The Honest Bee Gets the Queen

            by Alex Mokhtari-Fox

 

There once was a bee named Bartlebee, who worked in a hive.  He wasn’t the biggest bee and he always had a frown on his face.  He was a very selfish bee and was never cooperative with the other bees.

            “Bartlebee, won’t you help us mine for honey? The queen is depending on us,” they would say.

“Why yes I think I saw a good place over here, I’ll go check it out and come tell you if there’s any honey.”  The truth of the matter was Bartlebee didn’t like being a worker bee and wanted to live an extravagant life like the queen.  He loved honey and wanted as much for himself as he could get, so he would go deep into the honey combs and take as much as he could fit in his pockets.  When he returned he only had a couple drops for the queen.

 

 

The other worker bees knew that he wasn’t working as hard as he could have but they didn’t know he was stealing the honey.  Every day when Bartlebee got home he would add to his pile of honey and roll around in it because he liked it so much.  Because he was so selfish no one liked him that much.  He wasn’t married because he didn’t want to share his honey.  Although he was very lonely.

As Bartlebee continued to work he began to steal more and more honey, because he was getting very greedy.  His pile of honey got so big he had to get a new house, but he didn’t care as long as he could have as much honey as he wanted. 

 

 

The hive was losing all its honey and the queen noticed.  The queen bee thought it was just because the bees weren’t working hard enough, so she called a meeting.

“The hive hasn’t been giving me enough honey lately.  I need a lot to keep me alive and looking good so you will all need to work extra hours.”  This made Bartlebee happy because they didn’t suspect him of stealing, so he began to take even more. 

One day Bartlebee’s pockets were crammed full of as much honey as they could fit as he was getting ready to leave work.  As he was passing the security guards, giving them a fake smile and a wave goodbye, the seams of his pockets ripped and the honey fell out everywhere.

“Stop right there sir!” shouted the guards.  “You’re the one who’s been taking all the honey.”  They grabbed Bartlebee and took him to the hives prison.

 

 

All the other bees, especially the queen, were mad at Bartlebee.  Because of him they had to work longer.  The queen was simply outraged that a lowly worker bee would steal her honey.  Bartlebee sat and thought about what he had done and how it had affected so many people.  When he was stealing the honey all he could think about was how much he wanted it for himself, and when they had to work longer to make up for the missing honey he just thought about how great it was because he could steal more.  What he didn’t think about were his fellow workers who were forced to work into the night and barely able to see their families. 

The next day the queen had Bartlebee brought to her so he could explain himself.  “Hello Bartlebee, I hear that you were caught trying to make off with some of my honey.  You know the hive hasn’t been producing that much honey, so why would you do something so selfish?” she questioned.

“I’m sorry my queen, I was wrong.  There is nothing I can say that will change that but I’m just a very lonely little bee and since I had no one to love, I fell in love with honey.”

“I too love honey very much,” responded the queen.

  “I took more than just what your guards caught me taking and I would be happy to return it, if you just give me another chance.  Your hive will be back making more honey in no time,” Barlebee responded.

“Well I can tell you are really sorry, and I am impressed with your honesty,” said the queen.  For the next several weeks Bartlebee worked harder than he ever had. The hive was making more honey than ever thanks to him.  He also had a good new attitude and many of the bees who didn’t like him before became friends with him.

The queen called him back to thank him for all his hard work, and they ended up getting along great.  Since the queen had no one to share her throne with she asked him to stay with her.  So Bartlebee and the queen found out that they loved one another more than honey, and lived happily ever after in the queens honey palace.