not birds!" exclaimed Twinkle.

"No; as I have told you, the suburbs contain flying things that cannot
be called birds, and so are unable to live in our part of the Paradise.
But because they have wings, and love all the flowers and fruits as we
do ourselves, we have taken them under our protection."

Ephel perched upon a low bush, and when the child-larks had settled
beside him he uttered a peculiar, shrill whistle. The humming sound
grew louder, then, and presently hundreds of great bees rose above the
flower tops and hovered in the air. But none of them approached the
bush except one monstrous bumble-bee that had a body striped with black
and gold, and this one sailed slowly toward the visitors and alighted
gracefully upon a branch in front of them.

The bee was all bristling with fine hairs and was nearly half as big as
Twinkle herself; so the girl shrank back in alarm, and cried:

"Oh-h-h! I'm afraid it will sting me!"

"How ridiculous!" answered the bee, laughing in a small but merry
voice. "Our stings are only for our enemies, and we have no enemies in
this Paradise; so we do not use our stingers at all. In fact, I'd
almost forgotten I had one, until you spoke."

The words were a little mumbled, as if the insect had something in its
mouth, but otherwise they were quite easy to understand.

"Permit me to introduce her Majesty the Queen Bee," said their guide.
"These, your highness, are some little child-larks who are guests of
our King. I have brought them to visit you."

"They are very welcome," returned the Queen Bee. "Are you fond of
honey?" she asked, turning to the children.

"Sometimes," replied Chubbins; "but we've just eaten, and we're chock
full now."

"You see," the Queen remarked, "my people are all as busy as bees
gathering the honey from every flower."

"What do you do with it?" asked Twinkle.

"Oh, we eat part of it, and store up the rest for a rainy day."

"Does it ever rain here?" enquired Chubbins.

"Sometimes, at night, when we are all asleep, so as to refresh and
moisten the flowers, and help them to grow."

"But if it rains at night, there can't be any rainy days," remarked
Twinkle; "so I can't see the use of saving your honey."

"Nor can I," responded the Queen, laughing again in her pleasant way.
"Out in the world people usually rob us of our stores, and so keep us
busy getting more. But here there are not even robbers, so that the
honey has been accumulating until we hardl