12 The Bee People. 



When it gets ripe it gets sticky. If any 

 pollen touches it, the pollen sticks fast. If 

 you take away the petals and the anthers 

 and their stems from the lily, this is what 

 you will have left. 



You see it is the stigma and its long 

 stem, and there is another knob at the other 

 end of the stem opposite the stigma. This 

 other knob is hollow. It is a seed-cup and 

 is filled with seeds. The seeds cannot 

 grow without pollen. 



If the pollen gets on the stigma, then all 

 goes well. The sticky stigma holds it fast. 

 It finds its way down through the long 

 stem to the little seeds. It nourishes them, 

 and they grow. But if the pollen does not 

 come, the seeds die. 



Flowers do not like their own pollen. 

 One lily prefers the pollen from another lily. 



It is better for the seeds. But how get 

 this pollen ? 



Why, ask the hairy-coated bees to bring 

 it, to be sure. 



