Fable #2

[Pab Sungenis]

The animals of the village were living in fear of a wolf that had made his home a mile away, and decided they needed someone to protect them. After all of the big and strong animals made excuses why they couldn't do it the village finally settled on the honeybee, who reluctantly agreed.

The first morning after the honeybee was chosen he did as bees always do, and flew around.

"Oh, look!" said the duck (who had been too cowardly to do the job himself). "The honeybee is protecting us by flying around, making sure that the wolf isn't hiding anywhere in the village!"

"The honeybee is a great protector!" said the lamb (who also had turned down the job offer).

The rest of the village thought this was a little premature, and a little bit of an exaggeration, but took the two cowards' words for it. After all, no one else had ever flown over the village before, so it must be an accomplishment.

The next day the honeybee went from flower to flower, carrying pollen with him, as bees always do.

"Wow! Look at that!" the lamb bleated! "The bee is carrying pollen!"

"The bee is making the flowers grow! No one else can make the flowers grow!"

"Truly the bee has done more for this village than any other leader we've had!"

The other animals again thought this was a bit of an exaggeration, but none of them had ever made a flower grow (they kind of thought they grew by themselves) so they accepted it as accurate.

On the third day the bee carried nectar to his comb and started making some honey, as bees always do.

"LOOK AT THE BEE!" gushed the duck.

"THE BEE IS MAKING FOOD THAT WILL FEED US ALL!" bleated the lamb.

"THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT NO BEE, LEADER, OR SINGLE ANIMAL HAS DONE MORE FOR THIS VILLAGE IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. NO JOKE!" quacked the duck as loud as he could.

"Okay, now even I'm calling me shit" said the bull (who had opted out of the job because of his bursitis).

That night, the wolf crept toward the village. The honeybee, alert as ever, dive bombed him. He buzzed and buzzed in the wolf's left ear, then flew over to the right, in an attempt to distract him. The wolf snapped wildly at the bee, but the bee was too fast and kept up the delaying tactic. Finally, in a desperate move, the honeybee jabbed his stinger in the wolf's eye. The wolf howled in pain and ran away from the village as fast as he could, vowing never to return.

Unfortunately, as happens in these things, by stinging the wolf in the eye the honeybee's stinger was ripped from his body. He bled to death and fell to the ground.

The next morning the animals of the village gathered around the bee's corpse.

"Don't you understand?" pleaded the duck. "The bee gave his life fighting the wolf."

"The bee saved all your lives," the lamb meekly bleated.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before," said the bull as the other animals wandered off, leaving the bee's body to rot.

The moral of this story is: no one likes a resume padder.