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| Illustration by Robert Bowen |
THE
LAZY BEE
Horacio Quiroga / La abeja haragana
Once upon a time,
in a beehive, there was a bee that didn´t want to work. The bee would fly from
tree to tree to take the nectar from the flowers, and drank it all, instead of
collecting it to produce honey.
He was a lazy bee.
Every
morning, as soon as the sun would rise, the little bee would peek out from the
beehive´s door, check if the weather was nice, comb himself with his front
legs, as flies do, and then take off flying. The bee would buzz with happiness
as he was flying from flower to flower, while the other bees were working
earnestly to fill the beehive with honey.
Since
the other bees were so hard working, they started to get annoye4d with the lazy
one. There are always some bees guarding the entrance of each beehive, so that
no other bugs enter their home.
One
day, they stopped the lazy bee when he was about to come in and said, “ You
have to work, my friend.”
And
then he replied:
“One
of these days I will”
“This
is not about what you will do in the
future”, they said, “we are talking about tomorrow. Don’t forget!” And
then they let the little bee in.
The
next nigth, the same thing happened again. Before the bees said anything, the little bee exclaimed,
“I
do remember my promise, my sisters and brothers!”
They
answered, “We don’t care about you remembering your promise. We care about you
working. Today is April 19th. Make sure that by tomorrow, April 20th, you
bring at least one drop of honey to the
beehive. For now, you can come in”.
After
saying this, they moved aside to let the little bee in.
But
the 20th of April came and the bee did not bring any honey to the beehive. The
only difference was that the weather was harh, rainy, and the cold wind was
blowing after the sun set. The lazy bee flew quickly to the hive rejoicing in
the thought of the warm rooms inside. But the bees that were guarding the
entrance would not allow the little bee to come in.
“I
want to get in!” The little bee cried. The little bee insisted, “This is my
hive! I promise that I will work tomorrow!
“There
is no tomorrow for the ones that don´t
work, “ answered the wise bees.
And
so they pushed the little bee away.
The
little bee flew a little more, but he could barely see because it was dark out.
The bee was shivering because of the cold, and he could not fly anymore.
The
bee dragged his little body to the hive´s entrance: “Oh, my Lord!” cried the
helpless bee. “It will rain and I will die of the cold,” the bee continued.
But
the bees still wouldn’t let him in.
“I’m
sorry!” the little bee whined, “please let me in”
“They
said,
“No,
you won’t die. In one nigth you will learn what it is to rest after a long day
of work.”
The
little bee flew, shivering in the cold, until he fell through a hole into a
cavern. The fall was never-ending. When the bee fell to the bottom, he landed
in front of a resting green snake with a red back. The snake looked at the bee,
ready to eat him.
“Good
bye, my life! This is the last time I will see the light”.
But
to the little bee’s surprise, the snake did not swallow him! He said, “How are
you doing little bee? You must not be a hard-working bee, since you are here at
this time of night.”
“It´s tru, I don´t work”, muttered the little
bee.
“If it’s true,” added the teasing snake, “I will
happily rid the world of a lazy insect like you!”
The bee wept: “It’s not fair, it’s not fair!
People
know what justice is.”
“Aaaaaahhhh! Exclaimed the snake, curling. “Do
you really think that people, who take your honey, are the wise ones, you fool?
“No, that’s not why they take our honey.”
“So, why do they take the honey?”
“Because
they are smarter than we are.”
“You say this because you are less intelligent
that I am.”
“I am less intelligent than you, you brat?”
“That is right,” confirmed the bee.
“Well,” said the snake, “We shall see. Whoever
comes up with the best trick wins. If I win, I will eat you.”
“And if I win?” asked the little bee.
“If you win,” his enemy declared, “you can
stay here tonight.”
The snake began laughing again. He had figured
out a trick that a bee would not be able to solve. This is what the snake did:
The snake left for an instant, so quickly that
the bee didn´t have time to react. The snake returned, bringing an eucalyptus
cone. Kids can make these cones dance as if they were spinning tops, o they are
called “eucalyptus spinning tops”.
“This is what I will do”, the snake said, “Pay
attention!”
The snake quicly rolled his tail around the
spinning top. He threw it so swiftly, that the little eucalyptus top remained
there dancing and humming.
The
snake was laughing, rightly so, because no bee has ever made a top spin and hum
and no bee ever will!
When the top finally stopped twisting, the
litlle bee said:
“That
is a very good change; I could never do something like that.”
“Then I will eat you,” the snake replied.
“Just a minute! I cannot make a top spin or
hum, but I can do something that nobody else can do.”
“What
is that?”
“Disappear”
“How
is that ?” The snake wonrdered.
“Without
leaving this place.”
“And
without hiding under the ground?”
“And
without hiding under the ground?”
“Very well, show me, If you don’t do it, I
will swallow you rigth away,” said the snake.
The truth that while the spinning top was
dancing and humming, the little bee was able to inspect the cavern. He had seen
a little plant that was growing there—a small not to touch it,
and said,
“Now it´s my turn, honorable snake. Kindly
turn around and count to three. When I say ‘three’, look for me anywhere. I
won’t be here.”
And that is exactly what happened. The snake
quickly counted, one…two…three…,” and turned around. The snake opened his mouth
as wide as it could. What a surprise! Nobody was there. The bee had
disappeared.
The snake could see that his “spinning top
test” was very good, but the bee’s test was extraordinary. What had happened?
Where was he? There was no way to find the bee.
“Okay!” the snake said. “I give up! Where are
you?”
A
tiny tlittle voice emerged from the center of the cave.
The
bee asked, “Are you going to harm me?”
“No,
I won’t, “ said the little bee, emerging from one of the plant´s closed leaves.
What had happened? Something quite simple: the
plant was the kind that closes its leaves when something or someone touches it.
The snake didn’t notice this. But the bee had been smart and took advantage of
ths feature to save his own life.
The snake was silent and very disappointed
with the defeat.
It was an endless night. The bee and the snake
kept their bodies against the wall, because there was a great storm and the
water flowed like a river.
Every once in a while, the snake felt the urge
to attack the bee. The bee felt that his life was coming to an end.
The little bee had never thouht that a night
could be so long, so cold, and so horrible. The bee cried silently, remembering
his fortunate life in the beehive: sleeping in the warmth of the cells.
However, the sun finally rose. The little bee
flew to the beehive´s gates. He cried once again at the place built by his
family. The guarding bees let the little bee enter. They could see that the returning
bee was not a lazy one. Instead, he was
a bee that had learned a hard lesson about life in just one night.
And that´s exactly how it was. In the future,
no other been collected as much pollen or produced as much honey as the little
bee did. Finally, fall arrived, and the last days of the little bee´s life.
Before dying, the bee even even had time to give a final lesson to the young
bees around him. He said to them,
“It is not our intelligence, but our hard
work, that makes us very strong. I used my intelligence only once, and that was to save my life. If I had worked hard like
everyone else, I would not have needed to suffer. What I didn´t understand was
the meaning of responsibility, but I learned it that night. My friends, you should work thinking of our
goal, everyone’s happiness. This is much more important than each of our
individual struggles. People believe this to be ideal, and they are right. This
is the only philosophy in bees and man´s lives.”
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