Just to start the ball rolling:

Fable 1
(source - a textbook on "Myths of the Greeks and Rome"by H.A. Guebner, which
is no longer in my possession.)

In Greek mythology honey bees were the responsibility of the 9 Muses,
females who were the divine aspect of music, the arts and rational debate.
The Muses would meet and dance on the slopes of the divine mountain.  A
goat-herd named Comatas glimpsed them dancing and, overcome with awe,
sacrificed a kid goat to them.
When the owner of the goat herd discovered his loss he ordered that Comatas
be sealed into a chest to die.  The Muses took pity on his plight and sent
their servants the honey bees to carry honey to him through a chink in the
chest.
When the chest was eventually re-opened Comatas emerged in perfect health.

Fable 2
(source - The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture - which also contains some
fascinating material on ancient beekeeping)

Democritus a Greek philosopher advised that bee swarms can be obtained by:
Killing an ox and confining in a one-room building, which has had all the
openings closed with clay.  On the 32nd day the building may be opened to
discover it full of bees "crowded in clusters on each other, and the horns
and the bones and the hair and nothing else of the bullock left".


Betty McAdam
HOG BAY APIARY
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
hogbay@kin.on.net
http://kigateway.eastend.com.au/hogbay/hogbay1.htm


Subject: Beekeeping Fables

Sorry that this thread seems to have been going on for a couple days before
I jumped in (been out of town and just now catching up on e-mail). The
article to which you are referring is posted on my web page along with some
other articles that you might find interesting (some other bee stuff but no
other folk tales at present). I've been trying to find a literary agent for
the book I've been working on for the past couple of years (using stories
and folk tales from around the world to illustrate bee biology and
beekeeping history in different cultures) but keep getting side-tracked by
the demands of daily life (and other interests).  You can find the article
at http://pinc.com/~bwarner/5garudi.htm (if that doesn't work tr
http://vvv.com/~bwarner/5garudi.htm and if all else fals try
doing a search from Alta Vista for "island crop management" and following
the links to my publications).  Hope you enjoy it--


Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 23:21:48 -0700
From: Conrad Berube 
Subject: BEE FABLES, & Conrad B's new webpage location

Howdy!

A few weeks ago I posted a note pointing folks interested in
mythology and folk tales involving bees to the web site that I
shared with one of my best buds. Many thanks to those of you who
tried to log in and notified me about problems at the site. After
sending a nasty note to the system administrator I discovered to
my embarassment that my buddy (who was/is going through some
serious life changes and movements of personal effects) had let
the account go into default. I took the opportunity to open a new
account closer to where I actually live. So if any of you are
interested in trying to check out the site, or need to alter
bookmarks, or URL calls in your own web pages, this posting will
act as mini web-page. 

The following two articles contain folk-tales or mythology
dealing with honeybees:

 "How the Honeybee Got her Hum,"  American Bee Journal, March
1994
"The Bee-Riddled Carcass," Griffith Observer: Journal of the Griffith Observatory, July 1991

Hopefully the titles of the following articles will explain their content:
"Beeginings : the evolution of the honeybee (part 2)," American Bee Journal, (July, 1997)
"Beeginings : the evolution of the honeybee (part 1)," American Bee Journal, (June, 1997) HiveLights (October 1996)
"War and Bees : the use of bees in warfare," Dromore Buzzette (January/February 1997)
"Health: Propolis" . HiveLights, May 1996
"Bees in the Belfry; American Bee Journal, July 1989
- Conrad Berube " ` ISLAND CROP MANAGEMENT " ` 613 Hecate St. _- -_`-_|'\ /` Nanaimo, B.C. _/ / / -' `~()() V9R 4K4 \_\ _ /\-._/\/ (250)754-2482; fax (250)656-8922 / | | email: uc779@freenet.victoria.bc.ca '` ^ ^ http://nanaimo.ark.com/~cberube From: "Frederick L. Hollen" Subject: Bee Fables Hello, I heard a bee story yesterday which I would like to add to the "Bee Fables" thread recently on this list: It seems that a beekeeper in a rural southwestern Virginia county also made a little moonshine whisky, which he transported inside empty beehives on a flatbed truck. The authorities eventually figured out this strategem, and made plans to arrest him. It is hard to keep secrets in small rural communities, and our beekeeper got wind of the plan. He loaded his meanest hives onto his truck and started down the road, soon to be stopped by the sheriff and alcohol agents, who asked him what he was hauling. He replied: "Beehives -- you can see that." "What's in the beehives?" "Bees, what else?" "We think you're hauling moonshine in those beehives. Open up a couple for us to check." "No sir. If you want to see inside you open them." The sheriff jumped onto the truck, triumphantly jerked the lid off a beehive, and was nearly eaten alive by the bees. After that our friend ran moonshine whenever and wherever he wanted and no one ever bothered him again. Fred Virginia, USA