It was now the latter end of April, when the thorn is in blossom, violets and primroses also decorate the hedges, and the hypatica, and polyanthus "of unnumbered dyes," already appeared in the gardens; but very few leaves were yet on the trees, though the buds were bursting, and many of the fruit-trees were in full bloom; to these our little wanderer winged his way, and as he flew from blossom to blossom, and from one branch to the other, he could not but acknowledge with regret that his limbs felt cold, and very different from the vigour they possessed the former summer. He wished to attribute it to his having been kept so long within the hive, but a sudden blast soon checked his ardour; a shivering came over him, and a drowsiness, which he could not account for, succeeded; presently a pelting shower obliged him to creep for shelter into a wall, against which the trees were nailed, and here he began to see his error; "Can I go back again?" said he; "Ah! no, they will not receive me; my absence is by this time known, and I am never to be admitted more. Oh, my mother! would that I had followed your counsel!" He had scarcely spoken these words, when a mist spread itself before his eyes; his breath appeared failing, and he found himself still more inclined to sleep, yet instinct told him that in such a state to give way to the inclination was dangerous; he feared the cold would seize him while insensible, and his life must pay for it, but all his efforts to keep himself awake were vain; the rain continued so, that he could not get out to use his wings, and at length lost to all recollection, he sunk stupid and senseless to the bottom of his retreat. How long he continued in this torpid state I cannot say, but his friends he had left, after anxiously expecting his return from day to day, and being disappointed, gave him up for lost; and though he often awoke during his confinement, it was only to a keener sense of his misery; his limbs were still too stiff to move, his eyes dim, and each time that he closed them to return to sleep, (now the only alleviation of his sorrows,) he concluded he should never open them again: he breathed a sigh of regret on the remembrance of the home he had quitted, and would gladly have returned, and in the presence of the whole community acknowledge his rashness; but alas! he could not now move a wing: yet as the warm weather came on, he felt himself revive beyond his hopes: he could look out from the place of his confinement, and though not so ardent in his expectations as a few weeks before, he began again to feel a pleasure in the rays of the sun, and to anticipate a future enjoyment of them. "I shall not die," said he to himself, "but shall yet be able to accomplish my desire, and shew myself an industrious Bee."