The Foundation of the City 



stillness one might regard as religious, for 

 the mystery of wax to appear. 



In the meantime the rest of the bees — ■ 

 those, that is, that remained down below 

 in the hive — have shown not the slightest 

 desire to join the others aloft, and pay no 

 heed to the formation of the marvellous 

 curtain on whose folds a magical gift is 

 soon to descend. They are satisfied to 

 examine the edifice and undertake the 

 necessary labours. They carefully sweep 

 the floor, and remove, one by one, twigs, 

 grains of sand, and dead leaves ; for the 

 bees are almost fanatically cleanly, and 

 when, in the depths of winter, severe 

 frosts retard too long what apiarists term 

 their "flight of cleanliness," rather than 

 sully the hive they will perish by thou- 

 sands of a terrible bowel-disease. The 

 males alone are incurably careless, and will 

 impudently bestrew the surface of the comb 

 with their droppings, which the workers 

 1 35 



