316 Trails to Woods and Waters 



" When she got home the rest of the bees 

 all made sport of her with the splinter in her 

 tail, until at last in sheer desperation she gave 

 one of them a severe thrust with the tail, 

 which was now doubly sharp. The afflicted 

 bee soon discovered that the new tail was a 

 great weapon of defense, and none of the 

 bees dared to tease her after that. 



" But her weapon was not perfect until she 

 had dipped it in poison, which she got from 

 a poison plant. 



" One day, soon after the bee had poisoned 

 her tail, a meddlesome boy came poking about 

 the tree. He soon discovered the hole where 

 the bees entered, and began throwing stones 

 at it. 



" ' I will teach him a lesson,' said the bee 

 with the poison tail. ' Now you just keep 

 your eyes on that boy and see the fun/ 



" Zip, went the bee like a bullet, and she 

 struck the boy fairly on the end of the nose, 

 driving her poison splinter deep into the flesh. 



" The boy gave a howl that you could have 

 heard for a quarter of a mile and started for 



