The Bee-Man of Orn | Page 2

Sorcerer.
This young person, who was a student of magic, necromancy, and the
kindred arts, was much interested in the Bee-man, whom he had
frequently noticed in his wanderings, and he considered him an
admirable subject for study. He had got a great deal of useful practice
by endeavoring to find out, by the various rules and laws of sorcery,
exactly why the old Bee-man did not happen to be something that he
was not, and why he was what he happened to be. He had studied a
long time at this matter, and had found out something.
"Do you know," he said, when the Bee-man came out of his hut, "that
you have been transformed?"
"What do you mean by that?" said the other, much surprised.
"You have surely heard of animals and human beings who have been
magically transformed into different kinds of creatures?"
"Yes, I have heard of these things," said the Bee-man; "but what have I
been transformed from?"
"That is more than I know," said the Junior Sorcerer. "But one thing is
certain--you ought to be changed back. If you will find out what you
have been transformed from, I will see that you are made all right again.
Nothing would please me better than to attend to such a case."
And, having a great many things to study and investigate, the Junior
Sorcerer went his way.
This information greatly disturbed the mind of the Bee-man. If he had
been changed from something else, he ought to be that other thing,
whatever it was. He ran after the young man, and overtook him.

"If you know, kind sir," he said, "that I have been transformed, you
surely are able to tell me what it is that I was."
"No," said the Junior Sorcerer, "my studies have not proceeded far
enough for that. When I become a senior I can tell you all about it. But,
in the meantime, it will be well for you to try to discover for yourself
your original form, and when you have done that, I will get some of the
learned masters of my art to restore you to it. It will be easy enough to
do that, but you could not expect them to take the time and trouble to
find out what it was."
And, with these words, he hurried away, and was soon lost to view.
Greatly disquieted, the Bee-man retraced his steps, and went to his hut.
Never before had he heard any thing which had so troubled him.
"I wonder what I was transformed from?" he thought, seating himself
on his rough bench. "Could it have been a giant, or a powerful prince,
or some gorgeous being whom the magicians or the fairies wished to
punish? It may be that I was a dog or a horse, or perhaps a fiery dragon
or a horrid snake. I hope it was not one of these. But, whatever it was,
every one has certainly a right to his original form, and I am resolved to
find out mine. I will start early to-morrow morning, and I am sorry now
that I have not more pockets to my old doublet, so that I might carry
more bees and more honey for my journey."
He spent the rest of the day in making a hive of twigs and straw, and,
having transferred to this a number of honey-combs and a colony of
bees which had just swarmed, he rose before sunrise the next day, and
having put on his leathern doublet, and having bound his new hive to
his back, he set forth on his quest; the bees who were to accompany
him buzzing around him like a cloud.
As the Bee-man passed through the little village the people greatly
wondered at his queer appearance, with the hive upon his back. "The
Bee-man is going on a long expedition this time," they said; but no one
imagined the strange business on which he was bent. About noon he sat
down under a tree, near a beautiful meadow covered with blossoms,

and ate a little honey. Then he untied his hive and stretched himself out
on the grass to rest. As he gazed upon his bees hovering about him,
some going out to the blossoms in the sunshine, and some returning
laden with the sweet pollen, he said to himself, "They know just what
they have to do, and they do it; but alas for me! I know not what I may
have to do. And yet, whatever it may be, I am determined to do it. In
some way or other I will find out what was my original form, and then I
will have myself changed back to it."
And now the thought came to him that perhaps his original