The Mother Bumblebee

A story by Karlissa J.

The mother bumblebee checked on her egg for what had to be the hundredth time.

It made her nervous, the realization that she was now a mother. As she looked down at the oval egg, sitting within the waxy, spherical cell she’d created just for it, her young one seemed impossibly small.

I should go gather some nectar, the mother bumblebee thought. That way, I’ll have plenty of food for me and my child.

The bumblebee went about her bumblebee business, visiting flowers and collecting nectar, which she’d bring back and store in a nectar cell. She ate, she made new cells, she slept, and she awoke to do it again. Soon, the little egg was not alone: she had more eggs, and stressed over each one, building them safe little cells to sleep in. And as often as she could, she’d check on every single egg.

Then, one day, her very first egg wasn’t an egg anymore. The mother bumblebee peered down into the cell at her little baby. She cocked her head and frowned.

It’s my baby, she thought – she knew that deep down. But… it looks so… odd.

For a baby bumblebee doesn’t look like a tiny version of its mother. A baby bumblebee is a little wormy grub, legless and chubby and pale.

After staring at her baby a long time, the mother bumblebee decided: It’s probably hungry. So she took a dollop of nectar and lowered it down into the cell, towards the little worm.

The little worm slurped up the nectar hungrily.

Good, the mother bumblebee thought. At least it’s eating. It’ll grow bigger and stronger, and someday… someday, it’ll actually look like a bumblebee.

The little baby bumblebee ate very well indeed, as did each of the other bumblebees as they hatched. That first baby grew the fastest, becoming bigger and chubbier.

Then one day, the mother bumblebee went to feed her very first baby, and found a new surprise. It no longer looks like a little worm! But it didn’t look quite like a bumblebee either. It’s a pupa, she realized. Her little worm was transforming into an adult. She sealed off the cell so it could sleep in peace.

She stressed over her child, wondering how it was doing. As her other children became pupae she sealed them off too, hoping and praying they’d continue to grow.

Then one day, she came across her firstborn chewing its way out of the cell.

The mother bumblebee watched in expectation. I finally get to meet my child!

Her child emerged: a daughter, with her mother’s eyes, and her mother’s beauty.

At last! The mother bumblebee could barely contain her joy. Though I saw only an egg, and then a little worm, this whole time, she was always my lovely daughter!