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word of his ; so she crawled down on his nose , and told him so . The Ass suggested that she should get into his mouth ; but she said she was so sweet that she was afraid the temptation might be too great for him . At last , to please him , and because he begged so hard for a little more of her pleasant company , she said she would go back to his ear and tell him a story , which , if he really could hear it to good purpose , she had no doubt would be of service to him . So after again nestling herself comfortably down , and making a few preludatory hummings , she began as follows : — The Bee ' 8 Story .
" Soon after bees were first created , a number of our ancestors settled themselves in an island some way out in the sea . The common bees were not the clever workers which we aie ; and the drones being at that time , from iheir advantage of sex , in advance of the re-t of us , the working bees , to avoid confusion and to make the best of themselves , agreed to put themselves under the drones , and to do what the drones told them . The drones were to take care ot the hive , overlook the pastures , direct the works , and keep the law between bee and bee . The island was divided into sections , over each of which a drone prt-sided ; and , in consideration of his trouble , a nice cell was built for him , and a double supply of honey regularly furnished for his supper . for timetill at lastfrom
• ' All went well a long , , long p actice , the woikb » es learnt their business , and could do it as well a * the drones and better ; so governing grew more and more easy . We could do what was right without their telling us ; each generation of drones as they came up found less and less to do , and at last they forgot that they had ever had anj thing to do except eat and drink and take toll on the pastures ; so they grew lazy and self-indulgent , and ate more and more honey . . . Half of every hive they took for their immense cells ; instead of a double share of honey , some of them took five hundred shares ; and very grand they used to look—so our old books say—sitting up in state , big drones and little drones , with fat sides and sleek skins , buzzing out oracles that no bee listened to , and stuffing honey as if they would burst .
•' The poor bees were sadly put to it to keep all this going , but the drones told them that they should have no flowers at all if they complained ; the island belonged to them ; and it was only from the drones ' kindness that the bees were let to live there at all . So they went on taking more and more , till at last some of the poor patient workers were starved with hunger ; and many more , because of the room which was taken up by the great cells , were turned out into the cold and died . . . . You see , my good Ass , bets were as badly off as you are once ; but now hear what happened . Listen and be wise . " The Ass could ' nt answer , but he stretched his ears forwards with all his might . The sound was inside , and this motion of his was not of special service . However , it was his way of showing that he was attentive . The Bee went on : —
" One cold spring , when the sufferings grew too great for the patience of bees to bear , a meeting of the workers was held to consult what should be done . The proceedings had no sooner opened than a messenger from the drones was announced , and as we were always a prudent , cautious set of creatures , my ancestors determined that they would first hear what he had to say . He "was a portly old drone , with a great name for wisdom . They called him Maccullochee ; the drone said that lie had more brains in his head than all the heads in the hive put together ; and a clever fellow he was , as you shall hear .
" Ho told us the whole difficulty arose from a mistake which we had made as to the meaning of drones , and for what nature intended them . A notion had got abroad that they ought to do something , whereas the very essence of the thing was that they ehould do nothing . The nature of us working bees , he was sorry to tell us , was very indifferent . We were bad , idle creatures , and would not work without strong inducements . The wisdom of the early bees had therefore appointed drones to exist in highest
splendour , in highest idleness , in highest enjoyment , as an ideal to which we workers should look up . If a worker was clever and industrious , if he never cared for any bee but himself , and steadily followed hiH own interest , in time he might become like one of them , and have the happiness to bring up hit * children drones . Instead of injuring the community , therefore , the drones were it » highest benefactors , and tho more idle they were , the more they ute , and the more they enjoyed themselves , the better they did what they were meant to do . Maccul
"A deep buzz went round the hive when - locheo had done . Some of the Hilly fellows thought , it was all right , and that they had nothing to do tmt go on ns they were ; but a black little knot of been clustered up in a corner , and grew larger and larger , and the hum grew louder and more angry , and presently ft little clean-winged bee , with a sharp nose and » hrill note , sprung up on n projecting point of comb , and smoothing down his wings , and giving a flourish with his ating , made n speech . Oh ! Ahh , it would do you good to hear it all , it would ; but . it i « too long to tell it you all now ; however , the effect
