Voyage of the Vainglorious Wasp.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 24, 17 June 1905, Page 55

Voyage of the Vainglorious Wasp.

“I am glad to meet you. my friend.” said the Wasp, as h? touched feelers with a neighbourly Honey Bee in the depths of a grass jungle. “I was on the point of seeking you to tell you that I am forced to leave my nest. I shall be stung to d.at’i if I return. It is a strange that I. the King of Insects, the terror of all the world of creatures about, should feel fear yet I do." “AV*ell. why go back? You can travel — fly hither and thither and see new and wonderful sights," advised the Bee. “What!” hummed ihe Wasp, protruding his long s ing angrily. “I travel? Why. I know all the animals, birds and insects now. I even know something about the Giants themselves. You astonish me." “Nevertheless, if you care to go. I will guide you to a World of Wojulers that you little drcam of. a place where there are creatures that even the Giants fear and where there are other creatures so tall that they could not s and in this field without their heads being above the tallest bush in sight." the Bee murmured gently: then he flew away. “What a likely story!” buzzed the pretty but vain Wasp. “I. that know eveiything. to be told of wonders! If such huge creatures existed in the world they would be as large as yonder rock, and 1 should see them." Act in spite of his vanity the AVasp dared not return to his nest, so lit' decided to follow th:' Honey Bee’s advice. “1 will travel." he said. They started, after a good meal of honey and dew. on their journey, and the Bee soared straight up into the air for a great distance. He went much higher than the Wasp had ever been, and then went off in a “bee line” to the west. The poor Wasp began to feel very anxious for a rest, but his pride forbade it. At last, just as he was ready to drop, the Bee started down again. As the trees rose to meet them ami the familiar grass and flowers, golden rod and daisies appeared again the Wasp thought he had been deceived. He was about to sting the lit'ile bee severely, when lo! he saw a great monster directly below him. It was much larger than a horse and very broad. Its feet were stout, like tree trunks. Its ears were so huge they hung like two ragged mantles on each side of his head, and his nose was so very long it would have touched the ground had not its tip been turned up. On this monster's back sat several youn Giants, laughing and screaming. The Bee explained that this creature was captured and tamed by the Giants—a story that the Wasp had to believe. “Truly, friend Bee. I marvel that I never saw any of these creatures before.” “That,” said the Bee, “is nothing to what you will now see." Saying which he entered a very large stone Giant's ne-t. or house; ho went in at a chimney. The poor Wasp trembled when he saw the creatures within. One thing he know, they were all birds. But who ever saw such birds* before? “Here," said the Bee. “is one that stands higher than a pony; his head is not larger than a dog’s, yet he has a neck so tall that he can overlook any horse.’’ The But* then lighted boldly on the bird’s bill, as he would on a tree limb, and asked him to tell what ho could do and when* he came from.

