken about me. I can love _you_, because I _do_. You +can love me, because you are going to. You were not an Amazon, yet you +fought. You are not a Princess, but you are going to love. I can teach +you; I _will_ teach you." + +Nuova was almost carried away by Hero's speech--and her own +inclinations. But she still fought blindly and feebly against what she +wanted most. "No, no," she stammered; "I must work; I must go; I am only +a worker bee; I _cannot_ love; it is all fixed; it has been that way for +a long time; _I_ know; Saggia knows; _Beffa_--" + +She stopped short, remembering some of Beffa's cryptic words. + +Just then Beffa's voice was heard. He was coming toward them hopping and +singing. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Happy Ending_ + + +Beffa had not been able to hold the foragers any longer away from that +part of the garden where Nuova and Hero were. The flowers here were more +abundant and sweeter with honey, and the bees soon forgot their fright +of the toad they had not seen--and that Beffa had not, either. + +Hero and Nuova were still concealed by the bush, behind which they +stood, from the returning bees, but it was only a matter of a short time +before they would certainly be seen. Beffa, therefore, came hopping +toward them and singing. He could at least warn them of the approach of +the others. So he sang loudly: + + "Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows? + The old world for the old bee; + The new world for the new; + For who may know the real truth? + The untrue may be true. + Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows?" + +Hero turned triumphantly to Nuova. "Yes, yes, you hear?" he said. "Beffa +knows. Say it; say it. Beffa knows: not Saggia; not the others; but +Beffa. They are all blind. They only see what has been, but Beffa sees +what may be. And you see it, Nuova, and I see it. You are a new bee, +Nuova, and so is Beffa, and so am I. And we shall do new things; live a +new life. Ah, Nuova, my little Nuova! I love you, and you love me. My +little Nuova!" + +Nuova could say nothing, do nothing. It was too much. She could only +look up through a mist of tears into Hero's face and smile happily at +him; it was half-smiling, half-crying, but unmistakable to Hero for what +it truly was; the full revelation of Nuova's consent to all he had said. +They stood together, silent in their great happiness. And thus Uno saw +them. Uno was the first of the returned foragers to come, in seeking new +flowers, around the bush and in sight of them. She stared at them +amazed. Then, angry and malevolent, she beckoned, without calling out, +to her companions to come to her. They crowded up and looked where Uno +pointed. They were astounded and outraged. Uno first spoke up. + +"They call themselves bees!" she said with scorn and malice. + +"Beasts, rather!" said Due similarly. + +"No, human beings," said Tre. "Like the daughter of the owner of the +garden and her lover. In secret, and against all the customs. Shame and +scandal!" + +"Drive them out! Kill them!" burst out all the other bees, who had come +crowding up at the words of Uno, Due, and Tre. "Call the Amazons! Sting +them to death! Hero, the faithless one! Nuova, the silly new bee! Hero, +our finest drone! Nuova, the pretty little nurse! Traitors! Kill them!" + +It was a terrible moment for Nuova and Hero, for death looked them in +the face. But they stood quietly side by side realizing their impending +fate, yet fearless in their exaltation. Neither one spoke. They looked +at each other with great eyes shining with love and happiness. +Death--together--was such a little thing. It was even a thing, under the +circumstances, to be courted. There seemed, indeed, nothing else that +could be a "happy ending" for Nuova and Hero's romance. And as the +Amazons pressed forward with lances set and already almost touching the +devoted pair, it seemed to be the inevitable and immediate end. Yet, +just at the moment when Nuova, with one last look of love and joy to +Hero, turned full toward the shining lance points as if to say, +"Welcome, sweet Death!" something happened. + +A cry from the air just above them was heard. A messenger bee, greatly +excited and almost breathless, was dropping down to them and gasping: +"The Princess! The Princess! The Princess is lost! The Bee-Bird has +caught the Princess!" + +The mob about Hero and Nuova stopped in its attack and stood still, +thunderstruck by the news. The messenger dropped to the grass just +between the foremost Amazons and the pair of lovers, and there collapsed +with fatigue and grief. She was caught and supported by Saggia and +Beffa, who had pushed forward out of the crowd at the first cry from the +messenger. + +The horror-stricken bees were dumb for a moment, overwhelmed by the +catastrophe. Then they began to call out, all speaking confusedly +together: "The Princess is lost! The Bee-Bird has killed Principessa! +Our only Princess! The old Queen gone, the new Queen killed! Our hive is +doomed! We are queenless! No more children in our hive! It is our end!" + +[Illustration: "The Princess is lost!"] + +All the while they were speaking they surged back and forth, turning to +each other. They seemed utterly at a loss what to do. None any longer +paid any attention to Nuova and Hero standing there, still silent and +motionless together, as if with no more thought of their present +momentary escape from the death that was so close to them than they had +had for their apparent certain destruction a moment before. + +Saggia had not called out with the other bees. Nor had she moved away +from her position near Hero and Nuova, where she was still supporting +the messenger. But she had been looking keenly first at the shouting +bees and then at Nuova and Hero. Her face was alight with a new thought +and strong purpose. As the cries of the bees died down from exhaustion +for a moment, she lifted her head and began to speak in a loud, clear +voice. + +"Bees," she said, "a terrible thing has happened to us!" Some of the +bees cried out again in lamentation. Saggia paused a moment till there +was silence again. Then she went on. + +"But we stand before a wonderful happening that may be our saving." As +she said this, she half-turned toward Hero and Nuova so as to call the +attention of the bees to them. As she did this a few bees, notably Uno, +Due, and Tre, began to gesture angrily again toward the couple, and to +mutter against them. But Saggia paid no attention to this, except +perhaps to lift her voice a little higher and to speak more rapidly. + +"I am an old bee," she said, "and know the lore of bees better than any +others of you. And I tell you plainly that the death of the Princess +does not mean that all is lost. I tell you that we have a means of +saving our hive. Sometimes a bee is born, who is not a Princess, but who +is of a different sort from the rest of us workers; a bee who can not +only work, but _love_; who can love and be loved and be the mother of +bees." + +She turned now swiftly to Nuova, stretched out her antennae and wings +dramatically, and spoke as with the voice of an oracle. + +"Nuova is such a bee!" she exclaimed solemnly. "Nuova can be a Queen for +us! She loves Hero. Do you, Nuova?" Nuova turned a rapt face up to +Hero's. + +"And Hero loves Nuova. Do you, Hero?" Hero leaned down to Nuova and +kissed her. + +Saggia turned again to the bees. "That Hero loves Nuova proves that she +can be loved; that Nuova loves Hero proves that she can be our Queen. +Let Nuova, the new bee, be our new Queen!" + +The bees were already buzzing and fluttering about in great excitement +again. They were not able to comprehend immediately all that Saggia's +words implied, but they saw in them a hope for their hive, and some of +the bees already began to call out joyously. Just then Beffa began +dancing vigorously and waving his wings and antennae in triumph and +singing loudly and clearly: + + "Bee-Bird may yet be beaten; + We yet may peal the wedding bell, + Although our Queen is eaten!" + +Then he made a grand whirl which brought him squarely in front of Nuova, +and with a deep curtsy and elaborate gesture he called out to all the +bees, like a herald: + +"The Queen has passed. Long live the Queen!" + +And Saggia immediately echoed him, also bowing low before Nuova: "The +Queen has passed. Long live the Queen!" + +Other bees took up the shout, which soon spread to all. Beffa beckoned +all to follow him in a triumphal march and dance around the amazed and +happy pair, and altogether they set up a great song of joy and triumph. +Nuova and Hero were not only saved, but they were become in a second +King and Queen of the hive. It was breath-taking. They could only look +at each other in utter thanksgiving and love. But as Beffa, tiring of +the exertion of the dance, stopped by the side of Nuova, she put out an +antenna caressingly to him and then turned to Hero. + +"Hero, my King," she said proudly. + +"Hero, our King!" proudly shouted all the bees. + +And then she turned to Beffa. + +"Beffa, my jester," she said lovingly. + +"Beffa, our jester!" shouted all the bees. + +Beffa gave a little hop; then looking up at Nuova, he sang: + + "Ah, well, who knows? + Ah, well, who knows?" + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nuova, by Vernon Kellogg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUOVA *** + +***** This file should be named 39248.txt or 39248.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/4/39248/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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