3
One morning, the doors of the princesses’ rooms flew open and they all ten came out as beautiful full-grown queen-bees; the other bees came running up and looked at them with admiration.
“Oh, how lovely they are!” they said. “It is not easy to say which of them is the prettiest.”
“I am!” cried one.
“You make a great mistake!” said the second and thrust at her with her sting.
“You flatter yourselves!” cried the third. “I should think I am no less beautiful than you.”
Soon they were all screaming together; and, a little later, they all began to fight. The bees wanted to part them, but the old head-nurse said:
“Just let them fight, then we shall see which is the strongest and we will elect her to be our queen. After all, we can’t have more than one.”
The bees then formed a ring and watched the combat. It was long and hard-fought. Wings and legs were bitten off and flew around in the air; and, after some time, eight of the princesses lay dead on the ground. The last two went on fighting for a long while. One had lost all her wings and the other had only four legs left.
“It will be a pitiful queen, whichever of them we get,” said one of the bees. “We had better have kept the old one.”
But she might as well have saved herself the observation, for at that very moment the princesses suddenly gave each other so violent a thrust with their stings that both of them fell stone-dead.
“Here’s a nice thing!” cried the bees and they all ran about in consternation. “Now we have no queen! What shall we do? What shall we do?”
They crept round the hive in utter bewilderment and despair. But the oldest and wisest of them sat in a corner and held counsel. They discussed at length what expedient they should resort to in this unfortunate case; but at last the head-nurse spoke and said:
“Now I will tell you how you can get out of the dilemma, if you will follow my advice. I remember that the same misfortune once happened long ago in this hive. I was a grub at the time and I lay in my cell and distinctly heard what was going on. All the princesses had killed one another and the old queen had gone away, just as now. But then the bees took one of us grubs and put her in one of the princesses’ cells. They fed her every day on the best and finest honey that the hive contained; and, when she was full-grown, she was a really good and beautiful queen. I remember the whole story clearly, for I thought at the time that they might just as well have taken me. But never mind that at present. I propose that we should behave in just the same way.”
The bees gladly cried that they agreed, and they ran straight off to fetch a grub.
“Stop a bit,” cried the head-nurse, “and take me with you. After all, I have managed to help you. Now, look here: it must be one of the youngest grubs, for she must have time to think of her new position. When you’ve been brought up to be a common worker, it’s not so easy to accustom yourself to wear a crown.”
The bees thought this sensible too, and the old bee continued:
“Just beside the princesses’ rooms lies a little grub. She is the youngest of them all. She must have learned a deal from hearing the princesses’ cultured conversation; and I have noticed that she is not without character. Moreover, it was she who had the honesty to tell me of the old queen’s wicked thoughts. Let us take her.”
They all went forthwith, in a solemn procession, to the narrow, hexagonal cell in which the little grub lay. The head-nurse knocked politely at the door, opened it carefully and told the grub what the bees had decided upon. At first she almost refused to believe her own ears; but, when they carried her carefully into one of the beautiful large rooms and brought her as much honey as she could eat, she saw that it was serious.
“So I am to be queen after all!” she said to the head-nurse. “You never thought that, you old grumbler!”
“I hope your Majesty will forget my rude remarks at the time when you lay in the hexagonal cell,” said the old bee and dropped a respectful curtsey.
“I forgive you!” replied the new-fledged princess. “Get me some more honey!”
Soon after, the grub was full-grown and stepped out of her room, looking as large and beautiful as the bees could possibly wish. And she did know how to command and no mistake!
“Away with you!” she said. “We want more honey for winter use and you others must sweat more wax. I mean to build a wing to the hive. The new princesses will live in it next year; it is much too unpleasant for them to be so near the common grubs.”
“What next!” cried the bees to one another. “One would really think that she had been queen from the time when she lay in the egg!”
“No,” said the head-nurse, “that she was not. But she has had queenly thoughts; and that is the great thing.”
THE CATERPILLAR