I am not allowed to rule in my own hive! The
Workers who are guarding the royal cells drive me away whenever I go
near them. I will not stay any longer."

"Then," said a Drone, as though he had thought of it for the first time,
"why don't you go away?"

"I shall," said she. "Will you go with me?"

"No," said the Drone. "I hate moving and furnishing a new house.
Besides, somebody must stay here to take care of the Workers and the
young Queen."

The Queen Mother walked away. "When we were both young," she said to
herself, "he would have gone anywhere with me."

And the Drone said to himself, "Now, isn't that just like a Queen
Mother! She has known all the time that there would be young Queens
coming on, and that she would have to leave, yet here she is, making the
biggest kind of fuss about it. She ought to remember that it is the
law."

Indeed she should have remembered that it was the law, for everything is
done by law in the hive, and no one person should find fault. The law
looks after them all, and will not let any one have more than his
rightful share.

That same afternoon there was a sudden quiet in their home. The Workers
who had been outside returned and visited with the rest. While they were
waiting, a few who were to be their guides came to the door of the hive,
struck their wings together, and gave the signal for starting. Then all
who were going with the Queen Mother hurried out of the door and flew
with her in circles overhead. "Good-bye!" they called. "Raise all the
young Queens you wish. We shall never come back. We are going far, far
away, and we shall not tell you where. It is a lovely place, a very
lovely place."

"Let them go," said the Drones who stayed behind. "Now, isn't it time to
let out the young Queen?"

"Not yet," answered a Worker, who stood near the door. "Not one feeler
shall she put outside her cell until that swarm is out of sight."

The tender-hearted Worker came up wiping her eyes. "Oh, that poor Queen
Mother!" said she. "I am so sorry for her. I positively cannot gather
honey to-day, I feel so badly about her going."

"Better keep on working," said her friend. "It's the best thing in the
world for that sad feeling. Besides, you should try to keep strong."

"Oh, I will try to eat something from the comb," was the answer, "but I
don't feel like working."

"Zzzt!" said the other Worker. "I think if you can eat, you can hunt
your food outside, and not take honey we have lai