The Lazy Bee, by Horacio Quiroga

La abeja haragana – de Cuentos de la selva de Horacio Quiroga – 1918 – Translated from Spanish into English by Enzo Martinelli – The Bald Parrot – Jungle Tales

©️ Enzo Martinelli 2023

Once upon a time there was a bee in a hive that did not want to work. That is to say, she went through the trees one by one to take the juice of the flowers; but instead of keeping it to turn it into honey, she took it all.

She was, therefore, a lazy bee. Every morning, as soon as the sun warmed the air, the little bee would look out the door of the hive, see that the weather was fine, comb her hair with her legs, as flies do, and then fly away, very happy with the beautiful day. She buzzed from flower to flower, went into the hive, came out again, and spent the whole day like that, while the other bees were working hard to fill the hive with honey, because honey is the food of the newborn bees.

As the bees are very serious, they began to get disgusted with the lazy sister’s behavior. At the door of the hives there are always a few bees on guard to make sure that no bugs enter the hive. These bees are usually very old, with great experience of life, and their backs are bare because they have lost their hairs from rubbing against the door of the hive.

One day, therefore, they stopped the lazy bee as she was about to enter, saying to her:

-Companion: it is necessary for you to work, because all bees must work.

The little bee answered:

-I fly around all day long, and I get very tired!

-It’s not a question of getting very tired,” they replied, “but of working a little. This is the first warning we are giving you.

And so they let her pass.

But the lazy bee did not correct herself. So the next afternoon, the bees who were on duty said to her, “You must work, sister:

-You must work, sister.

And she answered at once:

-One of these days I will do it!

-They said to her, “It is not a question of doing it one of these days, but tomorrow, remember this.

And they let it pass.

The next evening the same thing happened again. Before they could say anything to her, the little bee exclaimed, “Yes, yes, sisters!

-Yes, yes, sisters! I remember what I promised!

-It’s not a question of remembering what you promised,” they replied, “but of working. Today is April 19. Well then, try to bring back a drop of honey tomorrow, the 20th. And now come in.

So saying, they went aside to let her in.

But the 20th of April passed in vain like all the others. The only difference was that when the sun went down the weather broke and a cold wind began to blow.

The lazy little bee flew hurriedly to her hive, thinking how warm it would be inside. But when she wanted to enter, the bees on guard prevented her from doing so.

-You can’t go in,” they told her coldly.

-I want to go in! -cried the little bee, “This is my hive.

-This is the hive of a poor worker bee,” replied the others, “There is no entrance for the lazy ones.

-Tomorrow I will go to work without fail! -insisted the little bee.

-There is no tomorrow for those who do not work,” replied the bees, who know a lot of philosophy.

And so saying, they pushed her out.

The little bee, not knowing what to do, flew for a while yet; but night was falling, and she could hardly see. She tried to catch hold of a leaf, and fell to the ground. His body was numb from the cold air, and he could no longer fly.

Then, crawling along the ground, climbing up and down the sticks and pebbles, which seemed like mountains to him, he reached the door of the beehive, just as cold raindrops began to fall.

-Oh, my God! -cried the helpless girl, “It’s going to rain, and I’m going to freeze to death!

And she tried to enter the hive.

But again they barred her way.

-I’m sorry! -Let me in,” the bee groaned, “let me in!

-It’s too late,” they answered.

-Please, sisters, I’m sleepy!

-It’s even later.

-Mates, for pity’s sake! -I’m cold!

-Impossible.

-For the last time! I’m going to die!

Then they told her:

-No, you will not die You will learn in one night what hard-earned rest is. Go away.

And they sent her away.

Then, shivering with cold, with wet wings and stumbling, the bee crawled, crawled, crawled, until suddenly it rolled down a hole – rolled down, rather, to the bottom of a cavern.

He thought he would never finish going down. At last she reached the bottom, and found herself suddenly confronted by a viper, a green snake with a brick-colored back, which looked at her curled up and ready to pounce on her.

In truth, that cavern was the hollow of a tree that had been transplanted some time ago, and which the snake had chosen as its den.

Snakes eat bees, which they like very much. That is why the little bee, on finding herself in front of her enemy, murmured, closing her eyes:

-Goodbye, my life! This is the last hour that I see the light.

But to her great surprise, the snake not only did not devour her, but said to her:

-How are you doing, little bee? You must not be a hard worker to be here at this hour.

-That’s true,” muttered the bee, “I don’t work, and I’m to blame.

-And so,” added the mocking snake, “I’m going to rid the world of a bad bug like you. I’m going to eat you, bee.

The bee, trembling, then exclaimed:

-It’s not fair, that’s not fair! It’s not fair that you eat me because you are stronger than me. Men know what justice is.

-Ah, ah,” exclaimed the snake, curling up lightly, “do you know men well? Do you think that men, who take honey from you, are more just, you great fool?

-No, that’s not why they take our honey,” answered the bee.

-And why is that, then?

