Before the horror swept upon her, Maya had formed a very remarkable2 acquaintance. It was in the afternoon near a big old water-butt3. She was sitting amid the scented4 elder blossoms, which lay mirrored in the placid5 dark surface of the butt, and a robin6 redbreast was warbling overhead, so sweetly and merrily that Maya thought it was a shame, a crying shame that she, a bee, could not make friends with the charming songsters. The trouble was, they were too big and ate you up.
173
She had hidden herself in the heart of the elder blossoms and was listening and blinking under the pointed7 darts8 of the sunlight, when she heard someone beside her sigh. Turning round she saw—well, now it really was the strangest of all the strange creatures she had ever met. It must have had at least a hundred legs along each side of its body—so she thought at first glance. It was about three times her size, and slim, low, and wingless.
“For goodness sake! Mercy on me!” Maya was quite startled. “You must certainly be able to run!”
The stranger gave her a pondering look.
“I doubt it,” he said. “I doubt it. There’s room for improvement. I have too many legs. You see, before all my legs can be set in motion, too much time is lost. I didn’t use to realize this, and often wished I had a few more legs. But God’s will be done.—Who are you?”
Maya introduced herself. The other one nodded and moved some of his legs.
“I am Thomas of the family of millepeds. We are an old race, and we arouse admiration9 and astonishment10 in all parts of the globe. No 174other animals can boast anything like our number of legs. Eight is their limit, so far as I know.”
“You are tremendously interesting. And your color is so queer. Have you got a family?”
“Why, no! Why should I? What good would a family do me? We millepeds crawl out of our eggs; that’s all. If we can’t stand on our own feet, who should?”
“Of course, of course,” Maya observed thoughtfully. “But have you no relations?”
“No, dear child. I earn my living, and doubt. I doubt.”
“Oh! What do you doubt?”
“I was born doubting. I must doubt.”
Maya stared at him in wide-eyed bewilderment. What did he mean, what could he possibly mean? She couldn’t for the life of her make out, but she did not want to pry11 too curiously12 into his private affairs.
“For one thing,” said Thomas after a pause, “for one thing I doubt whether you have chosen a good place to rest in. Don’t you know what’s over there in the big willow13?”
“No.”
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“You see! I doubted right away if you knew. The city of the hornets is over there.”
Maya turned deathly white and nearly fell off the elder blossoms. In a voice shaking with fright, she asked just where the city was.
“Do you see that old nesting-box for starlings, there in the shrubbery near the trunk of the willow-tree? It’s so poorly placed that I doubted from the first whether starlings would ever move in. If a bird-house isn’t set with its door facing the sunrise, every decent bird will think twice before taking possession. Well, the hornets have entrenched14 themselves in it. It’s the biggest hornets’ fortress15 in the country. You as a bee certainly ought to know of the place. Why, the hornets are brigands16 who lie in wait for you bees. So, at least, I have observed.”
Maya scarcely heard what he was saying. There, showing clear against the green, she saw the brown walls of the fortress. She almost stopped breathing.
“I must fly away,” she cried.
Too late! Behind her sounded a loud, mean laugh. At the same moment the little 176bee felt herself caught by the neck, so violently that she thought her joints17 were broken. It was a laugh she would never forget, like a vile18 taunt19 out of hellish darkness. Mingling20 with it was another gruesome sound, the awful clanking of armor.
Thomas let go with all his legs at once and tumbled head over heels through the branches into the water-butt.
“I doubt if you get away alive,” he called back. But the poor little bee no longer heard.
She couldn’t see her assailant, her neck was caught in too firm a grip, but a gilt-sheathed arm passed before her eyes, and a huge head with dreadful pincers suddenly thrust itself above her face. She took it at first to belong to a gigantic wasp21, but then realized that she had fallen into the clutches of a hornet. The black-and-yellow striped monster was surely four times her size.
Maya lost sight, hearing, speech; every nerve in her body went faint. At length her voice came back, and she screamed for help.
“Never mind, girlie,” said the hornet in a honey-sweet tone that was sickening. “Never 177mind. It’ll last until it’s over.” He smiled a baleful smile.
“Let go!” cried Maya. “Let me go! Or I’ll sting you in your heart.”
“In my heart right away? Very brave. But there’s time for that later.”
