BEE 397 



See also the fable by Mandeville, 1670-1703, being a satire where 

 bees are compared to men. Bees hate frogs. 



Bees were known to, and kept by, the ancient Britons. In 

 Ireland the Brehon Laws provided for their careful protection. 

 In the Isle of Man it was a capital crime to steal bees, which, 

 no doubt, was the origin of the superstition there, that it was 

 unlucky if a stray swarm settled on one's premises unclaimed by 

 their owner. The best time for swarming may be gathered from 

 the following rhyme : — 



" A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay ; 

 A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon ; 

 A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly. " 



It is generally considered very lucky for a swarm to settle on one's 

 property. Ireland was celebrated of old, if not so still, for its 

 swarms of bees and abundance of honey. In Devonshire bees are 

 never paid for in money. They should never be bought, never 

 moved but on a Good Friday, and, on the occasion of a funeral, 

 the hives carefully turned round. Here it is worth remarking 

 that the writer or compiler hereof found the superstitions of 

 Devonshire and Somersetshire strikingly similar to those of the 

 Western Highlands. Another superstition, thought to be pretty 

 general, is that a bee flying straight in one's face boded important 

 news. Bees are not extensively kept or cultivated in the High- 

 lands, though there are exceptions. In some places where so kept 

 it is thought that they did not thrive with any one who lived an 

 unchaste life. The female or queen bee lives four years, the 

 worker six months, and the drone four months. 



A finely descriptive poem by Neil Macleod, the Skye bard, 

 consisting of sixteen double verses in Gaelic, on the "better be a 

 bee than a fly " princi})le, is well worth perusal and committing to 

 memory by those who have not done so already ; it is in that sweet 

 singer's happiest vein. A colloquy between a bee and an ant runs 

 as follows — bee speaking first : — 



" Thuirt an t-seillean ris ant-sean^-an Said the bee to the ant 



Teann a nail 's gun tog sinn tigh. Come and let us build a house. 



Am fear do'n tug do mhil shamhradh, Said the ant to the bee, 

 Togaidh e tigh geamhraidh dhuit, He to whom you gave your summer 



Tha sin agams' fo thalamh tigh honey- 



Air nach ruig gailhonn no gaoth, Will build a winter house for you. 



'S bidh tusa na d' dhilleachdan lacunn, I have there beneath the earth a house 

 A' streapadh ri gasagan fraoich." Where wind or storm cannot reach. 



While you a dun (houseless) orphan 

 Are a-climbing up of heather tops. 



In Sean dana the following line occurs : — " Mar chagar beacha 

 na bruaiche," as the hum of the bee of the bank. And in 

 Ossian's Fingal — " Mar sheillean ag iadhadh mu chloich," as a bee 

 hovering round a stone. 



