ix.] THE WASP- KING. 217 



towns ; they rob far and wide ; they never quarrel with 

 each other : they must have some one to teach them, 

 to lead them they must have a king. And so he 

 gets the fancy of a Wasp-King ; as the western Irish 

 still believe in the Master Otter ; as the Red Men 

 believe in the King of the Buffaloes, and find the bones 

 of his ancestors in the Mammoth remains of Big-bone 

 Lick ; as the Philistines of Ekron to quote a notorious 

 instance actually worshipped Baal-zebub, lord of the 

 flies. 



If they have a king, he must be inside that tree, of 

 course. If he, the savage, were a king, he would not 

 work for his bread, but sit at home and make others 

 feed him ; and so, no doubt, does the wasp- king. 



And when he goes home he will brood over this 

 wonderful discovery of the wasp -king ; till, like a child, 

 he can think of nothing else. He will go to the tree, 

 and watch for him to come out. The wasps will get 

 accustomed to his motionless figure, and leave him 

 unhurt; till the new fancy will rise in his mind that 

 he is a favourite of this wasp-king : and at last he will 

 find himself grovelling before the tree, saying " Oh 

 great wasp-king, pity me, and tell your children not 

 to sting me, and I will bring you honey, and fruit, and 

 flowers to eat, and I will flatter you, and worship you, 

 and you shall be my king." 



And then he would gradually boast of his discovery ; 

 of the new mysterious bond between him and the wasp- 

 king ; and his tribe would believe him, and fear him ; 

 and fear him still more when he began to say, as he 

 surely would, not merely " I can ask the wasp -king, 

 and he will tell his children not to sting you:" but 

 " I can ask the wasp-king, -and he will send his children, 



