the teeth of chill winds. How the hidden egg hatched true--no
drone, but Blood Royal. How it was capped, and how desperately
they worked to feed and double-feed the now swarming Oddities,
lest any break in the food-supplies should set them to
instituting inquiries, which, with songs about work, was their
favourite amusement. How in an auspicious hour, on a moonless
night, the Princess came forth a Princess indeed, and how Melissa
smuggled her into a dark empty honey-magazine, to bide her time;
and how the drones, knowing she was there, went about singing the
deep disreputable love-songs of the old days--to the scandal of
the laying sisters, who do not think well of drones. These things
are, written in the Book of Queens, which is laid up in the
hollow of the Great Ash Ygdrasil.

After a few days the weather changed again and became glorious.
Even the Oddities would now join the crowd that hung out on the
alighting-board, and would sing of work among the merry, merry
blossoms till an untrained ear might have received it for the hum
of a working hive. Yet, in truth, their store-honey had been
eaten long ago. They lived from day to day on the efforts of the
few sound bees, while the Wax-moth fretted and consumed again
their already ruined wax. But the sound bees never mentioned
these matters. They knew, if they did, the Oddities would hold a
meeting and ball them to death.

"Now you see what we have done," said the Wax-moths. "We have
created New Material, a New Convention, a New Type, as we said we
would."

"And new possibilities for us," said the laying sisters