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Speaker A: Sa:ga:ḍe ta:ri hu:
Speaker B: A:ga ra:tri uve je: nu kuiya:du]
Speaker A: The bees do another thing—it should be a totally cloudless night. There
needs to be moonlight. When it’s a moonlit night, the bees get to work. The
hejje:nu does this; tuḍuve je: nu also does this.
Speaker B: At that time, just the sa:gaḍe fl ower is in bloom, and no other.
Speaker A: The sa:gaḍe and ta:ri fl owers.
Speaker B: The bees forage then, at night.
Speaker A: Je:nu eshṭu hu: me:le kelsa ma:ḍiddado, ashṭu hu: senda:gi phala koḍutte.
Je:nu ya:va maradalliyo, marada hu:gaḷa me:leyo, athava saṇṇa sette,
saṇṇa giḍagaḷa me:leyo, adu ondu ba:ri eraḍu ba:ri hu:vina me:le ku:tidare
adu phala ja:sti baratte.
Speaker B: I:ga ra:gi tene—ra:gi hu: banda:della, a: hu:ge eshṭu je: nu ku:tatto, ashṭella
oḷḷe ka:ḷu a:godde.
Speaker A: E:kandale ya:va hu:viga uve adakka gaṇḍa illa ante. Hu:vina me:le ya:va
siṭṭe noṇa ho:gi ku:tado, adutte gaṇḍa, a: hu:vige. A:va:ga phala ja:sti...
Ya:va hu:vina me:le je: nu illavo, a: hu: ka:yi buḍalla... Siṭṭe gaḷu ira
bahudu, dumbi gaḷu ira bahudu. I:ga avare ha:kirtivi na:vu. Jami:ninalli
tumba avare ide namage. A:va:ga ondu sari hu: buḍutte, avare hu:. Alli
no:ḍadakke ho:dare bari dumbigaḷe ja:sti.
Speaker B: A: dumbi avare hu:va kuiya:ge. Kari dumbi adu. Ishṭo dumbi hu:va kuidattu
enda:ga varshadalli santoshada avare!... Avare hu:viga dumbiye gaṇḍa. I:ga,
obba hengisu. Hengisiga gaṇḍu ho:gi muṭṭida me:le tane phala baradu. A:
tara. Heṇṇu gaṇḍu a:da:ga tane magu huṭṭadu. A:ga dumbiyo thuḍuve noṇavo
alli ku:ta:ga bemmansi a:goitade.
Speaker A: I:ga ju:nu tingaḷalli sakkat honne hu: buḍutte. Honne hu:vigave ondu tarada
je: nu kaṭṭutte. Honne hu:vina je:nu adu.
Speaker B: Hesare ade honne hu:vina je: nu enduru.
Speaker A: Honne hu: me:le a: je: nu bandu kelsa ma:ḍdare a: mara ja:sti honne ka:yi
buḍutte.
Speaker B: O:! I:ga no:ḍe be:ku i:ge ade honne ka:yi! O:hohoho! Adu enta phala
koḍa:du adu... Onde hu:va buḍalla je: nu , je:nu muccidade.
Speaker A: All the fl owers that bees work on go on to produce good crops of fruit. No
matter what plant—be it the fl owers of trees, or small herbs, or small plants—
if bees sit on them once or twice, they yield a lot of fruit.
Speaker B: Take ra:gi infl orescences—if even a few bees sit on them, they will give a
good harvest of grain.
Speaker A: Because it is said that there are no males among fl owers. The butterfl ies and
other bugs that go and sit on fl owers themselves become the males for those
fl owers. That’s when you get many fruit. A fl ower that is not visited by a bee
will not bear fruit. It could also be butterfl ies, or beetles/other insects. We
plant beans, for instance. We have many bean plants in the ground. At a
particular time, bean fl owers blossom on these plants. If you go and take a
look then, you’ll see lots of large bugs on the fl owers.
Speaker B: Those bugs are foraging from the bean fl owers. They’re black beetles (soli-
tary bees?). If you see a lot of these bugs on the plants, that means a bumper
harvest of beans that year! The bugs are the males for the bean fl owers.
Consider, a woman. She bears fruit only after a man goes and touches her.
That’s how it is. It’s only after they’re together that a child is born. So when
a beetle or a honeybee goes and sits (on the fl ower), (the fl ower) becomes
pregnant.
Speaker A: Now, the honne fl owers bloom in large numbers in June. A particular kind of
bee is found on honne fl owers. That’s the honne -fl ower-bee.7 Honeybee Lore