Nuova; or, The New Bee

by Marion Ames Taggart

  CHAPTER II

  _Nuova's First Experiences_

  It was truly a remarkable sight. She found that she was part way up avertical wall or comb of waxen cells, each of six sides and all lyinghorizontally in the wall. This wall of cells towered far above her evento the very roof of the hive, and below her it stretched away down tothe floor. Facing it towered another similar wall of cells, and therewas but little more space between the two than was needed for the freemovement of the scores, aye, even hundreds of bees that were clamberingabout over the opposite faces of the walls.

  In each wall some of the cells were open and some capped over. In theopen ones were either baby bees lying on their stomachs with their headsnear the opening of the cells, and their mouths opening and shutting ina most comical way, or there was some pollen or honey; or there wasnothing at all. The cells with babies in them were those in the middlepart of the wall, while around these were the food cells. Near the opennursery cells were many capped ones, and Nuova saw that some of thesecaps were being gnawed through from the inside. She knew what thatmeant; she had just been doing that herself. But also near the open andhalf-filled pollen and honey cells were other capped ones, and Nuovaguessed, and quite rightly, that these were filled and sealed-up honeycells. The open pollen cells were pretty to look at because the pollenin them was of different colors, yellow, orange, red, etc., and theymade a sort of uneven but attractive color-pattern on the face of thegreat vertical wall.

  Nuova was a little dizzy at first, with looking up and down the toweringwall, and she had to hang on tightly to keep from falling. But she soongrew accustomed to the great heights above and below her, and even beganto feel quite at home in her peculiar situation. A pang of hunger cameto her as she saw a bee walk up to an open honey cell and take a longdrink. She started to walk toward the same cell, when she felt a tug atone of her wings, and heard an impatient voice, evidently addressingher.

  "Here, wait a minute; we haven't got you clean yet; and your wingsaren't half dry. Don't be in a hurry!"

  Nuova was startled; remember, it was the first bee-talking, or any kindof talking, she had ever heard. Yet she understood it perfectly, andunderstood at once, too, just what was going on. For as she turned herhead to see who was speaking, she saw that two nurse bees were mostindustriously cleaning her body all over, and unfolding and smoothingout her wings, so that they would dry rapidly, and dry all properlyspread out. Sometimes young bees do not get their wings properly spreadbefore they dry, and then their wings are crumpled up and useless allthrough their lives.

  Nuova had, indeed, for some time rather vaguely felt this gentlecleaning and wing-spreading operation going on, but at first she hadfelt so dizzy and faint, and then when she felt better had become sointent on looking up and down the two great walls of wax, with theirvarious cells and the many active bees moving about over them, that shehad paid no attention to the gentle rubbing and pulling and stretching.Indeed, it was done so gently that unless she had started to walk away,or had accidentally looked around, she might not have known that it wasgoing on at all. It was a performance much like that a just-born kittengoes through at the hands, or rather tongue, of its mother. The pollenand honey, put into her cell when it was capped, had, of course, rathersoiled Nuova's body and much of her hair was stuck together by it. Solike every young bee, just come from its nursery cell, she needed a goodcleaning. And she was getting it.

  Without thinking twice about it Nuova did a very surprising thing. Orrather it was not surprising for a bee to do, but it would have been ifone of us, just born, as it were, and without any teaching or practiceor chance of hearing any one else first, should do it. For we alwayscall surprising, in bees or other creatures, what would be surprising inus, which is a rather silly way of judging things, but one we are allvery much given to. As we think we are the most important kind ofcreatures on earth--as certainly we are, to ourselves--we think our waysof doing things are the usual or normal or even best ways, and allother ways "surprising." But we shall find, the more we learn aboutNuova, that bees have their own manner of life and ways of doing things,and one of the most important many differences between their ways andour ways is that they know so many things right off without any learningor practice or imitating of others. They are born knowing how; they donot have to be taught.

  For example, the surprising thing that Nuova did right away, withoutthinking twice about it, was to begin talking to the two nurse bees whowere cleaning her. What Nuova said, and what was said to her in return,is of no particular interest to us. It was simply commonplace talk, forNuova's coming out of her cell, her first dizziness, the high walls ofcells, the many bees moving about, the spreading-out of Nuova's wingsand cleaning her body, and even Nuova's ability to understand thingsabout her and to begin talking right away--all these were taken forgranted in the hive as the most usual things in the world, whichtherefore needed no special exclaiming or talking about. In fact Nuovafelt already that, as soon as she was properly clean and dry, she mustjoin the other active bees, who were all busy with the different kindsof work they were doing, and begin work herself. And she felt that sheknew just what this first work for her should be. It should be the workof a nurse. And the nurse bees cleaning her seemed to take this forgranted too. For one of them soon said:

  "I think you had better begin on the other side of the comb; there areenough of us on this side already."

  Nuova looked up and down the great comb and then to right and left. Thenurse noted this, and added:

  "You can get around by going either to the top or the bottom, or toeither end."

  Nuova thanked her, and decided to crawl down to the bottom, for shecould see, far down there, a number of bees moving about industriouslycleaning the floor and some others that stood still, apparently on theirheads, and kept their wings buzzing like mad. She was not quite surewhat this performance meant; and the floor-cleaning, too, seemed alittle curious. The fact is that, although bees do seem to know rightoff about things, they know these things one at a time, as it were; thatis, when it is time for them to do a thing, they know pretty well,without any telling, how to do it, but they do not seem to know aboutother things at the same time. They seem to know things only as the timecomes for each special thing to be done. Nuova seemed to know that sheshould begin working as a nurse, and to know how to do the work, for assoon as she started she did just about as well as any of the nurses, butfloor-cleaning, and standing on one's head and fanning one's wings likemad, were not things she knew about yet.

  Industriously cleaning the floor]

  She worked her way carefully down to the bottom of the comb and foundherself in a very busy place indeed. There was a free place under thiscomb and under the one opposite to it as well. When she looked under thecomb which she had just walked down, she saw a great, low-ceilingedplace stretching away in all directions, rather dim and getting darkerthe farther away it extended, except in one direction. In thisdirection, however, it was lighter, and the farther the distance thelighter it was. From this lightest part many bees were hurrying towardher with great loads of vari-colored pollen in their pollen baskets, orwith their honey sacs filled to overflowing with fresh nectar. Theyhurried on, paying no attention to any one, and disappeared one by oneby climbing up and out of sight, except the few that climbed up the faceof either of the combs that towered just over her. These bees she couldstill watch, and she could see that they carried their loads far up tothe open food cells into which they emptied the food they had brought.Also she saw other bees, without loads, hurrying along the floor towardthe light, and she had a wonderful thrill as she saw them, and somethingwithin her urged her to run with them toward the distant light;something inside her that sang of sunshine, blue sky, green grass andbushes, and many-hued fragrant flowers. But something else, evenstronger, within her, told her not to go; that her work awaited herclose at hand; that she must nurse bee-babies here in the dimly lightedhive.

  So she turned away from the alluring light with only a glance at th
efloor-cleaners and the silly bees on their heads with their wings goinglike mad. So strong within her had grown the feeling that there was justone thing for her now, that she walked under the broad, lower edge ofthe comb from whose high wall she had descended and came into the bottomof another high space between two other towering walls of waxen cells.