as I look at it; but surely these flies that are eating my
breakfast are larger than those that are opening the boxes of
sweetmeats in the flowers. Ah, look! there is one still bigger than
the others, so funny, so hairy, so cross, and he scolds and hums all
around this sweet pea."

"That is a drone; we must chase him away; he is good for nothing; he
never makes any honey." And Linette drove away the shaggy drone bee.

Just at this moment, the greedy flies who were eating the honey, and
their more temperate companions who were gathering the harvest of
the pollen of the flowers, all flew away at once, as if by common
consent.

"Ah, you have driven them all away!" said Piccolissima; and without
perceiving that the sky had clouded over, she followed the insects
with her eyes. Presently there began to fall some large drops of
rain.

"It rains, it rains! there is a shower coming," cried Linette.

"Can it be that these cunning bees have foreseen it?" asked
Piccolissima.

"What there is no question of is," said Linette, "that my poor frock
will be spoiled. It is going to rain pitchforks. There will be water
enough to drown you before we reach the house, and your mites of
shoes will be lost; but come along. There, do you think the leaf of
that cabbage will do for a shelter for you?"

"Sorores, sorores!" said a thundering voice; and in a moment Mimi
was between his two sisters, whom he sheltered under a large
umbrella; taking up Piccolissima and hiding her little feet in his
waistcoat pocket, and asking as he went towards the house, what had
kept her out so long.

"I know what you have seen," said he, with the air of a professor.
"Insects of the order hymenopteres; if you ever learn Greek,
Piccolissima, you will know that that means insects with membranous
wings. Imagine what a fine thing it is to understand Greek. Every
word contains in itself many others. For example, honey bees have a
name still longer than the others; they are called mellificae. What
do you say to that? They also call them anthophilai, which means
lovers of flowers."

"Your new friends, in particular the domestic bees, were among the
Egyptians the emblem of royalty. Are you not pleased with that,
Piccolissima? The ancient kings of France had them on their arms;
bees were embroidered on their shields, and on their standards; and
it was very proper that they adopted them. Have they not the royal
prerogative--honey and a sting? They amass treasures