The True Story of the Grasshoppers and the Bees

We have been entrusted before with the true story of the Emperor’s New Clothes and true story of the Good Samaritan (Not just one true Good Samaritan story, but lots of them!  All of them true, true, true, and true.) Now we bring you the true story of the Grasshoppers and the Ants Bees.

Why bees, you ask?  Hmm. Hard to say.

In the original story, the grasshopper fiddled and laughed, the ant worked and saved, and when winter came the ant thrived while the grasshopper starved.

The reality is more complicated.

With no further ado, my honies, the true story of the Grasshoppers and the Bees:

In the summer grasshoppers were everywhere. They danced and reveled, ate enormously, and did no work. They did not need to. There was plenty.

There were a few hives of honey bees. Them the grasshoppers mocked and bullied. Given the grasshoppers huge numbers, the bees were forced to submit.

The grasshoppers mocked the bees for their diligence and their work and most of all for their care of their young.  Such folly, said the grasshoppers. After all, there were plenty of grasshoppers. If more were needed, they sprang up from the ground or swarmed from nearby areas.  The grasshoppers were not kind to the bees, who suffered much.

When fall came, the growth of the land lessened and the grasshoppers weakened. They were not so many nor so strong. They were sometimes hungry.

Meanwhile the bees had multiplied and thrived.

As every night grew colder, the coming of winter became apparent. The bees’ way of life had been proven superior in every way.

Then a remarkable thing happened.

The gaunt grasshoppers simply denied all these things or proclaimed them to be good.  They still mocked the bees. But now they invited  the bees to join them.

Leave your broods and your honey and your hives.  Join our tired dances and feast on yellowed grasses in the cold.

The bees did. They rushed out, leaving their hives and their grubs exposed to the elements and predation.  We have corrected the mistakes of the past, they said, we have discovered the true meaning of bee values. 

They all died.