92 The Honey-Makers 



Greece] and made a breach in the walls, found the breach 

 defended by bees, whose hives had been brought on the 

 ruins. The Janissaries, the bravest militia of the Ottoman 

 Empire, refused to clear the obstacle." 



Various strongholds in Germany are reported to have 

 borrowed the weapon of the bee in time of need, and these 

 mercenaries could always be depended upon to fight — and 

 also to conquer. 



Friedrich tells a story of a man who in time of war made 

 his bees protect him from plunderers. 



He had before his door six bee-hives, to each of which 

 he fastened a string, taking the other end to his room. As 

 soon as he saw soldiers approaching he pulled the strings 

 until the hives were thoroughly shaken up, whereupon the 

 angry bees fell upon the intruders in such numbers tliat 

 they at once took to flight. 



'•' Sesser tells us that in 1525, during the confusion occa- 

 sioned by a time of war, a mob of peasants assembling in 

 Hohnstein (in Thuringia) attempted to pillage the house 

 of the minister of Elende ; who having in vain employed 

 all his eloquence to dissuade them from their design, 

 ordered his domestics to fetch his bee-hives, and throw 

 them in the middle of this furious mob. The effect was 

 what might be expected ; they were immediately put to 

 flight, and happy if they escaped unstung." 



"Olearius relates in the description of his celebrated 

 Travels in Persia that his whole travelling escort was once 

 driven out of a Russian village by a swarm of bees. The 

 peasants themselves had excited the bees to this to be rid 

 of their unwelcome guests, and they often used this device 

 upon similar occasions." 



'^Pigneron relates that the Spaniards experienced the 

 fury of the bees at the siege of Tanly. When they were 

 preparing to make the assault, the besieged placed a num- 



