chamber. I am lying here so hungry, and I am just as good as you."

"Are you? Just you wait till I am a reigning Queen," said the
Princess. "You may be sure that when that time comes I shall not
forget your impertinence." But she had scarcely said this before
the other Princesses began to cry out in the most dreadful manner.

"_You_'re not going to be Queen! _I_ shall be Queen!
_I_ shall be Queen!" they shrieked all together, and they
began to knock on the walls and make a frightful disturbance.

The head Bee Nurse came running up in an instant and opened the
doors. "What are your graces' orders?" she asked, dropping a curtsy
and scraping the ground with her feet.

"More honey!" they shouted, all in one voice. "But me first--me
first. I am the one who is to be queen."

"In a moment, in a moment, your graces," she answered, and ran off
as fast as her six legs could carry her. She soon came back with
many other Bees. They were dragging ever so much honey, which they
crammed down the cross little Princesses' throats. And then they
got them to hold their tongues and lie still and rest.

But the little Grub lay awake, thinking over what had happened. She
longed so much for some honey that she began to shake the door
again. "Give me some honey! I can't stand it any longer. I am just
as good as the others."

The old Bee tried to hush her. "Hold your tongue, little bawler!