Puru-chan the Honeybee

 Runner-up
 by Yuya Nakajima (Tochigi)

Click a picture to see a larger image.
Picture09 "This is my friend.
She came with the flowers on my hat."

Mrs. Bunny is bringing some carrot cake as a snack.
What a surprise she gets!

The cake smells delicious.
Puru-chan has some, too.
"Maybe I'll just live here forever and never return to the hive."
The golden-colored topping on the cake is sweet and delicious.
It tastes very familiar somehow.
"Mrs. Bunny, what is this?"
"Ha ha ha. You must be joking.
It's honey.
It's what you honeybees make from the nectar."








Bunny looks surprised.
Then Mrs. Bunny says:
"Honeybees collect nectar from flowers to make honey for the queen bee, the drone bees, and the baby bees.
They even give some of it to us and then I use the honey like this."

Puru-chan had not been paying attention during the honeybee teacher's lessons.
She doesn't remember any of this.

But she suddenly feels very proud.
Buzz buzz, flip flop.
She flies up to the ceiling.
Picture10








Picture11 "But each individual honeybee can only collect a tiny bit of nectar.
They all travel far away to find flowers and they all work together going back and forth, back and forth to bring back the nectar.

Bunny seems impressed.
She gazes at the shiny jar of golden honey.
The sound of Puru-chan's flapping wings starts to lose its vigor.
She didn't realize that her job was so important....
She thinks... with all these friends, the hive can still make plenty of honey even if I'm taking it easy.








The sky begins to redden now as the sun chases away the blue sky.
The field of flowers grows dark.

"Are you leaving already?"
"Yup. But I'll come back tomorrow."
Puru-chan sucks up as much nectar as she can carry.
The pollen sticking to her body...
Oh, yes, she's supposed to make it like dumplings, using her legs.
The butterfly showed her the way, so she merely followed the butterfly.
But Puru-chan is a honeybee.
If she knows which direction the sun is, she should be able to go straight back to the hive.
Purupuru purupuru...
Buzzzz... buzz... buzz... buzz.
The sound of Puru-chan's wings changes as it makes the air quiver.
Picture12








Picture13 Once the sun has left the sky, the clear light of the moon shines down quietly and calmly.

Buzz... buzzzz...
Buzz... buzz... buzzzz.
The familiar sound of beating wings.

It's the sound of the honeybee teacher and Puru-chan's sisters' wings.
They are worried about Puru-chan and are guiding her home.




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