The Bee-Man of Orn

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The Bee-Man of Orn

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales
by Frank R. Stockton This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales
Author: Frank R. Stockton
Release Date: April 17, 2004 [EBook #12067]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FRANK R. STOCKTON'S WRITINGS.
* * * * *
New Uniform Edition.
THE BEE-MAN OF ORN, and Other Fanciful Tales. THE LADY OR THE TIGER? and Other Stories. THE CHRISTMAS WRECK, and Other Stories. THE LATE MRS NULL. RUDDER GRANGE.
The set, five vols., $6.25; each, $1.25.
* * * * *
RUDDER GRANGE. New Illustrated Edition. With over 100 Illustrations by A.B. Frost. Square 12mo, $2.00.
* * * * *
THE LADY OR THE TIGER? and Other Stories. 12mo, paper, 50 cents.
THE CHRISTMAS WRECK, and Other Stories. 12mo, paper, 50 cents.
RUDDER GRANGE. 12mo, paper, 60 cents.
* * * * *
A JOLLY FRIENDSHIP. Illustrated, 12mo, $1.50.
THE STORY OF VITEAU. Illustrated, 12mo, $1.50.
THE TING-A-LING TALES. Illustrated, 12mo, $1.00.
THE FLOATING PRINCE, and Other Fairy Tales. Illustrated, 4to, cloth, $2.50; boards, $1.50.
ROUNDABOUT RAMBLERS IN LANDS OF FACT AND FANCY. Illustrated. 4to, boards, $1.50.
TALES OUT OF SCHOOL. Illustrated. 4to, boards, $1.50.

THE BEE-MAN OF ORN
AND
OTHER FANCIFUL TALES
BY
FRANK R. STOCKTON

New York 1887 Charles Scribner's Sons.
Rand Avery Company, Electrotypers and Printers, Boston.

CONTENTS.
* * * * *
I. THE BEE-MAN OF ORN
II. THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON
III. OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD
IV. THE QUEEN'S MUSEUM
V. CHRISTMAS BEFORE LAST; OR, THE FRUIT OF THE FRAGILE PALM
VI. PRINCE HASSAK'S MARCH
VII. THE BATTLE OF THE THIRD COUSINS
VIII. THE BANISHED KING
IX. THE PHILOPENA

THE BEE-MAN OF ORN.
* * * * *
In the ancient country of Orn, there lived an old man who was called the Bee-man, because his whole time was spent in the company of bees. He lived in a small hut, which was nothing more than an immense bee-hive, for these little creatures had built their honeycombs in every corner of the one room it contained, on the shelves, under the little table, all about the rough bench on which the old man sat, and even about the head-board and along the sides of his low bed. All day the air of the room was thick with buzzing insects, but this did not interfere in any way with the old Bee-man, who walked in among them, ate his meals, and went to sleep, without the slightest fear of being stung. He had lived with the bees so long, they had become so accustomed to him, and his skin was so tough and hard, that the bees no more thought of stinging him than they would of stinging a tree or a stone. A swarm of bees had made their hive in a pocket of his old leathern doublet; and when he put on this coat to take one of his long walks in the forest in search of wild bees' nests, he was very glad to have this hive with him, for, if he did not find any wild honey, he would put his hand in his pocket and take out a piece of a comb for a luncheon. The bees in his pocket worked very industriously, and he was always certain of having something to eat with him wherever he went. He lived principally upon honey; and when he needed bread or meat, he carried some fine combs to a village not far away and bartered them for other food. He was ugly, untidy, shrivelled, and brown. He was poor, and the bees seemed to be his only friends. But, for all that, he was happy and contented; he had all the honey he wanted, and his bees, whom he considered the best company in the world, were as friendly and sociable as they could be, and seemed to increase in number every day.
One day, there stopped at the hut of the Bee-man a Junior 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