In the summer, little Maya happily flew around and had many adventures. Yet, she missed the other bees and the kingdom. She longed for useful work. Bees are restless creatures. However, little Maya was not yet ready to live in the bee kingdom forever. Not every bee can adapt well, just as with people. We must be careful not to judge them but give them a chance to prove themselves. Beneath their peculiar behavior lies a deep longing for something more beautiful than everyday life.
Little Maya was a pure and sensitive being with a genuine interest in everything the world had to offer. Yet, it is difficult to be alone, even if you are happy. And the longer Maya experienced her adventures alone, the more she longed for companionship. By now, she had grown from a small bee into a beautiful creature with strong wings and a sharp stinger. And she was a true adventurer.
She wanted to do something with everything she had learned along the way. Sometimes she wanted to return to the beehive and ask the queen for forgiveness. But her desire to get to know humans was greater. According to her, no one was more intelligent or powerful than humans. One day, she saw a sleeping girl among the blossoms. Maya stared at her in amazement and found her very sweet. She immediately forgot all the horrible things she had heard about humans.
After a while, a mosquito passed by and greeted her. “Look at that girl over there. See how good and beautiful she is,” exclaimed Maya delightedly. The mosquito threw a surprised glance at Maya, then slowly turned around and looked at the object of her admiration. “Yes, she is a good human. I just tasted her. I stung her. Look, my body is shining red from her blood.”
Maya was shocked. “Will she die? Where did you injure her? How could you do that? You are a predator!”
The mosquito giggled: “Oh, I just stung through her stockings. Your ignorance is truly amazing. Do you really think humans are good creatures? I have never met anyone who voluntarily gave me a drop of blood.”
“I don’t know much about humans, I admit,” said Maya.
“But of all insects, you bees have the most to do with humans. That is a known fact.”
“I left our kingdom,” Maya confessed shyly. “I didn’t like it. I wanted to learn more about the outside world.”
“And how do you like the outside world? I admire your independence. I would never agree to serve humans.”
“But humans also serve us!” said Maya, who couldn’t stand the mosquito’s criticism.
“Maybe. Which tribe do you belong to?”
“I come from the bee tribe in the castle park.”
“I’ve heard of that. I respect your kingdom, where there was a recent uprising, is that correct?” the mosquito said.
“Yes,” said Maya proudly. And deep in her heart, she felt the homesickness for her people and the urge to serve the queen. She didn’t ask the mosquito any more questions about humans. She thought the mosquito was a cheeky lady.
“I’m going to get another nice sip,” the mosquito exclaimed as she flew away. Maya quickly went away. She couldn’t stand to see the mosquito hurting the sleeping girl. And how could she do this and not die herself? Hadn’t Cassandra said, “If you sting a human, you’ll die?”
Despite this event, her desire to get to know humans well was not satisfied. She vowed to be braver and never stop until she achieved her goal. Her desire to get to know humans would come true, in a more beautiful way than she could have ever dreamed.
On a warm evening, she went to bed early and suddenly woke up in the middle of the night. When she opened her eyes, she saw that her bedroom had a silent bluish glow. The glow came from the entrance, and it looked like a silver-blue curtain. At first, Maya was afraid to look. But along with the light came a delightful calmness, and a harmonious sound could be heard. She looked outside, and the whole world seemed to be under a spell. The trees and the grass were covered in a silver veil, and everything was wrapped in this soft blue glow.
“This must be the night,” whispered Maya as she folded her wings.
A silver disk hung high in the sky, and a beautiful glow streamed into the world. Maya saw countless small lights in the sky. Everything was so quiet and beautiful. She saw the night with the moon and the stars. She had heard of them before but had never seen them. Then she heard the sound that had awakened her again. A fine chirping. She could no longer stay in her room and flew out into the beautiful night.
Just as she was about to fly further into the silver night, Maya saw a winged creature land on a beech leaf. It raised its head and wings to the moon, and there came the silver chirping that Maya had heard earlier that night. “How beautiful, it sounds heavenly,” whispered Maya. She flew to the leaf, but when she touched the leaf, the chirping stopped. There was a deep silence that was almost eerie.
