"The Mother Hive" is a short story or fable by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

about the decline and destruction of a hive of bees. It was published first in ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' in the US on 28 November 1908. Later in December of the same year, it was published in the ''

Windsor Magazine ''The Windsor Magazine'' was a monthly illustrated publication produced by Ward Lock & Co from January 1895 to September 1939 (537 issues). The title page described it as "An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women". It was bound as six-monthly ...

'' in the UK with a title of the "Adventures of Melissa".

Plot summary

Their downfall begins when, in a moment of carelessness, the guardians of the hive allow it to be infiltrated by a

lesser wax moth The lesser wax moth (''Achroia grisella'') is a small moth of the snout moth family ( Pyralidae) that belongs to the subfamily Galleriinae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794. Adults are about 0.5 inches (13&nb ...

, ''Achroia grisella''. When her eggs hatch, the larvae devour honey and wax and undermine the structure of the hive, which leads to even worse problems. More and more bees are hatched with freakish deformities. Honoured traditions collapse. The only hope for salvation is hatching and rearing a secret clandestine princess.

Footnotes

1908 short stories Short stories by Rudyard Kipling Fables Works originally published in Collier's {{1900s-story-stub