256 The Honey-Makers 



" At harshness I have ceased to grieve, for none to light can bring 

 A rose that is apart from thorns, or honey void of sting." 



We miss in all this that simple joy in the flowers and bees 

 that makes the Hindu literature so charming, and yet the 

 saying of the Bedouins, when they wish to describe a 

 region or a kingdom blessed by nature, that its inhabitant 

 " sleeps with his mouth at a honey bottle," is sufficient 

 proof of the estimation in which honey was held. And 

 travellers tell us that to-day the Arab offers his guest a 

 bowl of milk and a honeycomb for refreshment. 



In the *' Koran " too the sixteenth chapter is entitled 

 "The Bee," and in it occurs the following address made 

 by God to the bee, this creature being honored above all 

 others by a direct command from the Lord : — 



"The Lord spoke by inspiration with the bee, saying, 

 ' Provide thee houses in the mountains and in the trees, 

 and of those materials wherewith men build hives for thee ; 

 then eat of every kind of fruit, and walk in the beaten paths 

 of thy Lord.' There proceedeth from their bellies a liquor 

 of various colors, wherein is a medicine for men. Verily 

 here is a sign unto people who consider." 



In the rose gardens of Persia, we miss the murmur of the 

 bee as we miss it in Arabia. In Saadi's " Gulistan," or " Rose 

 Garden," where from the name one anticipates all delight of 

 flower and insect life, one finds the roses are rather orna- 

 ments of the mind, and the bee does not appear among 

 these dignified blossoms excepting as an instrument to 

 point a moral, as for instance : — 



" A learned man without practice is a bee without 

 honey." 



And again, — 



" Of honey hath the sire a plenteous store ; 

 But the son 's feverish and must not have more." 



which, we are told, being interpreted means, " Our Heavenly 



