Experience is a brutal teacher. But you learn, my God, do you learn.

-C.S. Lewis



Stream In January

Stream In January

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"A Sky Burial"

A lovely passage from A Recipe for Bees, a novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz.


"Most bees dies outside, while foraging. But some die inside the hives. The undertaker bees carry the dead body through the hive and deposit it outside the opening. They leave it there a day or two until it's dried out a bit, so it's lighter. Then one of them collects the dead bee and flies into the sky, away from the hive, where it drops the body. Isn't that a fitting funeral for a bee? A sky burial."


Describes my bees' recent behavior perfectly.




2 comments:

vicree said...

Yes indeed, a lovely passage! I look forward to reading the book.

Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids said...

I learned this by watching a wasp nest that was built under my soffet a few years back. I would sit out all afternoon observing. They would carry their dead to the edge of the porch and then let go, dropping them off the edge of the porch to the ground below.