“Good night,” said Maya politely. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but the music you make is so beautiful that I had to find out where it came from.” The cricket asked in surprise: “What kind of crawling creature are you? I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“I am not a crawling insect. I am Maya, from the bee people.”
“Oh, from the bee people. You live by day, don’t you? I heard about your race from the hedgehog. He told me that he eats dead bees thrown out of the hive in the evening.”
“Yes,” said Maya somewhat fearfully, “I have also heard about the hedgehog. He comes out when dusk falls and eats dead insects. But are you friends with that creature? He is terribly rough.”
“We snowy tree crickets get along just fine with him. Of course, he tries to catch us, but he can never succeed. We always tease him with great pleasure.”
“So you are a tree cricket,” said Maya.
“Yes, a snowy tree cricket. But now I have no time to talk. I really have to make music. It’s a beautiful night with a full moon.”
“Midsummer night is the most beautiful night of the year,” said the cricket. “That’s all I can tell you, listen to my music, and you’ll hear it.” And the cricket started chirping again.
The little bee sat quietly in the blue summer night, thinking deeply about life. Then the silence fell. There was a soft buzz, and Maya saw the cricket fly into the moonlight.
“The night makes a bee sad too,” she thought. So she quickly flew to her beloved flower meadow. On the way, she saw beautiful irises along the stream that gleamed in the moonlight. She landed on one of the blue petals.
“Where does all that water from the stream go?” she wondered. “I know so little about the world.”
Suddenly, a delicate voice rose from the flower next to her. It sounded like a clear bell and was unlike any sound Maya had heard before. “What could this be?” thought the little bee. Then, a small creature emerged from the flower with a glowing body, dressed in a white garment.
The creature raised its arms to the moonlight and its face began to radiate with bliss. Then, two white wings unfolded. Maya had never seen anything so beautiful. The glowing creature began to sing a song about the soul of things that always remains, which deeply touched Maya’s heart. She even started to cry.
“Who is crying?” asked the white creature.
“It’s just me,” Maya stammered. “Sorry for disturbing you.”
“But why are you crying?”
“Maybe just because you’re so beautiful. Oh, tell me, you’re an angel, aren’t you?”
“Oh no, I’m a flower elf. What are you doing here so late at night?” asked the elf, looking kindly at the bee.
Maya told her about her adventures and what she still longed for. When she finished, the elf stroked her head and looked at her warmly and lovingly. “We, flower elves,” she explained, “live for seven nights, but we must stay in the flower in which we were born, or we will die at sunrise.”
“Hurry up, hurry up! Fly back into your flower!” cried Maya in alarm.
The elf shook her head sadly and said, “It’s too late. But most flower elves are happy to leave their flower because great happiness is associated with our departure. Before we die, we can fulfill the dearest wish of the first creature we meet. So we make someone very happy.”
“How wonderful, then I would leave the flower too.” It didn’t occur to Maya that she was the first creature the elf met. “Do you die then?” asked the bee.
The elf nodded, “We live until dawn, then we are carried away in the gossamer veils that float above the grass and flowers. It seems like a white light shines from these veils. Those are the flower elves. When it becomes day, we turn into dew drops. The plants drink us and we become part of their growth and bloom until we come back as flower elves from the flower petals after a while.”
“So you were once another flower elf,” Maya asked, with great interest.
“That’s right, but I’ve forgotten my past existence. We forget everything in our flower sleep.”
“Oh, what a beautiful fate!”
“That’s actually how it goes with all earthly creatures,” said the elf.
“Oh, I’m so happy now,” exclaimed Maya.
“But don’t you have a wish?” asked the elf. “I have the power to fulfill your dearest wish.”
“Me? I’m just a bee. No, that’s too big. I don’t deserve that you’re so good to me.”
“No one deserves the good and the beautiful. The good and the beautiful come to us like sunshine,” said the elf.
Maya’s heart was racing. Oh, of course, she had a wish, but she didn’t dare to say it. The elf seemed to sense it and smiled wisely.
“I would like to learn about people at their best and most beautiful,” said the little bee, shyly.
The elf stood up and looked at her with eyes full of trust. She took Maya’s hand and said, “Come, let’s fly together. Your wish will come true.”