-Because you are smarter.

So said the little bee. But the snake laughed and exclaimed:

-Well! Fairly or unfairly, I’ll eat you; get ready.

And he drew back, to pounce upon the bee. But the bee exclaimed:

-You do that because you are less intelligent than I am.

-Me, less intelligent than you, brat? -laughed the snake.

-That’s right,” said the bee.

-Well,” said the snake, “let’s see. We’re going to do two tests. The one who does the strangest test wins. If I win, I’ll eat you.

-And if I win? -asked the little bee.

-If you win,” said her enemy, “you have the right to spend the night here, until it’s daylight. Does that suit you?

-Agreed,” answered the bee.

The snake laughed again, for he had thought of something that a bee could never do. And here is what it did:

He went outside for a moment, so quickly that the bee had no time for anything. And he came back with a capsule of eucalyptus seeds, from a eucalyptus tree that was next to the hive, and which gave him shade.

The boys make those capsules dance like tops, and they call them eucalyptus tops.

-This is what I’m going to do,” said the snake, “Look carefully, pay attention!

And wrapping his tail tightly around the trumpet like a bobbin, he unwrapped it at full speed, so fast that the trumpet was dancing and buzzing like a madman.

The snake laughed, and rightly so, for never has a bee ever made a trumpet dance, nor could it ever make a trumpet dance.

But when the little trumpet, which had fallen asleep whirring, as happens to orange tree trumpets, finally fell to the ground, the bee said:

-This test is very nice, and I will never be able to do that.

-Then I’ll eat you,” exclaimed the snake.

-Just a moment! I can’t do that; but I do something that no one else does.

–What is that?

-Disappear.

-How?” exclaimed the snake, jumping up and down in surprise; “disappear without leaving here?

-Without leaving here.

-And without hiding in the ground?

-Without hiding in the ground.

-Well, do it! And if you don’t, I’ll eat you right away,” said the snake.

The fact is that while the little snake was dancing, the bee had had time to examine the cave, and had seen a little plant growing there. It was a small bush, almost like a weed, with large leaves the size of a two-cent coin.

The bee approached the little plant, taking care not to touch it, and said, “Now it’s my turn:

-“Now it’s my turn, Mrs. Culebra. Will you please turn around and count to three. When I say “three”, look for me everywhere, I’ll be gone!

And so it happened, indeed. The snake quickly said: “one…, two… three”, and turned around and opened its mouth wide in surprise: there was no one there. It looked up, down, to the sides, it went around the corners, the little plant, it groped everything with its tongue. Useless: the bee had disappeared.

The snake then realized that if its test of the little trumpet was very good, the test of the bee was simply extraordinary. What had it done? Where was it?

There was no way to find it.

-Well! -I give up,” she exclaimed at last. Where are you?

A barely audible voice – the voice of the little bee – came from the middle of the cave.

-You’re not going to do anything to me? -Can I count on your oath?

-Yes,” answered the snake, “I swear it. Where are you?

-Here,” answered the little bee, suddenly appearing from a closed leaf of the little plant.

What had happened? A very simple thing: The plant in question was a sensitive one, very common also here in Buenos Aires, and which has the particularity that its leaves close at the slightest contact. Only that this adventure happened in Misiones, where the vegetation is very rich, and therefore the leaves of the sensitives are very large. Hence, at the contact of the bee, the leaves close, completely hiding the insect.

The intelligence of the snake had never realized this phenomenon, but the bee had observed it, and took advantage of it to save its life.

The snake said nothing, but was very irritated by its defeat, so much so that the bee spent the whole night reminding its enemy of the promise it had made to respect it.

It was a long, interminable night, which the two spent pressed up against the highest wall of the cave, because the storm had broken out, and the water came in like a river.

It was also very cold, and inside there was complete darkness. From time to time the snake felt an impulse to pounce on the bee, and the bee thought its life was at an end.

Never, ever, did the little bee believe that a night could be so cold, so long, so horrible. She remembered her former life, sleeping night after night in the warm hive, and wept then in silence.

When the day came, and the sun came out, because the weather had made up, the little bee flew and cried again in silence at the door of the hive made by the family’s efforts. The bees on guard let her pass without saying anything to her, because they understood that the one who returned was not the lazy stroller but a bee who had made in only one night a hard apprenticeship of life.

So it was, in fact. Henceforth no other bee collected as much pollen or made as much honey as she did. And when autumn came, and the end of her days came, she still had time to give a last lesson before she died, to the young bees that surrounded her:

-It is not our intelligence but our work that makes us so strong. I used my intelligence only once, and that was to save my life. I would not have needed that effort if I had worked like everyone else. I got as tired flying back and forth as I did working. What I lacked was the notion of duty, which I acquired that night.

Work, comrades, thinking that the end to which our efforts tend – the happiness of all – is far superior to the fatigue of each one. This is what men call the ideal, and they are right. There is no other philosophy in the life of a man and of a bee.