THE MASSACRE OF THE MALES 195 



the beautiful honey, itself but a ray of heat transformed, that 

 returns now to its first condition. It circulates in the hive 

 like generous blood. The bees at the full cells present it to 

 their neighbours, who pass it on in their turn. Thus it 

 goes from hand to hand and from mouth to mouth, till it 

 attain the extremity of the group in whose thousands of 

 hearts one destiny, one thought, is scattered and united. It 

 stands in lieu of the sun and the flowers till its elder brother, 

 the veritable sun of the real, great spring, peering through 

 the half-open door, glides in his first softened glances, wherein 

 anemones and violets are coming to life again ; and gently 

 awakens the workers, showing them that the sky once more 

 is blue in the world, and that the uninterrupted circle that 

 joins death to life has turned and begun afresh. 