“I am." said the biul. “the largc-t of all ci< aturcs. ’ tile had new r seen any larger.! “I can outrun any hor-e. and have often done it. and if I am attacked one kick < f m\ foot tears my enemy to pieces. My Imine used to l»e a great plain, where the sand was deep and soft; there were many of us, and wo ran races over the land.’’ “And what did you eat honey or or Wasps?" a»kcd the Bee. hum hie\ou*ly. “What is a Wasp?” asked the bird. “No: I <»at the green leaves and grass, and I also am fond of pebbles ami sh< Ils." The Wasp, who felt very small indeed, stared from both his big eves at thi-. Here was a bird that ate stones, outran a hoi sc. and bad never board of a wasp! “Near by. in an adjoining eell," continued the Guiding Bee. “is a bird without wings." “That I don’t believe it’s absurd! ’ declared the Wasp. Yet there it was. a small bird, the size of a ehick( n. with queer, downy feathers, nc visible wing, and a long, curved bill, the tip of which moved like the end of the wasp’s tongue. In this same building the Bee showed the Wasp two other wonders one a bird nearly as tall as a horse, which had instead of feathers long black hair like plumage. On its head was a helmet of bone, with which it could drive in a stout bush, and thus pass through unharmed. Its < utcr tor had a great toenail like t hr horn of a young bull, with which it could kick a hole in an in !i pail or kill a bor>e. Another bird, that was as large as a good zed dog. sat on a perch. I'his fierce monster had a white ruff of down about its neck, a terrible, curved beak, a pair of short, stout legs with huge claws, and a pair of wings that, stretched out. would measure the length of a tall man. or even longer. The Bee asked this bird how it lived, and w here. “1 lived ome in a region higher than those clouds in tho sky. My nest was as large as this cage, made of the branches of trees, and from it I could si'e the whole world. Trees below looked like grass, and it never rained, because I was above the* clouds. My food was rabbits. young oats, and oven” the bird went on. glancing about cautiously—“(Ven young giants. I (‘an kill a wild ent or a wolf with one stroke of my claws and beak.” Tho Wasp now wished lo go home: he had very little vanity left; but the Bee said then* were monsters to see, beside which these wcie mere honey bees and wasps. “Well," retorted Ihe Wasp, “wo can sting perhaps we could ev< n kill that great bird if wo wort' to attack it in numbers." But Ik* felt very humble. The next nest visited was one nearly all built of glass. In here wire, first of all. soni(‘ turtles. Of courst' tho Wasp bad seen pond turtles, but had never seen turtles as .huge as these. One of these would have been taken for a large bowlder if he had not moved. Il(* was ns long as-fifty wasps and a hundred honey bees flying in a l : ne. Talking lo this turtle, the Wasp learned that he could walk about comfortably with two giants on his back, that he could bite through any 1 bin board or through a tin basin and that be was so old it would take tw<> thousand v.isps' lives, ( in! to end. each life being tit) sunsets long, to v pan h's age. lie lived as long as <(*\ (*n giants’ lives, ami lie ate nothing but vegetables and fruit. I'iiiallx - thi- astonishing tortoise (l(‘(lare(l 'lmt the land he lived in was so small In' could walk across it while the sun ro-e and set twice, and that it w.is (iitirelv smrminded by w a 1 er. “How. then." ventured the Wasp, “could you get here if there is water all about your home?" “That.” remarked tin* Turtle, “is

simple. I was brought by the giants in a floating nest.” In a glass box not far off* was a piece of dead tree. surrounded by a vast, motionless body, which the Wasp thought was a very brightly coloured grapevine. It was not, for presently, as the Bee buzzed before it. it moved. It was a snake. The Wasp had seen snakes large enough to capture and swallow squirrels, but this marvellous snake was nearly as thick through as a small eedar tree! And when the creature uncoiled itself it proved to be as long as a cedar trees is tall. Its eyes

were larger than ten bees standing with tlieir heads together, and its tongue was divided in two at the end and as iong as the creature’s head. The Wasp learned that the snake could fold itself about a man. a pony and a ealf and crush it to death. It could choke a horse, a cow or a fierce bull, and for its food it enjoyed a dog or a eat or a few rabbits swallo\ve<l whole. In another part of this new and strange land the Bee showed the Wasp a pure white bird like a chicken, whereupon the Wasp buzzed up angrily: “You rail that chicken a wonder. Why. it

has not even spurs.” ”Xo.” hummed the Bee. “but it is a marvel, for it lives in a land without trees, bushes or flowers, where it is always so cold that the snow is 40 times as deep as we ever saw the grass and where the iiiants burrow under it to k<-ep warm. This bird lives there in comfort, for its feet. Immlv. neck, head and bill are covered by thick feathers. A deep rufl of feathers i* upon each leg. a collar of feathers also about ts neck.” The Wasp about this time felt so very foolish that he refused to see more

wonders that day. So he ami the kind ly B<»e returne<l homeward. The wonderful ereatures which the Wasp saw are on exhibition in the Zoo. as a rule, ami are as follows: The Elephant, of Africa. The Ostrich, of Africa. The Apteryx, of Xew Zealand. ’flu* Cassowarv. of Ceram. East In dies. The Condor, of South America. The Giant Tortoise, of Galpagos Is lands. The Boer Constrictor, of Brazil. The Ptarmigan, or \rctic Pheasant.