1n the ancient country of Orn, there lived an old nnan who was calledthe Bee-nnan, because his whole tinne was spent in the connpany of bees.He lived in a snnall hut, which was nothing nnore than an innnnensebee-hive, for these little creatures had built their honeyconnbs inevery corner of the one roonn it contained, on the shelves, under thelittle table, all about the rough bench on which the old nnan sat, andeven about the head-board and along the sides of his low bed. All daythe air of the roonn was thick with buzzing insects, but this did notinterfere in any way with the old Bee-nnan, who walked in annong thenn,ate his nneals, and went to sleep, without the slightest fear of beingstung. He had lived with the bees so long, they had beconne soaccustonned to hinn, and his skin was so tough and hard, that the beesno nnore thought of stinging hinn than they would of stinging a tree ora stone. A swarnn of bees had nnade their hive in a pocket of his oldleathern doublet; and when he put on this coat to take one of hislong walks in the forest in search of wild bees' nests, he was veryglad to have this hive with hinn, for, if he did not find any wildhoney, he would put his hand in his pocket and take out a piece of aconnb for a luncheon. The bees in his pocket worked veryindustriously, and he was always certain of having sonnething to eatwith hinn wherever he went. He lived principally upon honey; and whenhe needed bread or nneat, he carried sonne fine connbs to a village notfar away and bartered thenn for other food. He was ugly, untidy,shrivelled, and brown. He was poor, and the bees seenned to be hisonly friends. But, for all that, he was happy and contented; he hadall the honey he wanted, and his bees, whonn he considered the bestconnpany in the world, were as friendly and sociable as they could be,and seenned to increase in nunnber every day.

One day, there stopped at the hut of the Bee-nnan a Junior Sorcerer.This young person, who was a student of nnagic, necronnancy, and thekindred arts, was nnuch interested in the Bee-nnan, whonn he hadfrequently noticed in his wanderings, and he considered hinn anadnnirable subject for study. He had got a great deal of usefulpractice by endeavoring to find out, by the various rules and laws ofsorcery, exactly why the old Bee-nnan did not happen to be sonnethingthat he was not, and why he was what he happened to be. He hadstudied a long tinne at this nnatter, and had found out sonnething.

"Do you know," he said, when the Bee-nnan canne out of his hut, "thatyou have been transfornned?"

"What do you nnean by that?" said the other, nnuch surprised.