Curious Customs and Beliefs 349 



But there is a pleasure in the bee for its own sake that is 

 modern and that bursts forth as joyously as did the song of 

 the bee, among the old Hindus. 



An English poet sings : — 



" The wild bee reels from bough to bough 

 With his furry coat and his gauzy wing, 

 Now in a lily cup, and now 

 Setting a jacinth bell a-swing, 

 In his wandering." 



And thus Emily Dickinson ; — 



" His labor is a chant, 

 His idleness a tune. 

 Ah, for a bee's experience 

 Of clovers and of noon ! " 



Nora Perry sings : — 



" So sweet, so sweet the roses in their blowing, 

 So sweet the daffodils, so fair to see ; 

 So blithe and gay the humming-bird a-going 

 From flower to flower, a-hunting with the bee." 



In his " Ode to Delia " Burns sings : — 



" The flower-enamoured busy bee 

 The rosy banquet loves to sip." 



While in " Tam 'O'Shanter " Maggie the mare runs for 

 her life, — 



" As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke, 



When plundering birds assail their hyke.'' 



But it is in Bums' poem " Thou Fair Eliza " that one of the 

 prettiest of modern bee-adorned stanzas is found. 



" Not the bee upon the blossom. 

 In the pride o' sinny noon ; 

 Not the little sporting fairy. 

 All beneath the summer moon ; 



