How Two Children Helped Save a Bee Hive

By Niggy

It was a Sunday morning and Sona and Sameer had woken up rather late as they didn’t have to go to school that day. They crawled out of their beds and peeped out of the window to say ‘Good morning’ to Monu, their mynah friend, who had, as it did every morning, perched on their window sill to nibble at the bread crumbs that the children had laid out for it.

“Oh wow, Sameer! What a beautifully sunny day for Nature-trailing! Get ready quickly!” said Sona.

‘Nature-trailing’ was something that the children just loved to do. For them, it meant going out into the little garden that was located in a corner of the vast apartment complex where their home was and looking about for things like insects and birds and an occasional animal like a cat or a snail, besides interesting-looking flowers and trees.

When the children went to the dining-room for breakfast and shared with their mother about their Nature-trailing plans for the morning, their mother told them that they ought not go out into the garden because a large bee hive high up in a tree there would be taken down later that day, and so, a huge swarm of bees would soon be flying about helter-skelter after having been displaced from their home. There was every chance of people being stung by angry bees if they came close to them.

“But Mumma! But why are they taking down the hive?” asked Sona worriedly. “It’s the bees’ home, after all.”

“The other day, a bee from the hive stung a person who was passing by, and they might bite other people around, too, if they are allowed to continue to stay there—or so they say. And so, the committee that looks after our apartment has decided that the hive must go,” explained the children’s mother.

Sonu and Sameer were greatly disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to do ‘Nature-trailing’ that day after what their mother had said to them.

“It’s so sad for the bees who had made their home in the tree. How hard they must have worked to build it, and now the Committee people want to bring it down,” said Sona to her brother as they ate their breakfast. “Remember how our teacher in school taught us about how bees help in pollination? And they make such delicious honey, too! How much they do for others! Is there something we can do to stop the Committee from removing them from their home?”

“You know what, Sona?” said Sameer thoughtfully. “If we tell the grown-ups in the Committee not to remove the hive, they won’t listen to us and might even say we are being silly. I think the only thing we can do is pray to God to help the bees and save their home.”

“Wow, that’s a super idea!” Sona responded with a big smile. She felt very hopeful that something good was going to come of this.  “Come, let’s pray together to God for the bees,” she said to her brother.

The two children folded their hands, closed their eyes and prayed to God. Together, they sought God’s help for the bees and their home up in the tree in the garden.

Later that day, in the afternoon, around teatime, the children’s mother said to them, “Children, I’ve baked a cake, and after you’ve eaten it, you can go into the garden for ‘Nature-trailing’, which you missed out on this morning.”

“But Mumma, but you said we shouldn’t go to the garden all day as the bees’ hive would be removed and that this would cause the bees to fly here and there and that they could sting us,” said Sona.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, my dear, I forgot to tell you that Aunty Stella, who is on the Committee, very wisely told the other Committee members that it may not at all be a good idea to remove the bee hive, as then the bees would fly all over the apartment complex, and being very angry at their home being destroyed, might go about biting many, many people. So, the Committee have now very sensibly decided to let the hive remain where it is,” the children’s mother explained.

“Oh wow! That’s really wonderful!” said Sona delightedly. “Thank you God for hearing our prayer!”

“Yes, thank you God!” repeated Sameer after her.

The children’s mother smiled, thinking how nice it was that the children had asked God to help the bees and how nice, too, it was that God had answered their prayer.

After they had the cake that their mother had baked for them, the children hurriedly made their way to the garden outside where the tree where the bees had made their hive stood. “Hi there, bees!” they excitedly called out as they waved their little hands in the direction of the hive. “We are so, so happy that you are going to stay in your home and that no one is going to make you leave!” they said.