“What is a queen?” I asked.
One of the guards stared at me impatiently. “You had better go inside.”
I refused to comply with the suggestion; on the contrary, I remained
where I was, ever and anon flapping my wings, and presently to my
overpowering joy I felt my body being lifted off my legs, and without
thinking I rose in the air! It was a wonderful sensation. I hardly knew
what I was doing, but back and forth I flew about our hive, looking and
looking to make sure I should know it when I returned; for now, indeed, I
felt my soul bounding within me and that the wide world, upon which I had
yearningly gazed, was about to swallow me up. Back and forth I flew, ever
widening the distance, taking into view other white-faced hives and trees
and houses, until presently, in a long spiral I rose into the heavens.
Up and up I went toward the sun, glorying in the power of wings and the
infinite grandeur of the world that spread out below me. How far away
it seemed and how cool and green and inviting! I could hear around me
strange noises, mingled with the whirring of wings. The note of my hive
now and again faintly broke on my ears, and I knew that my brothers were
traveling the airy spaces, working ever toward a goal far removed from
thinking.
I did not feel lonely at all, but after a time I decided to return to
my house to make sure that I knew the way. You would be surprised to
know how straight I came back to it. Down and down I dropped into the
bee-yard, and, turning right and left, without further thought I landed
on the alighting-board. Immediately a guard fell upon me, but passed me
without question. Then, with glee bubbling in my soul, I fled into the
hive and set up such a buzzing for joy as I think none ever surpassed.
[Illustration: CHAPTER FIVE