THE LIFE OF A BEE 



great black space that lay outside, and wondered and 

 wondered. Overhead the sprinkled lights, like flowers 

 in the gardens of heaven, leaned a little wistfully toward 

 the earth; and near, ever so near it seemed, a wonder- 

 fully bright light shone, calling me to fly into its embrace. 



"What is that?" I asked of the gentle guard. 



"The Master's lamp," he said. 



The Master's lamp! What might that be? But I 

 asked no more questions. There was too much of 

 mystery around me. I clambered over the combs as 

 rapidly as I might, back to my cell; but even there it 

 was a long time before I slept, so spellbound was I, so 

 stirred to the depths. Vast harmonies seemed athrob 

 in the outer world, and one dim undercurrent of tone, 

 the night song of my hive, ebbed and flowed ceaselessly 

 around me. Gradually I seemed to lose my identity 

 and to merge with the spirit of the things about me. 



In a flash I felt that I was no longer just a helpless 

 little bee, floating about in the maze of life, intent on 

 my own purposes, bound no whither, owning no duties 

 and driven by no destinies. Up to the moment I had 

 given no concern to things beyond dipping into honey- 

 cells for food, to exploring the house in which I found 

 myself, to groping about with eyes wide and ears that 

 missed no sound. But now I had been shaken with 

 new desires. I seemed to have climbed out of myself, 

 even as I had crawled out of my cell on that other day, 

 now but a memory so far away it seemed. My 

 thoughts, my activities, my soul were no longer my 

 own they belonged to my little brothers buzzing in 

 the alcoves or busy with endless tasks which I seemed 

 to know without knowing. 



27 



