his gardens. He slipped along the shady paths, and followed him so as
to observe him closely, and find out if he were really drawn toward
this noble and handsome being. The Lord of the Domain walked on for
some time, not noticing that the Bee-man was behind him. But suddenly
turning, he saw the little old man.

"What are you doing here, you vile beggar?" he cried; and he gave him
a kick that sent him into some bushes that grew by the side of the
path.

The Bee-man scrambled to his feet, and ran as fast as he could to the
place where he had hidden his hive and his old doublet.

"If I am certain of any thing," he thought, "it is that I was never a
person who would kick a poor old man. I will leave this place. I was
transformed from nothing that I see here."

He now travelled for a day or two longer, and then he came to a great
black mountain, near the bottom of which was an opening like the
mouth of a cave.

This mountain he had heard was filled with caverns and under-ground
passages, which were the abodes of dragons, evil spirits, horrid
creatures of all kinds.

"Ah me!" said the Bee-man with a sigh, "I suppose I ought to visit
this place. If I am going to do this thing properly, I should look on
all sides of the subject, and I may have been one of those horrid
creatures myself."