The Bees and the Wasps in Court
Once upon a time, in a deep forest scented with linden where huge trees cast their shade, there was a lovely hollow. In the hollow of this old oak tree there were combs of a golden colour, delicious beyond words. The hardworking honeybees flew about merrily all day long and claimed that they had made this sweet delight themselves. But the lazy drones kept insisting that this delicious honey was the work of their own labour. This great quarrel between the two sides echoed through the whole forest and drove away its peace. In the end they decided to bring the case before the court of the wise hornet, known for judging justly. The bees gathered on the great rock in the forest and told their case excitedly to the hornet judge.
The spokesman of the lazy bees put forward that the building of the combs was entirely their own. The hardworking honeybees, for their part, described the flower pollen they had gathered with great toil and claimed their right. As the witnesses of the two sides could not offer any firm proof, the hearing dragged on and on. The wise hornet looked at the crowd standing before her and thought deeply for a while. Then she ran her sharp eyes over the bees and gave a clever ruling. "Rather than listen to empty words, I wish to see your skill with my own eyes," the judge thundered. "Now both of you will go into empty hives and start weaving new combs at once," she said.
The hardworking honeybees, hearing this fair proposal of the judge, set to work at once with joy. The lazy bees, on the other hand, did not know what to do for fear and stared into one another's faces. Because they lacked the skill of making honey, they could not accept this hard test. Understanding that they could not hide the truth, the lazy bees fled the court when their trick came to light. The wise hornet, having understood who the real workers were, handed the delicious combs over to the honeybees. Real labour and skill always bring to light the lies hidden behind empty words. A person's mirror is his work; do not look at his words.