Maya went into a fury. Summoning all her strength, she twisted herself around, uttered her shrill22 battle-cry, and directed her sting against the middle of the hornet’s breast. To her amazement23 and horror, the sting, instead of piercing his breast, swerved24 on the surface. The brigand’s armor was impervious25.
“I could bite your head off, little one, to punish you for your impudence27. And I would, too, I would indeed, but for our queen. She prefers fresh bees to dead carcasses. So a good soldier saves a juicy morsel28 like you to bring to her alive.”
The hornet, with Maya still in his grip, rose into the air and made directly for the fortress.
“This is too awful,” thought the poor little bee. “No one can stand this.” She fainted.
When she came to her senses, she found herself 178in half darkness, in a sultry dusk permeated29 by a horrid30, pungent31 smell. Slowly everything came back to her. A great paralyzing sadness settled in her heart. She wanted to cry: the tears refused to come.
“I haven’t been eaten up yet, but I may be, any moment,” she thought in a tremble.
Through the walls of her prison she caught the distinct sound of voices, and soon she noticed that a little light filtered through a narrow chink. The hornets make their walls, not of wax like the bees, but of a dry mass resembling porous32 grey paper. By the one thread of light she managed bit by bit to make out her surroundings. Horror of horrors! Maya was almost congealed33 with fright: the floor was strewn with the bodies of dead insects. At her very feet lay a little rose-beetle turned over on its back; to one side was the skeleton of a large locust34 broken in two, and everywhere were the remains35 of slaughtered36 bees, their wings and legs and sheaths.
“Oh, oh, to think this had to happen to me,” whimpered little Maya. She did not dare to stir the fraction of an inch and pressed herself 179shivering into the farthest corner of this chamber37 of horrors.
Again she heard voices on the other side of the wall. Impelled38 by mortal fear, she crept up to the chink and peeped through. What she saw was a vast hall crowded with hornets and magnificently illuminated39 by a number of captive glow-worms. Enthroned in their midst sat the queen, who seemed to be holding an important council. Maya caught every word that was said.
If those glittering monsters had not inspired her with such unspeakable horror, she would have gone into raptures40 over their strength and magnificence. It was the first time she had had a good view of any of the race of brigands. Tigers they looked like, superb tigers of the insect world, with their tawny41 black-barred bodies. A shiver of awe42 ran through the little bee.
A sergeant-at-arms went about the walls of the hall ordering the glow-worms to give all the light they could; they must strain themselves to the utmost. He muttered his commands in a low voice, so as not to interrupt 180the deliberations, and thrust at them with a long spear, hissing43 as he did so:
“Light up, or I’ll eat you!”
Terrible the things that were done in the fortress of the hornets!
Then Maya heard the queen say:
“Very well, we shall abide44 by the arrangements we have made. To-morrow, one hour before dawn, the warriors45 will assemble and sally forth46 to the attack on the city of the bees in the castle park. The hive is to be plundered47 and as many prisoners taken as possible. He who captures Queen Helen VIII and brings her to me alive will be dubbed48 a knight49. Go forth and be brave and victorious50 and bring back rich booty.—The meeting is herewith adjourned51. Sleep well, my warriors. I bid you good-night.”
The queen-hornet rose from her throne and left the hall accompanied by her body-guard.
Maya nearly cried out loud.
“My country!” she sobbed52, “my bees, my dear, dear bees!” She pressed her hands to her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She was in the depths of despair. “Oh, would 181that I had died before I heard this. No one will warn my people. They will be attacked in their sleep and massacred. O God, perform a miracle, help me, help me and my people. Our need is great!”
In the hall the glow-worms were put out and devoured53. Gradually the fortress was wrapped in a hush54. Maya seemed to have been forgotten. A faint twilight55 crept into her cell, and she thought she caught the strumming of the crickets’ night song outside.—Was anything more horrible than this dungeon56 with its carcasses strewn on the ground!
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1
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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5
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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wasp
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| n.黄蜂，蚂蜂 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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24
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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26
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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27
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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28
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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29
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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30
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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31
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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32
porous
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| adj.可渗透的，多孔的 | |
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congealed
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| v.使凝结，冻结( congeal的过去式和过去分词 )；（指血）凝结 | |
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34
locust
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| n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐 | |
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35
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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36
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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38
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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40
raptures
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| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
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41
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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42
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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43
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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44
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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45
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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46
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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47
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
dubbed
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| v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
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49
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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50
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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51
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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53
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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54
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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55
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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56
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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