[81]The next morning was warm, bright, and sunny, the bees were early on the wing. The larv? were beginning to spin their webs, and therefore no longer required food; so Silverwing was free to range over the fields, and gather honey for the hive. So tempting2 was the day, that even Honeyball shook her lazy wings and crept to the door; there stood for a few moments, jostled by her more active fellow-servants, and finally flew off in quest of food.
How delightful3 was the air!—how fragrant4 the breeze! The buttercups spread their carpet of gold, and the daisies their mantle5 of silver over the meadows, all glittering with the drops of bright dew. Honeyball soon found a flower to her taste, and never thought of quitting it till she had exhausted6 all its honied store. She had a dim idea that it was her duty to help to fill the cells, but poor Honeyball was too apt to prefer pleasure to duty.
“I should like to have nothing to do,”[82] she murmured, little thinking that a listener was near.
“Like to have nothing to do! Is it from a hive-bee that I hear such words?—from one whose labour is itself all play?”
Honeyball turned to view the speaker, and beheld7 on a sign-post near her the most beautiful bee that she had ever seen. Her body was larger than that of a hive-bee, and her wings were of a lovely violet colour, like the softest tint8 of the rainbow.[A]
Honeyball felt a little confused by the address, and a little ashamed of her own speech; but as all bees consider each other as cousins, felt it best to put on a frank, easy air.
“Why, certainly, flying about upon a morning like this, and making elegant extracts from flowers, is pleasant enough for a time. But may I ask, lady-bee,” continued[83] Honeyball, “if you think as lightly of working in wax?”
“Working in wax!” half contemptuously replied Violetta; “a soft thing which you can bend and twist any way, and knead into any shape that you choose. Come and look at my home here, and then ask yourself if you have any reason to complain of your work.”
Honeyball looked forward with her two honey-combed eyes, and upwards9 and backwards10 with her three others, but not the shadow of a hive could she perceive anywhere. “May I venture to ask where you live?” said she at last.
“This way,” cried Violetta, waving her feeler, and pointing to a little round hole in the post, which Honeyball had not noticed before. It looked gloomy, and dark, and strange to the bee; but Violetta, who took some pride in her mansion11, requested Honeyball to step in.
“You cannot doubt my honour,” said she,[84] observing that the hive-worker hesitated, “or be suspicious of a cousin?”
Honeyball assured her that she had never dreamed of such a thing, and entered the hole in the post.
For about an inch the way sloped gently downwards12, then suddenly became straight as a well, so dark and so deep, that Honeyball would have never attempted to reach the bottom, had she not feared to offend her new acquaintance. She had some hopes that this perpendicular13 passage might only be a long entrance leading to some cheerful hive; but after having explored to the very end, and having found nothing but wood to reward her search, she crept again up the steep narrow way, and with joy found herself once more in the sunshine.
“What do you think of it?” said Violetta, rather proudly.
[85]“No; I have yet to divide it into chambers16 for my children, each chamber15 filled with a mixture of pollen17 and honey, and divided from the next by a ceiling of sawdust. But the boring was finished to-day.”
“You do not mean to say,” exclaimed Honeyball in surprise, “that that long gallery was ever bored by bees!”
The indolent Honeyball could not conceal19 her amazement20. “Is it possible that you sawed it all out with your teeth?”
“Every inch of the depth,” Violetta replied.
“And that you can gather honey and pollen enough to fill it?”
“I must provide for my children, or they would starve.”
“And you can make ceilings of such a thing as sawdust to divide your home into cells?”
[86]“This is perhaps the hardest part of my task, but nevertheless this must be done.”
“Where will you find sawdust for this carpenter’s work?”
“See yonder little heap; I have gathered it together. Those are my cuttings from my tunnel in the wood.”
“You are without doubt a most wonderful bee. And you really labour all alone?”
“All alone,” replied Violetta.
Honeyball thought of her own cheerful hive, with its thousands of workers and divisions of labour, and waxen cells dropping with golden honey. She scarcely could believe her own five eyes when she saw what one persevering21 insect could do. Her surprise and her praise pleased the violet-bee, who took pride in showing every part of her work, describing her difficulties, and explaining her manner of working.
“One thing strikes me,” said Honeyball, glancing down the tunnel; “I should not much like to have the place of your eldest[87] larva, imprisoned22 down there in the lowest cell, unable to stir till all her sisters have eaten their way into daylight.”
Violetta gave what in Bee-land is considered a smile. “I have thought of that difficulty, and of a remedy too. I am about to bore a little hole at the end of my tunnel, to give the young bee a way of escape from its prison. And now,” added Violetta, “I will detain you no longer, so much remains23 to be done, and time is so precious. You probably have something to collect for your hive. I am too much your friend to wish you to be idle.”
Honeyball thanked her new acquaintance and flew away, somewhat the wiser for her visit, but feeling that not for ten pairs of purple wings would she change places with the carpenter-bee.
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1
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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2
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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3
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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5
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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7
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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8
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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14
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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17
pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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persevering
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| a.坚忍不拔的 | |
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22
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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