There was
a very skillful seamstress in the court who knew how to do this kind
of work, although no one except the Princess Rosetta was allowed to
wear a flower-cloth gown to the Bee Festival. She wore also a little
white violet cap, and two of her nurses carried her between them in a
little basket lined with rose and apple-leaves.
All the company, as they danced along, sang, or played on flutes, or
rang little glass and silver bells. Nobody except the King and Queen
rode. They rode cream-colored ponies, with silken ropes wound with
flowers for bridle-reins.
The Bee Festival was held in a beautiful park a mile distant from the
city. The young grass there was green and velvety, and spangled
all over with fallen apple and cherry and peach and plum and pear
blossoms; for the park was set with fruit-trees in even rows. The blue
sky showed between the pink and white branches, and the air was very
sweet and loud with the humming of bees. The trees were all full of
bees. There was something peculiar about the bees of this country;
none of them had stings.
When the court reached the park, they all tinkled their bells in time,
whistled on their flutes, and sang a song which they always sang on
these occasions. Then they played games and enjoyed themselves. They
played hide-and-seek among the trees, and formed rings and danced.
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