158 The Bee People. 



and-so is dead," and sometimes adds a little 

 prayer to the bees not to leave. Some- 

 times a piece of black ribbon or crape is 

 tied on the hives. 



Whittier has written a beautiful poem 

 called, "Telling the Bees," which 1 hope 

 you will read. 



The ancients used to believe that the 

 bee was given its marvellous habits by- 

 Jupiter, the king of the gods, because 

 the bees fed him with honey when he 

 was a baby and lay concealed in a cave, 

 while his angry father searched for him. 



It seems that the gods had their troubles 

 as well as human beings in those days, 

 and Jupiter's father, Saturn, who was king, 

 was very much afraid of his own children. 



An oracle had told him that they would 

 displace him ; so he settled the matter, as 

 he thought, by swallowing them as soon 

 as they were born. 



This unfortunate habit greatly distressed 

 Saturn's wife, Rhea, and when Jupiter was 



