of exaltation seemed to light every brow--as
if the consciousness of triumph and new glory won encircled
everyone like an invisible halo.

The queen arose, made her way unattended through the assemblage,
went up to little Maya and took her in her arms.

This Maya had never expected, not this. The measure of her joy
was full to overflowing; she broke down and wept.

The bees were deeply stirred. There was not one among them who
did not share Maya's happiness, who was not deeply grateful for
the little bee's valiant deed.

Maya now had to tell her whole story. Everybody wanted to know
how she had learned of the hornets' plans and how she had
succeeded in breaking out of the awful prison from which no bee
had ever before escaped.

So Maya told of all the remarkable things she had seen and heard,
of Miss Loveydear with the glittering wings, of the grasshopper,
of Thekla the spider, of Puck, and of how splendidly Bobbie had
come to her rescue. When she told of the sprite and the human
beings, it was so quiet in the hall that you could hear the
generators in the back of the hive kneading the wax.

"Ah," said the queen, "who'd have thought the sprites were so
lovely?" She smiled to herself with a look of melancholy and
longing, as people will who long for beauty.

And all the dignitaries smiled the same smile.

"How did the song of the sprite go?" she asked. "Say it again.
I'd like to learn it by heart."

Maya repeated the song of the sprite.

My soul is that which breathes anew
From all of loveliness and grace;
And as it flows from God's own face,
It flows from his creations, too.

There was silence for a while. The only sound was a restrained
sobbing in the back of the hall--probably someone thinking of a
friend who had been killed.

Maya went on with her story. When she came to the hornets, the
bees' eyes darkened and widened. Each imagined himself in the
situation in which one of their number had been, and quivered,
and drew a deep breath.

"Awful," said the queen, "perfectly awful...."

The dignitaries murmured something to the same effect.

"And so," Maya ended, "I reached home. And I sue for your
Majesty's pardon--a thousand times."

Oh, no one bore the little bee any ill will for having run away
from the hive. You may imagine they did not.

The queen put her arm round Maya's neck.

"You did not forget your home and your people," she said kindly.
"In your heart you were loyal. So we w