What your children should know
What your children should be taught.
WHY THERE ARE NO LAZY BEES
starring BUD as the bee
FOR MY DAUGHTER LISA’S FIRST BIRTHDAY ( 1991 )
she’s the busy one
A long, long, long time ago there was a teeny, tiny, (at that time) not even born yet bee......named
BUD.
BUD was a very lazy little bee. He was so lazy he was the last of all his brothers and sisters to be
born. It’s not that he wasn’t ready to be born, it’s just that when he heard all the humming and
buzzing going on outside his comfy little egg cell, he somehow knew work was being done. He
also knew he wanted nothing to do with it!!!
BUD would probably never have come out of his comfy little egg cell if he hadn’t grown to be so
big from all the bee food his mommy and daddy fed to him that his comfy little egg cell was no longer comfy, sooooooo.......OUT POPPED BUD!
He was the biggest of all his brothers and sisters. As a matter of fact, BUD was the biggest bee
ever born. He was also the laziest bee to ever be born.
By the time BUD was born all of his brothers and sisters were hard at work collecting pollen to
make honey for the other baby bees to feed upon. BUD’S mommy and daddy had already shown all his
brothers and sisters how to get into a flower and rub around inside so all the pollen would stick
to them. They also warned them about something that all bees need to know.....flowers close up,
when the sun goes down.
Flowers close up tight,
And squeeze and squeeze,
And squeeze all night.
They’ll stay shut tight,
Until mornings first light.
This is probably the most important bee lesson of them all. As you and BUD will soon learn.
Another lesson BUD had missed was how to fly. Maybe he could have learned this lesson if he
had tried, but BUD was just too lazy.
Well...... it came one day that BUD, as he often did, got up to get some of the delicious honey he
had grown to love. As he was walking over to where it was kept, he slipped on some spilled bees
wax and slid right out of the hive!!!!
As he hurtled down,
Toward the ground,
BUD let out an awful cry.
His mother heard,
His blood curdling scream,
And yelled out,
“BUD TRY TO FLY”
BUD buzzed and flapped,
And buzzed one more time.
His wings catching air,
Just in the nick of time.
He dipped, and he climbed,
Then flew loop d loos,
What fun he was having,
‘ Til he heard....
“NOW BUD CAN WORK TOO!”
As every bee went to work that day,
They flew as they always fly.
Yet today was to be a special bee day,
As BUD was not left behind.
BUD’S brother Bobby led the swarm from the hive,
And he found a beautiful bush.
It had big open flowers of purple and white,
With pollen as deep as their thighs.
They showed BUD the way to get into a flower,
How to rub it so pollen would stick.
They showed how to collect all of the powder,
They taught him most every trick.
So BUD pushed and he pushed and nosed all around,
He worked ' til he thought he would drop.
Now covered in pollen from his nose to his toes,
He looked like a big yellow sock.
“OH ME! OH MY!” BUD thought for sure he would die.
“I’m so tired now I could never fly”
So as everyone else, who had just as much pollen,
Took off for the honey shop,
That lazy bee BUD just hid in his flower,
Mumbling, “ I’ll never make it in these pollen socks.”
So with every bee gone, BUD came up with a plan.
He’d get all of his pollen off.
And when back to the hive,
He did arrive he would tell them all in a huff,
“A bird tried to get me and nearly did twice,”
It screeched, “Give me your pollen or it’s your turn to die!”
As BUD tried to unglue his carefully stuck pollen,
He had problems one after another.
It was so hard to push the pollen off of himself,
He decided to have it for supper!
So he ate and he ate more than ever before,
And after that he ate some more!
BUD licked his lips when he was done,
And thought he was oh so clever.
No bee will ever know the truth,
Not now, not even ever.
But now so tired after such a big meal,
With eyes too heavy to guide him,
He thought on a petal with his eyes closed shut,
“I can’t wait to see their faces when I tell them”
So BUD went to sleep for four hours or more,
Dreaming bee dreams and snoring bee snores.
He slept and he slept and dreamed on and on,
Of what a hero he’d be, to come back after so long.
No bee he could remember ever came back at night.
He dreamed he would sneak in,
And give them all such a freight!
As time came to pass, BUD opened his eyes.
He blinked them and blinked them and still saw no sky.
He tried to stand, to stretch his legs,
To spread his wings, to move his head.
He wriggled and wriggled, then he screamed out loud,
“LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE”
He did shout!
Mean little bugs of the night heard him screaming in freight,
And gathered all around his flower.
They giggled and prodded poor little BUD,
And they screeched with delight for hours.
So little BUD pushed and pulled with all of his might,
He pushed and pulled all through the night.
Hour after hour he fought with his flower, He fought for his very life.
While in hushed murmured tones his audience said,
“Don’t tell him about the suns light.”
Now others had come, as it was a little past dawn,
When BUD pushed his nose out into the warm.
He pushed a little harder as the flower opened wider,
And could see outside it was morn.
He ducked back inside and tried to hide,
For outside he saw not just morning.
Because perched all around,
On every flower they found,
Were all of the bees,
From BUDS home town.
