Away they flew at once. But all the very young ones stayed behind. They made the last party, for they had never been out with the others.
"What are we to do?" they asked.
"You! you must perspire," said the queen. "One, two, three! Then we can begin our work."
And they perspired as well as they had learned to, and the prettiest yellow wax came out of their bodies.
"Good!" said the queen. "Now we will begin to build."
The old bees took the wax, and began to build a number of little six-sided cells, all alike and close up to one another. All the time they were building, the others came flying in with flower-dust and honey, which they laid at the queen's feet.
"We can now knead the dough," she said. "But first put a little honey in—that makes it taste so much better."
They kneaded and kneaded, and before very long they had made some pretty little loaves of bee-bread, which they carried into the cells.