The QueenSamira SaidaniHanan Al-Karargy

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’ Nectar hated this song.Nectar the queen has beenlistening to this song forthe sixteen days of herchildhood; when she wasan egg, larvae and cocoon.’Dear little queen, come ongo to sleep to wake up earlyand lead the bees.»

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Her babysitters sung it toher while they were feedingher royal nectar, while theywere cleaning her, beforeshe went to sleep. Nectarhated this song from thehead and the knee andtoe and the wings andantennas. She had hadenough.

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’ Is this how I’ll spend therest of my life?’ Nectarmurmured. ’The only reasonI leave the hive is for ahoney moon or to lead mythousand family membersto a new hive? She observedthe worker bees as theylaughed and danced underthe sun. she saw theminhale the lovely smell oflavender. She envied themas they came back to thehive and told their friends

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about the flowers they’vevisited. ’They hover around,while all what I have to dois lay eggs.’ Nectar thoughtand thought.

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She was obsessed by theidea of running away. Shesaid with a sparkle in hereyes, ’There are lots ofwonderful things in life andI’ll explore them all.’ But herdistinguished smell, won’tallow to escape. Everyonewill smell her. Then she’llhave to leave naturallywithout extra buzzes. Shestood in the middle of thebig hive and announced,’My dear honey bees. I shall

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leave you today to searchfor a mate, and when I’mback I’ll lay my eggs andexpand the beehive.’

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«Goodbye your majesty,happy honeymoon.» «Yourscent shall remain to beamong us until you’reback.» The worker beeswept and sobbed as theybid the queen goodbye,but Nectar the queen hadher plans. She whispered,«You won’t ever see meagain and you won’t eversmell me again.» She smiledand said, «You’ll soon findyourselves a new queen to

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lead you while I enjoy mytime between almond treesand strawberries.» Then shewaved a royal wave and sheflapped her wings.

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She flew and flew andenjoyed the wonderfulscents and beautiful view.She danced and danced tillshe was hungry and tired.This is when nectar knockedon her head and said, «Ohmy goodness! I can’t believethat I went on a journey likethis without taking any foodwith me and I’m the onlyone that can’t make honey.»

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She decided to go back tothe beehive and take somehoney and run away again.She looked around. Didshe fly towards the sun orthe other way around? Didshe fly to the right or to theleft? She can’t rememberanything to help her wherethe beehive is. She didn’tattend this lecture. It’s nother job anyway. She turnedaround and flew away.

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She wondered if she she’llfind any clue to remind herof the way back home.

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A lovely smell tickled herantennas and made herdrool. It’s the wonderfulsmell of honey. She saw itclearly.

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«Yummy!» Nectar shouted.Then she darted like anarrow to eat some of it.She was sure that the childwouldn’t mind. Actually, herfriends are who made himthis honey in the first place.Nectar buzzed as she camecloser, but she heard themother hurrying towardsher son with a huge towel inher hands.

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She waved with the towel inthe air but it accidentally hitNectar. Nectar was terrifiedand she blasted of like arocket. She was shockedas she said, ’What is goingon here? Is all that for aspoonful of honey that wemade with our own bodies?!’

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she lost her energy becauseshe hadn’t eaten for a while.So, she flew slowly, untilshe smelled the scent of herfavorite flowers.

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Then she yelled, ’Lavenders.I must be approaching mybeehive! She hugged thelavenders and rested on itssoft leaves before movingon.

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Then she felt some slightvibrations that graduallybecame more intense.

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Suddenly she saw a tractoron its way to destroy all thelavenders one after anotheruntil it was her turn. Ohno! She screamed and flewaway as fast as her wingscould carry her.

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Suddenly she saw a tractoron its way to destroy all thelavenders one after anotheruntil it was her turn. Ohno! She screamed and flewaway as fast as her wingscould carry her.

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She survived with a miracle,but the heat of the tractorsmoke hurt her. NowNectar can hardly fly. NowNectar could hardly fly. Herstomach was screechingfrom hunger and her chestwas hurting her fromthe smell. She loweredher head and until shefinally managed to see herbeehive. She yelled, ’Hivesweet hive.’ She was soexcited and darted off to the

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hive.

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While she flew happily, shesmelled one of the mostterrible odor ever. When shestopped she found millionsof insects were runningaway as they screamed,«Insecticides, insecticides.Run for your lives»

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The insecticide truck wasspraying insecticideseverywhere. Nectarshouted, the beehive.

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The insecticide truck wasspraying insecticideseverywhere. Nectarshouted, the beehive.Suddenly she rememberedthe safety lectures shetook in the royal hive. Shesaid, ’I’ll have to run to thebeehive. There’s no time,and the worker bees won’tdo anything without theirqueen. instructions

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She blasted off like a rocketuntil she finally smelledher beehive. The workersalso smelled her so some ofthem went out to welcomeher. Once she saw them,she danced the immediateevacuation dance. The newsspread quickly and everyonewas ready for the immediateevacuation of the beehive.

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The bees flew in a greatswarm guided by theirqueen. And when all thebees come together, theycan do anything they want.

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The bees voted for a newplace for their beehive farfrom towels, tractors andinsecticides. They workedhard to build it and make itready.

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Nectar proudly said, Irescued my swarm. Savingmissions are much moreserious than having funcollecting nectar andmaking honey. I think I’m soproud of my own mission!

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THE END

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Original StoryThe Queen, author: Samira Saidani . illustrator: by Hanan Al-Karargy. Published by 3Asafeer,https://digitallibrary.io/en/books/details/1637 © 3Asafeer. Released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

This work is a modified version of the original story. © The Asia Foundation, 2019. Some rights reserved. Released under CCBY-NC-SA 4.0.

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