“I should have complained too,” said Ruth.
“Well this young queen complained in earnest, and the old queen heard her, and of course she tried to get to the cell of this pert young one, and settle her for all time. This the workers would not allow. They would not touch their old queen, but they formed a bodyguard about the cell of the new one, and so protected her.”
“‘Well,’ said the old queen at last, ‘I can’t stand this. I will not stay here. I shall take my friends with me and fly away to a place where only I shall be queen.’”
“She grew more and more excited, as time passed, and, as many of the workers were excited too, the hive was in much confusion.”
“‘We are much too crowded,’ said some of the workers.”
“‘I can’t seem to settle down to work,’ answered others. ‘What can you expect when thousands of children are added to a family in a week? The time comes when the house must be made larger, or some of the members must move.’”
“‘We will _move_,’ said the old queen in a tone of decision. ‘We will move right now. Those who are my friends, come. The others may stay with the piping thing in yonder cell.’”
“And without further words, the old queen flew away, followed by a great many workers.”
“Now I know what swarming means!” cried Ruth. “I used to wonder about it.”
“When the swarm was well away, the workers who were left in the hive hastened to let out the new queen.”
“Very likely,” agreed Miss Apis. “She began her reign with a flying trip into the world with the drones. But after this, she came back to the hive, and settled down to the business of egg-laying. Of course the workers took up the same old tasks, for whatever happens, workers will work. That is why they have no love for the drones, and when Winter comes they drive these lazy ones from the hive.”
“I think I feel a little bit sorry for the drones,” said Ruth, “if they can’t help being lazy, as that drone said a while ago.”
“Well, it is our way,” answered Miss Apis. “Only those who have worked in the Summer have a right to eat in the Winter. Now my work is calling me, and I must leave. This story of one hive is true of all. I hope you have enjoyed it, and so good-by.”
“There, she is finished at last,” said Mrs. Horntail. “I think this whole meeting has been most tiresome.”
