HAPPY 



Then he hurried on, and I heard him make the same 

 speech to another bee. 



Still heeding the small voice, I had gone but a little 

 way on my round of exploration when I plumped into 

 the biggest bee! He was in such a hurry he nearly 

 ran me down. As he passed I saw on his two rearmost 

 legs great balls of yellow-looking stuff. 



"Out of the way!" he called. "The bread-man! 

 The bread-man!" 



Every one seemed to have understood except me, 

 and even I, a moment later, heard the cry and gave 

 way to a newly-arrived bread-man. Just what character 

 of bee he was I had yet to learn, and little did I then 

 dream that I, too, should one day be a bread-man, 

 carrying great baskets of bread on my legs. 



By this time I was again hungry, and presently, as 

 I traversed a white strip of comb, I came upon a great 

 store cell after cell, like a thousand open pots, full to 

 overflowing with honey. I was on the point of helping 

 myself when I was turned away. 



"This is not to be eaten," a worker said. "We are 

 ripening it and soon it will be sealed for the winter. 

 On over there you will find some." 



He was busy and gave no further heed to me, but 

 as I turned away I noticed fully a hundred bees stand- 

 ing ever so still fanning, fanning with their wings 

 the open cells to hasten the ripening processes. He 

 left unanswered my wish to know what the ripening 

 of honey meant and the winter. 



As indicated by the worker, I soon found plenty of 

 honey and quite gorged myself. This time I took away 

 with me a supply in my honey-sac. Again I felt sleepy, 



18 



