The Life of the Bee 



[a6] 



There are numberless instances of the 

 absolute attachment and devotion that 

 the workers display towards their queen. 

 Should disaster befall the little republic; 

 should the hive or the comb collapse, 

 should man prove ignorant, or brutal ; 

 should they suffer from famine, from cold 

 or disease, and perish by thousands, it 

 will still be almost invariably found that 

 the queen will be safe and alive, beneath 

 the corpses of her faithful daughters. For 

 they will protect her, help her to escape; 

 their bodies will provide both rampart and 

 shelter ; for her will be the last drop of 

 honey, the wholesomest food. And be 

 the disaster never so great, the city of 

 virgins will not lose heart so long as the 

 queen be alive. Break their comb twenty 

 times in succession, take twenty times 

 from them their young and their food, 

 84 



