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My partner honeybee began to make a sudden descent toward the castle. I followed her. We ended up on a wide field surrounding the castle. The honeybee, perched on a leaf of grass, said: "My name is Q." "Q...?" "You are Q, too." "Really?" "Worker bees are all girls." "I know. But for all of them to have the same name..." My partner Q did not appear in the least bit surprised. "I have to collect some more nectar. Take a rest here. If you enter the castle, you'll end up causing all sorts of problems with your scent." Q flew off with a buzzing sound.  My name is Q. Your name is Q, too?It isn't really what one would refer to as a "name". All around the leaves of grass where I was resting the air was filled with the sound of wings. Some honeybees were flying from the castle entrance, some were descending from the sky onto the grass...honeybees were real workers. I felt somewhat embarrassed for simply doing nothing other than resting my wings. So, deciding to hide behind the leaves of grass, I was about to spread my wings to move when I became aware of something. Although I knew that the grass was green in color, it had now become yellowish, or bluish, like colors of a dream. I was beginning to recall that the scenery around me seemed rather strange when I flew over the roof of my house. The rape blossoms were yellow but the Chinese milk vetch flowers in the rice field was blue. That's it!The ornament of Chinese milk vetch flowers on the top of the castle was blue because I had been transformed into a honeybee. Honeybees see everything in blue or yellow. They are not familiar with the other colors. My partner honeybee finally returned to the spot where I had waited. "OK! Follow me now." I took wing after my partner. We flew to the entrance of the castle at a stretch. At the front of the entrance of the castle stood two gatekeepers. "Q is back." The honeybee shouted out and patted my antenna with her antenna as I waited behind. I responded with the same gesture, having taken on the natural instincts of a honeybee. "Q is back." I responded in kind. Next a honeybee said, "Y is back." Then the honeybees "U", "Y", "Q" and "Q" greeted in the same manner. My partner and I started walking down a long corridor from the entrance after we were pushed into the entrance by the onrush of other honeybees that had arrived after us.  Kapa, Kapa, KapaToko, Ton, Ton Woo, Tan, Tan I could hear some mysterious sounding music coming from somewhere. The honeybees walking in the corridor began to walk in a dance-like fashion in tune to the music. When I tried dancing to the music, I became aware of how light my body had become. My arms and legs began to move hop up and down! My round bottom began bouncing up and down as well! So interesting!Although I grinned unconsciously, I couldn't tell whether the grin on my honeybee face was real. We soon entered a large hexagonal hall. The lighting on the ceiling seemed somehow like the starry expanse of the night sky. In the center of the hall there was a thick hexagonal column made of glass. Many honeybees were dancing around the column. Kapa, Kapa, KapaToko, Ton, Ton Woo, Tan, Tan Some danced to the honeybee music in circles, and others danced to it by describing an eight figure. They danced facing this direction and then another, with some are shaking their bottoms. Everyone seemed rather happy dancing in their own style. I felt that, having become a honeybee myself, I should move forward and start dancing too. "Wait, it's not yet your time to start dancing! You watch them dance here." said Q and she joined the dance. "Wait!" I started to get anxious when she left my side. What would I do if I were to lose sight of her in the crowd? I just jumped into the dance. I looked for my partner Q, but I couldn't tell the honeybees apart. I tried to return to where I had been, but was unable to break through the maelstrom of dancers whirling around me. I didn't know what else to do and began dancing, mimicking the honeybees around me. Someone struck my antenna, and I was knocked away from the spot I was dancing in after moving out of synch with the nearby honeybees. But I kept on dancing anyway. I was fatigued when the music ceased and everyone had stopped dancing. "Whew" I gave a deep sigh of relief. The lighting in the hall suddenly turned dim and the dancer bees quickly gathered in one of its corners. All that remained were the glass column in the center and I. I gazed at the hexagonal column. In my story, there was an elevator dedicated for use of the queen bee that rose and descended in the column. So I thought that it would be a good idea to check whether the honeybee castle in this story I had found my way into was built up the way I had imagined it. I flew away from the entrance of the hall as I saw the honeybees gathering in the corner of the hall. I walked in the corridor surrounding the hexagonal hall. On the outside of the corridor, there were upright ladders in six locations. The worker bees use these ladders to go up and down in the eight-story castle. I tried climbing up a ladder. I made a round in the corridor on the second floor. This was a corridor surrounding the same hexagonal room as in the case of the first floor. But this room was not a hall but rather was divided into six rooms from the center, with the rooms have doors bearing alphabetic letters: U V W X Y Z Wait a minute! Starting this story in this manner isn't a good way of leading up to interesting episodes in the adventures of the honeybees. So, placing myself back in the frame of mind of a human, I will explain the interior of my imaginary castle. |
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