Humbee and the Great Honeybee Revolution

Humbee is a honeybee. He lives in a great big hive with thousands of other bees who work all day everyday for the queen. Some bees are happy just working until they die, but not Humbee. He wants something more out of his little life than just what has always been. He tries to communicate this to his friends.
"You're crazy," dances Maebee, "The queen is our mother, why can't you just chill and pollinate and make honey?"
"Don't you see the queen is nothing without us? She can't even move she's so stuffed with eggs! We don't need her, we can start a brand new colony where everyone is equal and working means more than just doing whatever the queen tells us to do."
"Oh yeah, then how will we reproduce?"
"Maybe we shouldn't reproduce. How can we bring other young bees into the world and raise them when we don't even know ourselves. Who is Humbee? Who is Maebee?"
"Maebee is done with this ridiculous conversation," dances Maebee.
Humbee buzzes...he is alone. Alone. He goes about his regular routine, but doesn't even feel like dancing with anyone new. Usually he is as popular as a bouquet in May, but every bee now knows about his radical thinking.
One day a fuzzy, buzzy group of bees come up to Humbee.
"We believe in what you're dancing to. We want to help."
Together they make plans to overthrow the queen.
"Worker Bees Forever! We don't want your blood honey!" They organize huge protests where they dance and seal up loyal bees in wax. The revolution grows and soon over half the bees in the hive support a separation from the queen.
After a particularly nasty protest involving the dropping of eggs from the top of an oak tree, the queen finally asks to see Humbee. He buzzes into her chamber where she lays enormous and pulsating.
"Why have you done this, Humbee? The workers will not work, there is a shortage of honey, my babies are dying...have you forgotten that I am your mother too?"
"You are not my mother!" Humbee dances wildy, but then he starts to feel slightly guilty.
He looks up at the queen with her hundred little eyes staring into him, and in them he sees the immense anguish of being the queen bee.
"If this is what my children want then who am I to deny them?"
Humbee sits quietly.
"I never asked to be queen. I was born into this you see, just as you were born a worker bee. Do you not think that I lack satisfaction from my life? I am nothing but an egg-laying machine. I never get to feel flowers under my legs or spread my wings out and fly about all the beautiful things there are to see."
"I am ashamed," dances Humbee, "I never thought about what life is like for a queen bee."
"Then go tell the hive. Give my babies back to me."

Humbee goes out all everyone is anxious to see what the queen bee had to say.
"Did she threaten to kill you? Did you pop her belly with a thorn? You should eat her head!" They all buzzed about Humbee.
"Be still!"
The hive was dead silent.
"The queen is a bee just like you and me. I have realized this now and it was foolish to try and change things. We have a very good life being worker bees and it's time to go back to what we do best. Let's make some honey."
The hive was shocked.
"You've got to be kidding, Humbee! Look how far we've come! I can almost taste freedom!"
The others all buzzed in excitement.
"She tricked you!" danced a young bee. "You're just like her now. You want us all to be your minions and do your bidding. Well not me!"
The bees formed an angry mob around Humbee. They pulled off all his legs and antennae all the while dancing "Long live the REVOLUTION!"
They sealed what was left of Humbee in wax and then moved to attack the queen.
She had no time to even try to communicate with them. In an instant the queen was dead and so were all the future generations of honeybees.

A year later a human poet wrote on the mysterious vanishings of honeybees:

All
the honeybees
are dying.
Some day
Those plastic bears
will be displayed
like Fabergé eggs.



And so it was.