MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-2

[4615] 11. What had become of my hens, my bees? [4616] Was my grey hen still
living?

[4617] 12. Zulu, the Elsner sisters, were they still living?

[4618] 14³. Was Youdi's business address still 8, Acacia Square? [4619] What if
I wrote to him? [4620] What if I went to see him? [4621] I would explain to him.
[4622] What would I explain to him? [4623] I would crave his forgiveness. [4624] Forgiveness for what?

[4625] 15⁴. Was not the winter exceptionally severe?

[4626] 15. How long had I gone now without either confession or communion?

[4627] 16. What was the name of the martyr who, being in prison, loaded
with chains, covered with wounds and vermin, unable to stir, celebrated
the consecration on his stomach and gave himself absolution?

[4628] 17. What would I do until my death? [4629] Was there no means of
hastening this, without falling into a state of sin?

[4630] But before I launch my body properly so-called across these icy,
then, with the thaw, muddy solitudes, I wish to say that I often thought
of my bees, more often than of my hens, and God knows I thought often of
my hens. [4631] And I thought above all of their dance, for my bees danced,
oh not as men dance, to amuse themselves, but in a different way. [4632] I
alone of all mankind knew this, to the best of my belief.

[4633] I had
investigated this phenomenon very fully. [4634] The dance was best to be
observed among the ^[⁁]bees returning to the hive, laden more or less with nectar,
and it involved a great variety of figures and rhythms. [4635] These evolutions
I finally interpreted as a system of signals by means of which the incoming
bees, satisfied or dissatisfied with their plunder, informed the outgoing
companions bees in what direction to go, and in what not to go.

[4636] But the
outgoing bees danced too. [4637] It was no doubt their way of saying, I understand,
or, Don't worry about me. [4638] But away from the hive, and busily at work, the
bees did not dance. [4639] Here their watchword seemed to be, Every man for