Didier was in the garden, playing with his toys on the grass. Didier liked it in the garden: it was warm and sunny and he liked the brightly-coloured flowers.

Suddenly, Didier saw something moving in the flowers. He went to have a closer look.

It was a bee! He could tell because it had yellow and black stripes and was buzzing loudly.

Didier was a bit scared of the bee, because Mummy had told him they could sting. She saw him looking at the bee and held his hand. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It won’t sting you if you don’t upset it.”

Sure enough, the bee didn’t seem bothered by Didier. It certainly didn’t look as though it would hurt him.

“Hello, bee,” said Didier. The bee buzzed a little bit louder, and as Didier listened, he was sure he could hear words in amongst the buzzing.

“Hello, Didier,” said the bee. “How are you?”

Didier was quite surprised to hear the bee talk, but Daddy had taught him to be polite. “I am very well,” he told the bee. “How are you?”

“I am well, but quite tired,” said the bee. “It’s hard work collecting all the nectar from the flowers to make honey. Sometimes I wish I could just sit down and relax for a while.”

Didier thought for a moment.

“I could make you somewhere to sit down,” he said, “and give you some sugar to eat. We could be friends.”

“That might be nice,” said the bee.

So Didier went and asked his mother for a little jar. Then he asked her for some sugar to put in the jar for the bee to eat.

“I will make some holes in the lid of the jar so that the bee can breathe,” said Mummy. “And I will mix the sugar with some water so that the bee can eat it. But you can’t keep it very long. Bees should fly about, not sit in jars.”

“I will just let him have some sugar and a sit down,” promised Didier.

So Didier put the jar down. The bee flew into it, and Didier quickly put the lid on the jar. The bee started eating the sugar. “This is delicious,” buzzed the bee happily.

Then it was time to for Didier to go inside and have his own dinner. So he did, taking the bee in the jar with him.

##

The next morning, Didier had to go to school. The bee was still in the jar, but it didn’t look very happy. He carefully opened one side of the jar a little bit and dropped in some more sugar for it. It started eating the sugar, but it didn’t say anything.

“You had better let that bee out before you go off to school,” said Mummy.”Be careful it doesn’t sting you! It might not be very happy when you open the jar.”

“I will,” promised Didier. But he liked having the bee to look at, and wanted to show it to his friend Etienne. So he didn’t let it go after all.

Instead, he put the jar in his school-bag and went off to catch the school-bus.

Didier didn’t take the bee out of his bag during lessons. He thought he might get told off if the teacher saw it. She might even take the bee away. Instead, he kept it a secret.

While Didier was putting on his coat to go out at playtime, he told Etienne about the bee.

“Let me see,” said Etienne. “Is it a big bee? Aren’t you scared to have it in your bag?”

“I am a bit scared,” said Didier, “but it seems quite a friendly bee, and it can’t get out of the jar.” He opened up his bag and took the jar out.

The bee was quiet. It sat on top of the sugar, waving its antennae about gently. Etienne looked at it with big eyes. “Wow,” he said. “I think you’re very brave,” he said. “I wouldn’t dare keep a bee in my bag. What if the jar was to break?”

“He wouldn’t hurt me,” said Didier. “He is my friend.”

Etienne didn’t look very convinced. “I think you should let him go,” he said.

Just then, Nicolas came over. Didier and Etienne didn’t like Nicolas very much. He was loud and rough and rude and sometimes he pushed people over in the playground.

Nicolas had often pushed Didier over, and he had once taken Didier’s pencil case away and refused to give it back. Didier sometimes wished that Nicolas would just go away and not come to school any more, but he always did.

“What’s that?” asked Nicolas. He was quite a lot bigger than Didier and he stood very close.

“It’s nothing important,” said Didier, hiding the jar behind his back.

“Then you won’t mind showing me,” said Nicolas.

Didier didn’t want to show Nicolas, but he was afraid that Nicolas might push him over. So he brought the jar out from behind his back.

“Bzzz!” said the bee.

To his surprise, Nicolas jumped backwards and almost fell over!

“No! Don’t bring it near me!” said Nicolas. “Don’t let it sting me! I’m scared of bees!”

Didier thought for a moment. “Well,” he said, “I won’t, so long as you leave me and Etienne alone from now on.”

“I promise,” said Nicolas.

Didier smiled to himself. He was happy that his friend the bee had helped him to scare off Nicolas.

“He won’t bother us again,” Didier said to Etienne.

“No,” said Etienne. “But I don’t think it’s very nice to scare people to make them leave you alone.”

“Don’t be such a goody-two-shoes,” said Didier. The bee made him feel big and strong. Nobody would dare to make fun of him or push him about as long as he had the bee with him.

##

The next morning, Didier put the jar with the bee in his schoolbag again. The bee was still eating the sugar he dropped in through the lid, but it still didn’t say anything to him. He wondered if he might have imagined it talking to begin with.

