“I’ll go to work one of these days,” she spoke up promptly; and with a cheerful, winsome smile.
“We don’t want you to go to work one of these days,” they answered gruffly. “We want you to go to work tomorrow morning. This is Warning Number 2!”
And they let her in.
The following night, when the lazy bee came home, she did not wait for the policemen to stop her. She went up to them sorrowfully and said:
“Yes, yes! I remember what I promised. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to work today!”
“We didn’t ask how sorry you were, nor what you had promised. What we want from you is work. Today is the nineteenth of April. Tomorrow will be the twentieth of April. See to it that the twentieth of April does not pass without your putting at least one load of honey into the hive. This is Warning Number 3! You may enter!”
And the policemen who had been blocking the door stepped aside to let her in.
The lazy bee woke up with very good intentions the next morning; but the sun was so warm and bright and the flowers were so beautiful! The day passed the same as all the others; except that toward evening the weather changed. The sun went down behind a great bank of clouds and a strong icy wind began to blow.
The lazy little bee started for home as fast as she could, thinking how warm and cozy it would be inside the hive, with all that storm blowing out of doors. But on the porch of the beehive the policemen got in front of her.
“Where are you going, young lady?” said they.