of it was this ; that once the drones were good for something , then they were good for nothing ; once they had been contented with a little , then there was no living for their greediness . Bees were to work . If they didn ' t work they were good for nothing , neither bees nor drones . If they wanted rules to live by , let them choose the wisest bees they could find , and be governed by them , and not be fools enough to believe that wisdom came of honey and idleness . Drones were no good to themselves , and no good to the bees ; and for what Maccullochee had said , he thought Maccullochee had insulted bees and the maker of bees . He begged to say he thought
too well of the nature of bees to believe that they wouldn ' t do their duty unless they were stimulated with the hope of begetting children who should grow up into miserable drones . In conclusion , the grand little fellow flapped his wings and moved with a tjcream that the pensions of the drones should be taken away , and that they should be required to do something . The drones' ambassador declared that they could not and would not , and the meeting broke up in immense confusion . But they settled the matter that night , my friend , and bees have never had any trouble with their drones since . This is the story I was going to tell you , and now you have got it , and
much good may it do you . So saying , the Bee crawled out of her hiding place , and was stretching her wings to fly away , when the Ass cried , ' But it is not finished , Bee . What did they do to the drones r You haven ' t told me what they did do" ! She said as she flew away , " Do ! Why what you ought to do to this fellow here that you call your master , and what you d have done long ago , if you were fit for anything better than to be the miserable drudge you are . If you have the heart to do it , you ' 11 have the heart to find it out for yourself . I ' m not going to tell
you only this much , as the drones drove the bees and ate all the honey , only leaving the bees the scrapings , so the man in the cart drives you , and you know how much of the advantage falls to your share ; so if you will take a bee ' s advice , you will call your brothers together , and see if something can ' t be done . " So saying , the wicked Bee flew away , taking with her the sting in her tail , but leaving a worse sting stuck fast in the brains of the poor ass who could think of nothing but the wonderful story which the bee had put into them .
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Part . II . —Liberte , Eoalite , Fraternite . Now it happened that the place where the asa lived in the summer months , was a large open common at the back of the town , which he and a number of other asses shared among them ; and where he at least was not altogether badly off , seeing that in winter , or in bad weather , or when he was ill , the farmer made him a nest in one of the best of his cattle-sheds . At any rate , it served excellently for a meeting place , and the next Sunday morning , when there was a general holiday , soon after sunrise , our good friend ( his brothers called him Gaberlunzie , among the men he had no especial name ) , having been meditating ever since the bee left him to the extent of his ability , and having arrived at many conclusions , pointed his nose towards the sky , and sent out a long-drawn
note , repeating it till it was answered across and along the common far and wide ; and presently after dozens of asses came scampering up to know what was the matter . There came Prunk tho Surgeon , Boldewyn that carried the minister ' s children , Neddy the Costermonger , Heavyside the Market-gardener , and many others whose names only the carelessness of history has allowed to be forgotten ; up they came , ears forward and ears backward , some trotting , some galloping , some gravely walking aB of wiser and more staid demeanour—and with Gaberlunzie sitting on the ground for a centre , they formed themselves in a circle round him , their noBes all pointing inwards , and their ears projecting towards him , waiting to be told why they had been ho unseasonably disturbed at their breakfast .
Gaberlunzie , who had taken his time considering it , _ was muster of his subject . In a few words he alluded to their sufferings , their cruel work and cruel beatings , and ill-filled stomachs ; he told them the Bee ' s story , all except the end , which he didn ' t know . It was time , he « aid , it really waa , they should set about trying if they could n't better their condition , if not for their own naked , at leuut for their children ' s . When he remembered what he had been
as a child ass , how happy he was , what tricks he used to play , how clever and how saucy he had been , he wim Hure Unit , with good feed and less work , und Homebody to touch him , ho might have grown into a very different , wort of creature . Ah , it was , he couldn ' t boar to think of himself as a father . For his own part , he had decided what lie thought they nhoull net about doing . Hut first , he would like to hear what anybody hud to way .
The asses were not quick ut a new idea ; und that of bettering their condition was a very new one indeed to inont of them . One or two , however , which lived in hotter society , nnd had made use of their opportunities , were not long in ditching fire . Indeed , from what they Hiiid it wus clear that they too , in their own way had been sncculuting about the' sumo thing .
