Once upon a time there was a boy called Elijah who loved nature. Every day, he played in the garden: climbing trees, looking for hidden treasures and planting vegetables and flowers with his mum. Sometimes, together with his siblings, he would build a teepee in the local forest or play hide and seek.
One day, while picking juicy strawberries in the garden, he noticed a bee in the grass. She, for all the worker bees are female, moved in a strange way as if she wanted to fly but couldn't. Elijah quickly understood that the bee was tired and in desperate need of help, otherwise it would perish. The little insect needed more energy if it was ever to take off again. Elijah ran back to his house leaving his mum puzzled and surprised by his sudden disappearance. The proactive boy found honey, ran back to the garden and fed a drop of it to the bee. Next, he prepared a mini water station so that the tiny pollinator could quench her thirst and gather some more strength. The caring boy nursed the bee for another four hours keeping an eye on her recovery. 
Elijah got delighted each time he noticed the bee moving more naturally. The friendly insect started flying at some point and when she gained confidence in her own strength she sat for the last time on Elijah's arm. The boy beamed at seeing the bee fully recovered. He offered her another sip of water and a tiny drop of honey and the little pollinator took to the air. Before she left, the bee flew a couple of circles around the boy as if expressing her gratitude towards him. Then, the friendly insect flew away, back to her hive. The boy shed a few tears seeing his new friend leave, wondering if he would ever see her again. He got rather fond of her, you see.
From that day on, Elijah wondered whether the bee remembered him and ever visited his garden. Each time he saw one sitting on a flower he asked himself if that was his friend. Many weeks later on a beautiful summer's day, a swarm of bees entered the garden and ceremoniously flew in a circle above the boy's head. A minute later, the largest of the bees approached Elijah and sat on his hand to his astonishment but not fear!
- 'I'm the queen bee,' said she and paused for effect.
Then, the insect queen continued with her speech 'I know that you saved one of my precious beautiful worker bees in spring. I am forever grateful to you for your kindness. In fact, we all are. So, in our gratitude, we thought that we would give you our most guarded treasure - propolis and honey - so you can always be smiley, healthy and happy. Please build two beehives for us and we will come and settle here in your garden,' proposed the monarch.
'Why, thank you! That's ever so generous of you. I'll gladly build beehives for you if you'd like to move into my garden. There are so many flowers here every year, you will be well at home,' replied the boy smiling, then, added more shyly 'and I do love honey!'
'In nature we are all connected, we are all one,' commented the royal. 'You help us, we help others and so on. You never know how and when this act of kindness will come back to you. Thank you for being our hero, Elijah.' The queen concluded and bowed to the mesmerised with this tribute boy. She flew away only to be back the following spring once the beehives were ready.
