And threatened was each honey cell.

So she spoke in a voice most persuasive—

“He shall sit on my throne for an hour,

Who brings from the store-house of nature,

The juice of the sweetest-lipped flower.”

Away flew the brown little workers,

Away out of sight o’er the hill;

Then backward and forward they flitted,

The honey-cups eager to fill.

One famished the heart of a lily,