sting you!" she threatened.

Naturally, a happy, easy-going person like Buster Bumblebee wasn't
looking for trouble of that sort. So he dodged clumsily out of sight
behind a milkweed; and he made up his mind then that that was the last
time he would ever have anything to do with one of those testy
honey-makers.

Of course it was a bit difficult to avoid them entirely in a family of
two hundred or more, all living together in a medium-sized house. And so
Buster Bumblebee decided at last that he would be far happier in some
place that was not so crowded, and where there was no work going on--and
no workers.

And so, one fine August day, Buster left the family home, never to set
foot inside it again. But he often passed that way and lingered just
outside the door, to listen to the music and the sound of dancing within.

That was the thing that he missed most; for, like all his family, he was
fond of music. And he was forever humming to himself as he sipped nectar
from the clover-tops or the flowers in Farmer Green's garden.

[Illustration: Buster Listened to Mrs. Ladybug's Suggestion. (_Page 56_)]




XII

THE CARPENTER BEE