A story from Thailand: Bees and Elephants

In ancient myths across the globe, bees have not only made an appearance as friends of man, but also to other species. The following story comes from Thailand and describes the relationship between bees and elephants. While this story is clearly a tale, is does give some insights as to how cultures may have figured out how to take honey by smoking out the colonies, a main method of bee keeping today. In order to calm bees down, bee keepers lightly blow smoke onto the hive which stuns the bees in a relatively harmless way for a short period of time thus allowing the bee keepers to take honey. I will post at another point about bee keeping methods, but for now enjoy the story!


In ancient times, elephants did not have the long trunks they do today and bees did not live in nests in hollow trees. Instead, the built their nests on branches in the open air. One year the rains were extremely meager and the land became dangerously dry. The elephants found it increasingly difficult to find enough leaves to feed on. The bees were also having trouble collecting the nectar and pollen they needed, as all the flowers were dying. Finally, as dry as tinder, the forest caught fire. The elephants tried to outrun the danger, but the lumbering creatures soon grew tired as the flames spread unchecked. When they called for help, the bees offered to lead them to safety in return for free transport. The elephants opened their mouths, and the bees flew inside to escape the hot air and choking smoke. They settled in the elephants' short snouts and from there directed their companions to a nearby lake. The elephants waded into the middle of the lake and stayed there until the fire had spent itself. 


It was now time to leave the lake and resume their hunt for food, but the bees had become accustomed to the cool, dark interior of the elephant's snouts and began building their hives there. The elephants bellowed and trumpeted in rage and began to exhale mightily in order to evict their unwanted lodgers. After several hours of trumpeting and exhaling, their snouts had stretched into full-sized trunks, but the bees remained stubbornly inside. The elephants finally decided that since the bees had flown inside their snouts to escape the smoke, smoke would be the best way to get them out. So they walked into the still- smoldering ashes of the fire, inhaled deeply, and held the smoke in their mouths and trunks until the bees had fled. 


Then they returned to the lake to drink and cleanse their palates. Thanks to their new, improved appendages, they could reach the water without having to stoop. The evicted bees, having become very comfortable building their hives in cool, dark places, searched for something similar and found that the next best thing to an elephants' trunk was the hollow trunk of a tree. This is why an elephant's trunk was the hollow trunk of a tree. This is why an elephant's nose and the body of a tree are called trunks, and why bees who live in hollow trees are called phung phrong or "elephant's mouth bees." - Found in Stephen Buchmann's book, Letters from the Hive: an Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind.

Cited Sources:

Buchmann, Stephen L., and Banning Repplier. Letters from the Hive: an Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind. New York: Bantam, 2005. Print

You can thank the bees for your Honey Moon

Ever wonder why that sweet little post wedding trip is called a Honey Moon? I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense. Honey because you get to spend time with your favorite honey and moon because you, um, travel somewhere new? Not exactly. The term Honey Moon actually originated among the Druidic Celt people during the time of the Vikings. Like many other ancient civilizations, these Celts used honey to make honey wine, or mead. Honey was generally harvested during the month of May, which was referred to as the Honey Month in the lunar calendar. In addition to harvesting honey, the Honey Month was a time for couples to be married. Celtic tradition mandated that all marriages occur on May Day, or the first of the Honey Month. Afterwards, newlyweds were allowed to flee to a secluded place for the rest of the month in order to get to know each other, enjoy one another’s company, and drink lots and lots of mead. Apparently, the tradition stuck around because it is the Celtic Tradition of marriage during the Honey Month of the lunar calendar that leaves us with the name “Honey Moon”.




Cited Sources:
Buchmann, Stephen L., and Banning Repplier. Letters from the Hive: an Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind. New York: Bantam, 2005. Print

Bees of Ancient Times: the Story of the San

Bees have long since been a part of our story telling history. Even before we could comprehend the science of pollination, humans understood that bees provided the world with a lot more than just delicious honey. Ancient societies across the globe all had the feeling that bees were involved with the construction of the earth, humankind, and other animals. While every culture has a different story about honeybees, help from bees seems to be an underlying theme in our most ancient myths. Many of these stories are very interesting; and from time to time, I will post a story passed down from an ancient civilization that explains the creation of bees and their importance in the world. I hope you enjoy them!

The first story comes from one of our oldest civilizations, the San people of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. The San people had a series of stories about how the world came to be. To the San, the bee represented an animal of tremendous wisdom and even a messenger of God. According to San myth, the bee played a huge role in the creation of humans and actually sacrificed himself for us. Here is the story:

San descendent, South Africa. -Lizzie Needham

A long, long time ago, Mantis asked Bee to carry him across the dark, turbulent waters of a flood-swollen river. Bee, known for his wisdom and reliability, agreed and told Mantis to climb onto his back. Buffeted by fierce, cold winds, Bee soon grew weary and searched for solid ground on which to deposit his burden. But the stormy waters seemed to stretch all the way to the farthest horizon. Exhausted and weighed down by the much larger Mantis, Bee sank closer and closer to the lapping waves. But just as he was about to go under, he spied a great white flower, half open and floating on the water, awaiting the sun's first warming rays. Marshaling his remaining strength, Bee struggled towards the flower, laid Mantis down in its very heart and planted within Mantis the seed of the first human being. Then, his task complete, poor Bee died. Later, when the sun had risen in the sky and warmed the white flower, Mantis awoke, and as he did so, the first San was born from the seed implanted by Bee. -Found in Stephan Buchmann's book, Letters from the Hive.



Sun set in the Richtersveld, South Africa, home of the San people. -Lizzie Needham



Cited Sources:
Buchmann, Stephen L., and Banning Repplier. Letters from the Hive: an Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind. New York: Bantam, 2005. Print.