During classes, Didier worried that his teacher might find out about the bee. He made sure it was well hidden in his bag. He didn’t want to get in trouble.

At playtime, he took his put the jar with the bee in the pocket of his coat. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good place for a bee, he thought, what with all the bumping as he ran about in the playground, but it made him feel safe. Nicolas wouldn’t bother him as long as he had the bee.

To Didier’s surprise, though, Nicolas came straight over almost as soon as he and Etienne were outside.

“Hey! Didier!” shouted Nicolas.

“What do you want?” said Didier. “I told you to leave me and Etienne alone.”

“You still got that bee?” asked Nicolas.

“I have,” said Didier, “so you better leave us alone.”

“I don’t think this is a very good idea,” said Etienne.

“Well, look here,” said Nicolas and he pulled a jar out of his own coat pocket. In it was another bee. It looked a lot like Didier’s bee, but it was buzzing angrily around inside the jar.

“I thought you were scared of bees,” said Etienne.

“I was,” said Nicolas, “but if a baby like Didier can keep one I can too.”

Didier felt scared. He pulled out his own jar, with his bee in it. His bee was just nibbling at today’s sugar, so he shook the jar a little until it jumped up in the air and started buzzing about.

“Don’t come near me!” he said to Nicolas.

“What if I do?” sneered Nicolas.

“I’ll let my bee out,” said Didier, “and he’ll sting you.” To show that he meant it, he took hold of the lid and made ready to unscrew it.

“Oh yeah?” said Nicolas. “Well, I’ll let my bee out and he’ll sting you.” And he made to open his jar, too.

“Stop it!” said Etienne. “One of you is going to get hurt!”

“Shut up, Etienne,” said Didier.

“Shut up, Etienne,” said Nicolas.

Nicolas started walking towards Didier, waving his jar about. Nicolas’ bee buzzed even more angrily.

“You’d better stop,” said Didier. But Nicolas kept coming.

Didier tried to tighten up the lid of his jar and run away. But in his panic, he turned the lid the wrong way. It came off the jar and his bee flew out, zigzagging through the air. It didn’t seem happy at all.

Nicolas gave a scream as Didier’s bee came towards him, and stumbled backwards. And as he did, he dropped his own jar. It smashed on the ground, and Nicolas’ bee escaped.

Now there were two bees buzzing about, and Didier and Nicolas were ducking and diving, trying to avoid them. Didier thought that his bee wouldn’t hurt him, but then he realized that he didn’t know which bee was his any more.

In all the confusion, he and Nicolas ran straight into each other with a bang! And then they were both sitting on the ground.

“Ow!” said Didier.

“Ow!” said Nicolas.

“Ow!” said Etienne. And then he said “Ow!” again. And then “Ow! Ow! OW! OW! OW!”

Didier looked over and he saw that both bees had stung Etienne, who was holding his arms and crying. And he felt very bad indeed, because it wasn’t fair that the bees should have stung Etienne, who had done nothing wrong.

“Why did you do that?” he shouted at the bees. “It wasn’t Etienne’s fault! He didn’t do anything to you!”

The bees buzzed fiercely. Didier couldn’t tell which one was his, but he started to hear words in their buzzing.

“We’re just bees,” the buzzing said. “We’re just doing what bees do. If you didn’t want this to happen, you shouldn’t have kept us in jars in the first place.” And with that, they flew off.

“I’m sorry, Etienne,” said Didier, and now he was crying too. Nicolas was still sitting on the ground with his mouth open. Then he got up and ran away.

##

Didier was in the garden again, playing with his toys on the lawn. He was quite sad, because he had been hoping that Etienne would let him come round and play. But Etienne’s parents were still cross about the bees and wouldn’t let him come round. Didier wondered if they would ever be friends again.

There was a rustling in the flowers, and Didier went to see what it was.

It was a bee. Didier couldn’t tell if it was the same bee as before, but then as he listened to it, he could hear words in its buzzing.

“Hello Didier,” said the bee. “I’m sorry about the mistake I made before. But perhaps we can be friends again? I promise that this time I’ll be more careful.”

Didier thought for a minute. “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t think we were really friends in the first place. You just wanted to be fed, instead of finding your own food. And I just wanted you to scare people, instead of talking to them. We can’t play together, or go to school together. So I don’t think we can really be friends.”

“I see,” said the bee, and it flew away.

Didier sat back down on the lawn and looked at his toys. And when he looked up, there was Etienne! He had come into the garden while Didier was looking at the flowers.

He had two sticking plasters on his arms — one over each of the bee-stings — but he looked happy to see Didier. And Didier was very happy to see him: he jumped up and gave him a big hug.

“I’m sorry about the bees,” said Didier.

“That’s all right,” said Etienne. “Can we play with your toys on the lawn?”

“Yes, that would be fun!” said Didier.

And so they did. ##