First , Prunk came forward , Ptunk , the Surgeon ' s ass , -whose business was to be about the streets at midnight , and whose load , when it was brought in was always wrapped round mysteriously with cloak and covering , who , in the small hours on moonless nights , had been seen standing strangely at the gates of churchyards , conducted by a small imp , called in the town from the evil nature of bis employment , the Doctor ' s Devil , and looked upon by all decent people with very uneasy feelings . And Prunk , too , him . self , had gathered in his own bearing something of strangeness and mystery , in the mysteries of the art in which he was employed . And he was reverenced
among asses , as his master was among men . He advanced into the middle of the ring , and rising on his hind legs , and scraping his nose with his left forefoot , while the right was raised to command attention , told a long story how that what Gaberlunzie had said about the children was truer , perhaps , than he knew while he was saying it . Gaberlunzie only thought it might be so . He , Prunk , knew it was so . How he came to know he was going to tell them i—A few nights before , his elder brother had died sud - denly under the same roof with himself . Now , Dick the Devil , who was a clever fellow in his way , and used to help his master in cutting up the men in the
surgery , took the opportunity of holding a little private exhibition of his own in the stall , over die body of the ass . And he whose eyes and ears were never closed where any sense was to be learnt , had looked cart * fully over the side of his stall , and had watched Dick slicing away at his brother ' s skin , and discoursing to the servant maids about joints and tendons , nerves and arteries , glands and midriff . Wonderful sight it was , indeed , to see the deal of trouble which must have been taken to put together such a body as an ass ' s ; but he had no time to think much of that , for he heard Dick tell the girls that they themselves were nothing but jackasses
developed , as he called it , and that accounted for a great manv things otherwise suprising in their behaviour . He split open the hoofs , and he showed them the five fingers ; he counted the joints in the neck and the back , and showed them all the bumps . These they had themselves and oh ! how they screamed when he told them ! they had themselves the stump of a tail all ready to grow ; and the skin , only wanted thumping to be as thick as asses ' . 44 Treat them like asses , " he declared , " and they would soon be as like in face as pea to pea ; give the asses , when they were little , tea and
bread-andbutter , and a flock-bed to sleep upon—make them sit up on little stools , walk on their hind feet , use their paws like decent creatures , and when they grew up , and had nice clothes to wear , they would be exactly as fine handsome thing * as the girls were . " Here was news for an ass to hear . No wonder the women screamed , and no wonder the men keep the aeses down as they do . Turn the wheel round . They down and we up ; they in the stable and we in the kitchen and parlour , and pat their life is ours , and they work for us ; and it is time , as Gaberlunzie said , that something should be done towards it .
Great excitement followed Prunk ' s speech ; tails were waved , and ears were agitated , and a general tossing of heads declared the satisfaction with which they had listened . When the meeting grew a little quiet , Boldewyn , the Minister , stood out . 44 What Prunk had told them , " he said , " explained many things which had always before perplexed him . His place was to walk about with the minister ' s children , and he had heard the governess tell them stories about asses which had been a real wonder to him . Once upon a time there had been a king , a real king , who could make whatever he touched into real gold ; he had worn asses * care . Another gentleman had taken the form of an ass , and had lived in it a whole year round ; and a third there was more wonderful still , who , while he was
asleep one night in a wood , had the down form over his face , his ears lengthen out and grow sleek and smooth , in short , had become a real handsome ass ; and in thin state the great Queen of the Fairies herself had fallen in love with him . First he had thought it was only foolish nonsense to amunc the children with ; but one Sunday , when the minister a wife waa too ill to walk , he had carried her on his back to church , and the minister had walked along at her side , talking all the way on the sermon wlii ' ' he was going to preach , and he had found it was all in
about the same thing . A very wonderful story , - deed , and , us the minister told it , v «; ry much to their , tho asses' , credit . Putting all this together , tluio could not bo a doubt about it ; there was some very close affinity between -asses and men . lie did n t know ao well about the jjrown ones . Being as j > ! V were , it was like enough they might atuy u » tn'y were ; but for the children , bring them up with u »<; boys , and there would soon be a bight worth seeing , and now that Gaberlunzio had brought forward tho thing for tho tuike of their little ones , go through
it they should and would . Then all the nssi s sent up along loud chorus . There should be justice , they said , to the working ush ; justice mid freedom . Were not the uosen , < i » well us tho men , animals alike ? alike children « j nature—all brothers , and all equal ? No more sliouiu
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828 Wbt & , t& 9 tt * [ 8 awi&a * ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 30, 1851, page 828, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1898/page/16/
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