Week 10 Story - The Dance of Bees

Once there was a boy from a family of giants. He wasn't like his five older brothers. Where they liked to run and fight and roughhouse, he liked to sit, to think, and write songs. His brothers teased him often, and he felt all alone. His brothers were wrestling one day, and he couldn't concentrate with the ground shaking and the trees trembling. He wandered away through a mountain pass and found a valley--peaceful and quiet. There were large purple roses covering the ground, and it was quiet except for the wind. He thought he could write music calmly here. He started to settle himself onto the ground, nestling himself amongst the flowers. He heard a small yelp, and hopped up in alarm. He unfolded some of the petals on the largest flower, and found a plump girl--not a giant--nestled within. 

"Watch it, mister!" she humphed at him. He blinked in confusion. 
"Don't you even know what you've done? You've crushed the flowers!" she said, getting to her feet and settling her hands on her hips. She was wrapped in an ochre and black dress flecked with gold, and barefooted.
The boy didn't know what to say, or what to do. He stared at her, searching himself for a defense, or perhaps--judging by the way she was glaring--an apology. 
Suddenly she softened and said, "You're a giant? Why aren't you trampling all my lovely flowers just for sport?" 
He shrugged. 
Finally, he saw the hint of a smile grace her face. "Fine," she said. "You'll come with me, maybe there's hope for you yet."

He followed the girl through the flowers, trying not to step on any lest she yell at him again. When they reached the mountain pass on the the other side of the valley, the girl began to pull herself up the cliffside. She didn't need any help, being much stronger than her size suggested. He followed her up to a spacious room in the side of cliff and only peeped inside because he couldn't fit. There were other pudgy members of her family, dressed in the same ochre-and-black garb, all working on one task or another. One woman, the only one wearing all gold, was at the center of the hive, tending to the children. The boy watched them work as they turned dust into sweet food, built storage containers, and cleared away debris. 
"Soon we have to go back out and dance," the girl said.
The boy looked at her in confusion.
"We have to dance, in the flowers. We work with the sun, the flowers, and each other. It's how we make sure that everyone lives good lives," the girl explained. Sure enough, many others in the cave started toward the opening. They were all impressed with how kind and gentle the giant was, and how he was careful not to trample any flowers as they made their way down the cliffside to the valley.

The boy watched the girl and her family whirl and dance through the flowers, gathering golden dust and throwing it in the air and all over their arms and legs. They laughed, they were joyous in it. And they were careful not to damage any of the flowers. The boy was delighted, and came back every day to watch them dance.

Every night, when the sun set, the boy started home to see his mother, his father, and his five brothers. Every night, the girl stood stubbornly in front of him, and he knelt to listen to her warning: "Do not teach your family of our flower dance. They are too big and too rough, they will break the flowers and we will all be devastated." He always nodded his assent and headed back through the mountain pass. 

One night, after he returned his brothers teased him about missing their horseplay. They demanded to know where he had gone. The boy didn't want to betray his friend's secret but he missed his brothers. He just wanted to share the Flower Dance with them, and maybe they would think it was as lovely as he did. So he told them about the valley full of purple roses on the other side of the mountain pass. 

The next day, his heart no longer weighed down with secrets, he happily headed to the mountain pass to see his friend. But as he walked the road between the peaks, he noticed that rocks trembled and fell into his path. He heard shouting and instantly recognized his brothers' voices. He ran to the valley, and saw his brothers throwing each other around the valley. They stomped and mocked each other, they jumped and spit, laughing and punching and kicking. To the boy's dismay, the flowers were destroyed. Bodies of purple roses were strew around the valley. Not one remained in tact. 

In a panic, he ran to the other side of the valley. He stepped up to the opening of the cavern, peering inside in the hopes that his friend or her family would be hidden safely inside. But it was too late.

His friend was gone. The Flower Dance had come to an end, and so had the Bees.  

"Solitary Bee" by Alvesgaspar
via Wikipedia

Author's Note:
This story is very very loosely based on "The Youth that Joined the Deer." In the original story, a young man finds a community of Deer people, who die to feed the community then are revived. I found that one of the main take-aways for me was "responsible consumption" and "respectful relationships with nature." I kept the theme but told the story in a different way: the deer of 2018 are the bees after all. They do so much to keep our entire human community alive and we aren't really trying to help them survive. I tried not to anthropomorphize my characters too much to keep with the Native American style, but I really am a one trick pony when it comes to writing--I can only do people. Anyway, save the bees!