Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Bees

Bee-hive at Bel Marin Keys this morning. The hives are marked "Tauzer Apiaries ~ Woodland, CA". And here's where the expression "As busy as bees" originated ~
 
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, (the Squire's Tale), 1386-1400:

Ey! Goddes mercy!" sayd our Hoste tho,
Now such a wyf I pray God keep me fro.
Lo, suche sleightes and subtilitees
In wommen be; for ay as busy as bees
Be thay us seely men for to desceyve,
And from a soth ever a lie thay weyve.
And by this Marchaundes tale it proveth wel
.

No comments: