Home > Author > Laline Paull
1 " Awestruck, Flora stared at the dishevelled sisters with their blazing faces and radiant ragged wings, who smelled of no kin but the wild high air. "
― Laline Paull , The Bees
2 " The man stood alone by the hive. On impulse he put his palm against the wood, as if feeling for a pulse. "
3 " The green began to seethe. "
4 " 717! You are behaving like a demented bluebottle - stop that! "
5 " Flora took pleasure in the delicacy of her approach and studied the ways of the smallest, sweetest blooms she could find, tiny pimpernels and forget-me-nots hiding in the pockets of the fields. The energy of the sun on her body and the joy of foraging filled her soul. She flew the fields and gathered until the light began to fade and she heard the sound of her forager sisters' wings turning for home. Then she joined them. "
6 " You have wings and courage and a brain. Do not annoy me by asking permission." Lily 500 in The Bees "
7 " Then kindly recall that variation is not the same as deformity. "
8 " The beech leaves surged and shimmered in the wind. Far below, a vixen paused to stare up, then melted away. Stars burned tiny holes in the twilight and then a pale moon traced a slow silver arc through the sky. "
9 " The bee’s life is like a magic well: the more you draw from it, the more it fills with water. —KARL VON FRISCH "
10 " her face no longer strange, but a new epitome of beauty. "
11 " You wept," he said. "I heard you. Are you sick?""For love," Flora said. "
12 " She gazed out into the darkness, waiting. "
13 " They continued deeper into the hive, Flora entranced by its carved and frescoed walls of ancient scent and the beautiful blend of her living sisters. "
14 " But her sport was not over. Again and again she chose a noble drone to capture her on the wing, and again and again she sent his body spinning down to the earth, empty of dronesong and missing that part she kept. "
15 " the same. "
16 " The Hive Mind lifted their dream up into the blue and blazing air of summer, where the foragers swooped in daring and elegant flight. It took the bees down to the flowers in a kaleidoscope of beauty and wonder as if the foragers shared their skills, dreaming how to pack a pannier with rapid economy, how to tickle a flower to yield the sweetest nectar, and how to watch where the hoverflies gathered to tell that air was safe from Myriad....The Cluster buzzed as it released its anxiety, and then every kin relaxed their minds and their knowledge poured out with joyful abandon, sharing detail after detail of their beloved communal life. The Hive Mind absorbed it all, and enlarged. "
17 " In the empty lobby outside the Dance Hall she paused to scent the air from the landing board. The orchard was sweet and cool in the rising dawn, and the rain had almost stopped. The comb began to thrum as the hive awoke and the multitude of sisters began moving. Once desperate to be out on the wing, Flora no longer wanted to forage, only to be still and breather sweet wax.The egg in her belly glowed bright inside her like a tiny sun. "
18 " Variation is not the same as deformity "
