HAPPY 



I knew not what robbery meant, nor had I ever 

 heard the word queen. 



"What is a queen?" I asked. 



One of the guards stared at me impatiently. "You 

 had better go inside.'* 



I refused to comply with the suggestion; on the con- 

 trary, I remained where I was, ever and anon flapping 

 my wings, and presently to my overpowering joy I felt 

 my body being lifted off my legs, and without thinking 

 I rose in the air! It was a wonderful sensation. I 

 hardly knew what I was doing, but back and forth I 

 flew about our hive, looking and looking to make sure 

 I should know it when I returned; for now, indeed, I 

 felt my soul bounding within me and that the wide 

 world, upon which I had yearningly gazed, was about 

 to swallow me up. Back and forth I flew, ever widening 

 the distance, taking into view other white-faced hives 

 and trees and houses, until presently, in a long spiral 

 I rose into the heavens. Up and up I went toward the 

 sun, glorying in the power of wings and the infinite 

 grandeur of the world that spread out below me. 

 How far away it seemed and how cool and green and 

 inviting! I could hear around me strange noises, 

 mingled with the whirring of wings. The note of my 

 hive now and again faintly broke on my ears, and I 

 knew that my brothers were traveling the airy spaces, 

 working ever toward a goal far removed from thinking. 



I did not feel lonely at all, but after a time I decided 

 to return to my house to make sure that I knew the 

 way. You would be surprised to know how straight I 

 came back to it. Down and down I dropped into the 

 bee-yard, and, turning right and left, without further 



