Byram and Ghopal, 



187 



servant hear the subject and the point in 

 dispute." 



And Byram said, "O Atmaram, I re- 

 marked yesterday in conversation with this 

 my disciple, who is of the potter caste, 

 that Brahma had created nothing but what 

 is beneficial to man." 



"Of a surety," said Atmaran, "thy disci- 

 ple would not dispute that point with a man 

 of thy learning." 



"Just then," said Byram, "my disciple 

 sighted a wild bees' hive, and deterred 

 from getting the honey by the fear of the 

 bees' stings, he called on me to defend the 

 general proposition in this particular case, 

 and show that Brahma in giving the bee 

 his sting, conferred a favor on man." 



Atmaram looked from one to the other, 

 but was not ready with any counsel, and 

 Ghopal hardly knew whether he was stand- 

 ing on his head or his heels. 



"Be not over-elated," said Byram, smil- 

 ing; "a child may puzzle the greatest phi- 

 losopher with a question, for no man has 

 insight into all the ways of Brahma; but 

 let us rest here until two-thirds of the day 

 be spent, and I will seek counsel of myself 

 in sleep." 



After they had drunk and praised the 

 water from Atmaram's well and eaten a 

 couple of mangoes each, Ghopal carried 

 their charpoys * into the grove, and in the 

 dense shade of the mango trees our trav- 

 elers were soon asleep. 



When Ghopal awoke the sun had long 

 passed the meridian, and seeing Byram was 

 sitting up on his charpoy, he too rose and 

 took a drink of the cool water, which Byram 

 poured out for him from the ghurra at his 

 bedside. Byram was more than usually 

 serene; the perplexity which had overshad- 

 owed his brow in the morning had given 

 place to confidence and light, and it was not 

 without some misgiving that Ghopal asked 

 him if he had found an answer in sleep. 



* Literally "four-footed." The bedstead which 

 Orientals occasionally take up and walk away with. 



" Not in sleep, Ghopal, but when I awoke 

 refreshed from sleep I saw clearly that 

 Brahma had only taught the bee to make 

 honey that she might allure man to study 

 her ways and learn the lesson taught by her 

 sting. Thou knowest, Ghopal, or may be 

 thou dost not know, that the bees, like 

 the ants, white and black, live together in 

 communities in a high but peculiar state of 

 organization. All the working bees, the 

 honey-makers, are females, but barren. In 

 each hive there is one fertile bee only — the 

 queen bee — who lays thousands of eggs in 

 a season, which are taken care of by the 

 working bees, who feed the young larvae. 

 To lay so many fertile eggs the queen re- 

 quires the services of many males. The 

 male bees, or drones, have no other func- 

 tion in life to perform; they do no work, 

 take no care of the young, collect no honey, 

 and being permitted by the working bees 

 to eat their fill during the working season, 

 they have a pleasant time, and learn to 

 regard themselves as superior beings and 

 the working bees as inferior creatures, cre- 

 ated only to provide for their enjoyment 

 and necessities. As winter approaches, 

 these drones look with complacency on the 

 well-filled combs, which they regard as their 

 own. From this pleasant dream there 

 comes a rude awakening. The drones may 

 strut about and play the role of a privileged 

 class as long as the workers choose to tole- 

 rate it, but they have no sting; the real 

 power lies with the workers, whenever they 

 choose to exercise it, and as soon as the 

 drones have performed the only useful 

 function they are capable of, the workers 

 oppose their visits to the honey. Aston- 

 ished at such a change of conduct, and at 

 the display of opposition from the workers 

 who have hitherto treated them with defer- 

 ence, and never doubting their own right to 

 the honey, they assert their claims peremp- 

 torily and offer to oppose force by force, 

 when the workers immediately fall on them 

 and sting them that they die." 



