"To·Mo·Da·Chi"

"To·Mo·Da·Chi"
(Let's "Bee" Friends)

Best Fairy Tale
by Yoshikazu Saito (Tokyo)

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Bibi the honeybee was born 20 days ago. She's a new worker bee. Before, she used to work in the hive, but now she is finally able to go out and collect nectar and pollen with the other honeybees. First she practices flying around the hive so that she learns very well where the hive is located. Now it's time, though, to go out and find the flowers. It is still a bit cold outside, but the faint smell of spring is already in the air. Bibi is very excited and keeps looking around restlessly. It's dangerous not to look where you're flying! Look out, there's a spider web ahead!

The outside world is full of danger. Her older sister should have taught her that. My! there are toads, dragonflies, praying mantises, wasps, and spider webs.

Bibi is getting so absorbed in the scenery and all the new smells that she gets caught in the terrible spider web. The white thread sticks to her, and the more she tries to wriggle free, the more tangled up she gets. Down below, she sees something big and white looking up at her and breathing hard. "Is that a spider?" she wonders, and starts shaking in fear. At last, it leaps toward her. "Oh no, I'm going to be eaten!" Bibi screams as she faints.

"Hi there! You're awake." A big, white face approaches Bibi as she comes to. "No-o!" Bibi cries out as she starts to faint again. "Don't be so afraid. I'm Taro the dog. I'm not going to eat you. I helped you get out of the spider web."
Bibi's heart is still pounding but Taro didn't seem to be an enemy, so she relaxes a little.
"I-I'm Bibi the honeybee. Thank you for helping me." From that moment on Bibi and Taro become good friends.

Today Bibi has come to a field full of rape blossoms. The flowers have very nice nectar and pollen, so even though it is a bit far away, the honeybees seem to come back here every year.
"Hey, do you know that dog? He seems to follow you wherever you go," says a fellow honeybee to Bibi.
"Yes, he's a very good friend. When I was caught in a spider's web, he rescued me," Bibi replies.
"You're a strange one. Who ever heard of having a dog as a friend?" With that, the other honeybee flies off to another flower.

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