Bernice and the bees
Bernice lived in a little house in the country. She loved to walk on her own, looking at all the wonders of nature. While she walked, she saw all the living things, the flowers, trees, animals and, especially, bees.
When the weather was bad, she did not play with her toys like any other girls. She sat and read about bees. “What wonderful creatures they are”, she thought. Everybody does something useful and human beings benefit from them because bees make honey.
One day she lay resting on the bed when a little bee flew through the window and buzzed about her head. The buzzing sounded different to the usual noise that bees make. Gradually she realised why. The little bee was talking to her.
“Hello Bernice, the Queen Bee told us how much you love us bees and she has sent me to invite you to our hive. Then you will be able to see exactly what we do and how we live.”
“Oh boy”, said Bernice. “Yes, I would love to come, but I am so big.” “That’s no problem, if you take this little bit of special honey that I will leave you, you will be able to fit into the hive.” With that, he was gone.
The next day, Bernice told her mother that she was going for a walk and would be back at lunch time. She then ate the ’special honey’ that the little bee had given her, and before she could count to ten, she had grown a pair of wings and had changed into a little bee, flying towards the hive in the garden.
Her little bee friend was waiting for her. He took her little wing and, together they flew into the hive. He immediately took her to the Queen who was in the middle. The Queen was a big fat lady surrounded by her husband who was called a Drone. She welcomed Bernice warmly. Bernice’s little friend was ordered to show her around the hive. Bernice spent the rest of the morning seeing how a hive works. The worker bees kept the hive cool, looked after the baby bees and continuously flew out of the hive to fetch nectar from flowers. The nectar was then made into honey to feed the babies. The whole hive was protected by soldier bees. Bernice was fascinated by all this activity and felt she would love to spend more time in the hive. Then the Queen said she must return to her own home, as the bees had a lot of work to do, and she did not want her mother to worry about her. She gave Bernice some special honey to take to her mother and a tiny packet that she was instructed to eat just after leaving the hive. Bernice thanked the Queen and the Drone escorted her out of the hive. Bernice flew out of the hive and then ate the special honey. Within seconds, she was a little girl again and in the garden of her own home.
She then ran into the lounge and shouted out “Hi mom, I’m back and I’ve got a surprise for you – fresh honey from a honeycomb, so let’s enjoy it. It was made with love from the Queen Bee.”
Barbara Louise Gillman
