Bee Keeping School
Good fortune is giving it to others. Good fortune accrues to the souls of the elite. Now good fortune is not always possible, but you can find a considerable fortune in nature. With flowers it is the beauty that endlessly rejuvenates itself. With dogs it is the boundless faithfulness, even in misfortune – unfailing recognition. The bee is a mistress and a delightful teacher. She provides an example of a wise and reasoned lifestyle, which gives solace from life's annoyances. The bee contents herself with the nourishment provided in the surroundings of the hive, without adding anything to it and without taking anything away from it. No ready-made meals; no imported early fruit or vegetables. The bee, however well provided she is, does not consume more than is absolutely necessary. No gluttony.
The bee makes
use of her terrible sting and dies in doing so in order to defend her
family and her provisions. Otherwise, even when she is foraging, she
gives way peacefully to people and to animals. without recrimination,
without a fight. She is a pacifist, but not weak. Each bee has its task
according to its age and abilities. It fulfils its task without desire,
rebellion or anger. For the bee there is no humiliating work. The queen
lays tirelessly, thus assuring the perpetuation of the stock. The
workers lovingly share their activity between the tender larvae, the
hopes of the colony's future, and the fragrant fields where the honey is
harvested from dawn to dusk. No place in a buzzing colony for the
useless. No parliaments; for this quiet populace has neither a taste for
new laws nor the leisure for futile discussion.
We
call the laying bee the queen. This is incorrect. There is neither king
nor queen nor dictator in the hive. Nobody is in charge, yet all work
in the common interest. No egoism. The bee observes the law that is as
healthy as it is imperative, a law often overlooked by humans: 'you earn
your bread by the sweat of your brow'. And I observe that the sweat of
the bee, just in 4 cleansing her body, is useful to her in another way.
Her sweat, in changing into scales of wax, provides the bee with the
materials that she uses to make her wonderful cells, a clean storehouse
for her provisions, a soft cradle for her young. It is so true that the
observance of natural laws is always rewarded. Bees work day and night
without respite. They only take a rest when there is no work to do.
Noteven a rest at the weekends. In the home of the bees there are
neither pensioners nor retirees.
And here is the song of the bees that sang:
I said one day to the bee
Rest a little now,
Your striving to be like
This pretty blue butterfly
On the rose or the pansy,
See, it swoons in day-dreaming
Yes... but, me, I'm in a hurry,
Said the bee to me, in passing.
Showing her the dragonfly,
I said to her, another day
Come, from dawn to dusk,
Dance like her, when it's your turn
Don't you admire it, subtle,
Waltzing over there on the lake?
Yes... but me, I am useful
Said the bee to me, leaving.
Yesterday, before the door
Of its little temple of gold
I caught sight of it, half dead,
Heavy with its pollen again
Rest yourself, poor creature
I said to her while helping her
Yes... when my task is done,