The Life of the Bee 



[62] 



And whom does the queen-bee obey ? 

 She is ruled by nourishment given her ; 

 for she does not take her own food, but 

 is fed like a child by the very workers 

 whom her fecundity harasses. And the 

 food these workers deal out is nicely pro- 

 portioned to the abundance of flowers, to 

 the spoil brought back by those who 

 visit the calyces. Here, then, as every- 

 where else in the world, one part of the 

 circle is wrapped in darkness ; here, as 

 everywhere, it is from without, from an 

 unknown power, that the supreme order 

 issues ; and the bees, like ourselves, obey 

 the nameless lord of the wheel that inces- 

 santly turns on itself, and crushes the 

 wills that have set it in motion. 



Some little time back, I conducted a 

 friend to one of my hives of glass, and 

 showed him the movements of this wheel, 



218 



