Exchanging the Nests 



enough to admit a pin's head. I wait longer 

 still. Then I lose patience; and, fully con- 

 vinced that the Bee is trying to open the store- 

 room, I decide to help her to shorten the 

 work. I force the lid with the point of my 

 knife. The upper part of the cell comes 

 away with It, leaving the edges badly broken. 

 In my awkwardness, I have turned an elegant 

 vase into a wretched cracked pot. 



I was right in my conjecture: the Bee's in- 

 tention was to break open the door. Straight 

 away, without heeding the raggedness of the 

 orifice, she settles down in the cell which I 

 have opened for her. Time after time, she 

 fetches honey and pollen, though the larder 

 is already fully stocked. Lastly, she lays her 

 egg in this cell which already contains an egg 

 that is not hers, having done which she closes 

 the broken aperture to the best of her ability. 

 So this purveyor had neither the knowledge 

 nor the power to bow to the inevitable. I had 

 made it impossible for her to go on with her 

 purveying, unless she first completed the un- 

 finished cell substituted for her own. But she 

 did not retreat before that impossible task. 

 She accomplished her work, but in the absurd- 

 est way: by injuriously trespassing upon an- 

 69 



