A Hymn for Her

Dec 10, 2008

Did you catch the  "The Burns and the Bees" episode on The Simpsons Sunday night?

Dead honey bees take over the otherwise animated TV show. 

Bart, on a dare from schoolyard bullies, knocks a bee's nest from a tree and it lands kerplop on the playground. Bart's sister Lisa pounces on it to save the would-be targets--a group of second graders--from painful stings.

But all the bees are dead.

Then Lisa visits a beekeeper and he shows her a carpet of bees.

They're dead. All the bees are dead.

The hymn, "Amazing Grace," plays soulfully in the background.

Next scene: Lisa is determined to save the last remaining colony of bees in Springfield.  However,  billionaire Mr. Burns is determined to erect a professional basketball stadium at the very site where Lisa's "saved" bees are.

What happens next? If you didn't catch the episode, be sure to watch it on www.hulu.com or You Tube.

We humans rarely see dead bees. The "undertaker bees" quickly and methodically remove them from the hive. I captured this photo last summer as three workers bees prepared to remove their fallen sister.

Where was the hymn for her? Where's Lisa?

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound...


By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Author - Communications specialist

Attached Images:

THE DEAD BEE--Worker bees prepare to remove their dead sister (far left) from the hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Dead Bee