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NUOVA
or THE NEW BEE
A Story for Children of Five to Fifty by
VERNON KELLOGG
With Songs by CHARLOTTE KELLOGG
Illustrated by Milo Winter
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Boston and New York
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY VERNON KELLOGG AND HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TO JEAN WHO IS FIVE
"Nuova, I love you"]
PREFATORY NOTE
Most of this that I have written about bees is true: what is not, doesnot pretend to be. Some of the true part sounds almost like adescription of what human life might in some respects be, if certainsocial movements of to-day were followed out to their logical extreme. Isuppose that in this likeness lies the moral of the book.
V. K.
CONTENTS
I. Nuova Appears 1
II. Nuova's First Experiences 7
III. Nuova as Nurse 16
IV. Nuova sees Some Other Things Done 29
V. Nuova sees Bee Moth and gets acquainted with Beffa 44
VI. Nuova and Hero, and the Birth of the Princess 60
VII. Nuova goes Outside 78
VIII. Nuova and Hero again, and a Battle 93
IX. Hero and Nuova once more, and the Great Courting Chase 106
X. Nuova in the Beautiful Garden 115
XI. Hero finds Nuova in the Garden 130
XII. The Happy Ending 142
ILLUSTRATIONS
"Nuova, I love you" _Colored Frontispiece_
The beginning of a new life for Nuova 4
Industriously cleaning the floor 12
"I am so tired," replied poor Nuova 26
She would like that kind of work 32
"What?" she cried. "Well, you really are a stupid bee" 42
"The stupid one! The faithless one!" 48
"Drones work? It isn't done, you know" 62
There came slowly forth ... the new Princess 74
"Beffa, you are sad," said Saggia 80
Nuova began to clean his wings 96
Nuova was among the fallen 104
In the Garden 116
Beffa settled down comfortably 128
"The Princess is lost!" 146
THE NAMES OF THE BEES
As all the bees of this story are Italian bees, they all, except one,have Italian names. And they should really be spoken as the Italiansspeak them. Besides, they are prettier that way. Therefore, a list ofthem, with the proper way to pronounce them, is given here.