A Hive Star Adventure
Illustrations by Jen & Jennifer Illustration
This story is dedicated to the phenomenal bees of the world.
Introducing Melissa and Beatrice Bumble. Two sisters with a very important job. Along with the rest of their family, they keep the flowers alive, the food growing and the stars in the sky... ...although one day this almost didn’t happen!
Their day started out as usual, collecting the stars from the flowers. The sisters collect up these stars every day and let them go in the night’s sky, to twinkle and shine over their hive at Chewton Glen. As the sisters began collecting the stars Melissa noticed there weren’t that many stars in the Walled Garden today. “Let’s go up to the Cookery School, there will be lots there.” Off they buzzed, up into the blue sky and towards the Cookery School.
There were lots of stars to collect at the Cookery School and the flowers glistened in the sunlight. “Wow!” said Beatrice, “There are so many stars here!” “I bet you I can collect the most…” challenged Melissa. “We’ll see about that!”
After collecting as many stars as they could, Beatrice said, “Let’s go back and find out who the winner is!” “Hold on a moment, we haven’t looked in there!” said Melissa pointing to a dark cluster of trees. “The forbidden wood, we can’t go in there.” Beatrice said cautiously. Suddenly Melissa buzzed off towards the wood with Beatrice following behind.
The wood was dark and dangerous with broken branches, boggy ground and lots of creepy crawlies. “I don’t like this!” Beatrice whispered. Fear set in and Melissa realised perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all. “Well, there are no flowers in here so let’s go!” she said quickly. Suddenly they heard a low humming noise that grew louder and louder. The sisters gathered close, in fear of what was coming towards them.
“WASPS!” buzzed Melissa as she grabbed her sister and began to fly back. “Hurry!” Dropping some of their stars along the way, they managed to get out the forbidden wood when Beatrice shouted “They’re still chasing us!” They flew on passed the willow trees, through the blanket of bluebells and out towards the terrace. Picking up pace they flew over the hotel and down through the Walled Garden before hiding in a cluster of sweet peas.
The wasps tried their best to buzz out the bees but couldn’t find them! Disappointed with their attempt to capture the bees and their stars the wasps flew away back to the wood. Beatrice and Melissa sighed with relief, “Phew!”
The sisters counted their stars as the sun began to set. “Well, I think you’re the winner!” said Melissa to Beatrice as she clapped her wings.
“Yay!” celebrated Beatrice, “What’s my prize?” Melissa gathered all the stars up and told Beatrice to follow her into the sky. “You can decorate the sky tonight in any way you wish.” She passed Beatrice the stars and flew down to watch. Beatrice looked up at the moon and decided on her pattern. When she finished she met her sister in the grass and they looked up together. “Perfect!” said Melissa. What did the pattern say? Turn over to find out...