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In Christian and Mediæval Times: Bienlein

These bee-myths of the Middle Ages had a symbolical meaning that at the present time they have lost, though a certain superstitious feeling still lingers in the rural portions of several countries; and in Germany one can hear the song, - "Bienlein, Bienlein, Bleib bei mir im grünen Gras, Wo einst Jesus, Maria, and Joseph satz."

Little bee, little bee, Stay by me on the green grass, Where once Jesus, Mary, and Joseph sat.

Menzel tells of an old Catholic hymn which calls the passage of the holy ones who ascend to heaven from earth a swarm of bees in safe flight, sweetly laden with their virtues.

This recalls a similar figure used by Sophocles and already quoted : - "In swarms while wandering from the dead, A humming sound is heard." - In the "Ancient Laws of Wales" we read : "The origin of the bees is from Paradise, — because of the sins of man have they left the garden of Eden. But God gave them a blessing to take into the world: they alone produce the treasures of honey and wax; without these the mass cannot be read."

This is the ecclesiastical version of that story of classical antiquity where the bees are fabled to have survived alone of all creatures from the time of the golden age, and to have In Christian and Mediæval Times 329 brought with them from that blessed time the art of making honey.