To Venus quick he runs, he flies!

“Oh, mother!—I am wounded though—

I die with pain—in sooth I do,

Stung by some little angry thing,

Some serpent on a tiny wing—

A bee it was—for once I know

I heard a rustic call it so.”

Thus he spoke, and she the while

Heard him with a soothing smile;

Then said, “My infant, if so much