The Life of the Bee 



stinct, and conduct two opposite forces to 

 a successful Issue. They are fully aware 

 that if the young queens should escape who 

 now clamour for birth, they would fall into 

 the hands of their elder sister, by this time 

 irresistible, who would destroy them one by 

 one. The workers, therefore, will pile on 

 fresh layers of wax in proportion as the 

 prisoner reduces, from within, the walls of 

 her tower ; and the impatient princess will 

 ardently persist in her labour, little sus- 

 pecting that she has to deal with an en- 

 chanted obstacle, that rises ever afresh 

 from its ruin. She hears the war-cry of 

 her rival ; and already aware of her royal 

 duty and destiny, although she has not 

 yet looked upon life, nor knows what a 

 hive may be, she answers the challenge 

 from within the depths of her prison. 

 But her cry is different; it is stifled and 

 hollow, for it has to traverse the walls of 

 a tomb ; and, when night is falling, and 

 260 



