and the bees seemed to be
his only friends. But, for all that, he was happy and contented; he had
all the honey he wanted, and his bees, whom he considered the best
company in the world, were as friendly and sociable as they could be,
and seemed to increase in number every day.

One day there stopped at the hut of the Bee-man a Junior Sorcerer. This
young person, who was a student of magic, was much interested in the
Bee-man, whom he had often noticed in his wanderings, and he considered
him an admirable subject for study. He had got a great deal of useful
practice by trying to find out, by the various rules and laws of
sorcery, exactly why the old Bee-man did not happen to be something that
he was not, and why he was what he happened to be. He had studied a long
time at this matter, and had found out something.

"Do you know," he said, when the Bee-man came out of his hut, "that you
have been transformed?"

"What do you mean by that?" said the other, much surprised.

"You have surely heard of animals and human beings who have been
magically transformed into different kinds of creatures?"

"Yes, I have heard of these things," said the Bee-man; "but what have I
been transformed from?"

"That is more than I know," said the Junior Sorcerer. "But one thing is
certain; you ought to be changed back. If you will find out what you
have been transformed from, I will see that you are made all right
again. Nothing would please me better than to attend to such a case."

And, having a great many things to study and investigate, the Junior
Sorcerer went his way.

This information greatly disturbed the mind of the Bee-man. If he had
been changed from something else, he ought to be that other thing,
whatever it was. He ran after the young man, and overtook him.

"If you know, kind sir," he said, "that I have been transformed, you
surely are able to tell me what it is that I was."

"No," said the Junior Sorcerer, "my studies have not proceeded far
enough for that. When I become a Senior I can tell you all about it.
But, in the meantime, it will be well for you to try to find out for
yourself your original form; and when you have done that, I will get
some of the learned masters of my art to restore you to it. It will be
easy enough to do that, but you could not expect them to take the time
and trouble to find out what it was."

And, with these words, he hurried away, and was soon lost to view.

Greatly disturbed, the Bee-m