Re: Bee goddesses?

From: Richard Hayes <richard_hayes29_at_pJmMP5yTr_s6BtRJfJtv_XX2CHufsQSTkDOJnoFieEOMRhizN9YOMk0u3SaN>
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:39:51 +0000 (GMT)


I like a lot of the ideas below.
 

FWIW here are my own initial ideas on the same subject.
 

In somewhere as myth-rich as Glorantha I think there should be at least one myth to justify the differences between bees and wasps, both of which are black with yellow stripes. Critically, bees make honey and bees die after they sting-- wasps don't. . Maybe there should be at least two, as the wasps and the bees probably have different takes on the same story, if not different stories?
 

Because wasps are black and yellow too (and have their own mythology,  e.g. the Wasp-riders of Dragon Pass) and wasps often have more yellow on them than bees (especially compared to the honey bees (mostly of Mexican descent) found in England), maybe it is too simplistic to say that bees' yellow or gold stripes denote some connection with Fire/Light? Or maybe this is still true, but there is a further twist in the tale to explain why bees and wasps are now so different?
 

If I remember correctly,there is a Gloranthan myth that vultures were once golden and beautiful, but were cursed by Yelm for not loyally following him to Hell. Is it therefore possible that bees were once from the sky rather than darkness, but Fell in some way (though not totally as they still have some gold stripes).
 

Two randon ideas have come to me:

Did they fall from the sky with Lodril? (honey, and mead made from honey, might be a bit too 'earthy' and hedonistic to stay in the Sky Realm for ever); and/or Did bees then get closer to Darkness (as slaves or allies) after Lodril was defeated by Argan Argar? and/or Did bees find protection with the Storm Tribe (via Minlister and/or Voria) after Yelm went to the Underworld?

Finally in the real world the beehive is sometimes used as a symbol of hard work, strong community spirit and civic pride (e.g. in Utah and in Manchester, England. They may even have a common source, as (iirc) many early Mormons hailed from the Northwest of England). Do any Gloranthan cities/cultures adopt similar imagery?
 

Richard Hayes

From: julianlord <julian.lord_at_FXlXz4fiTGVb6uVqCVgCJe0T9sydJQ418wjIJFqI0ikZ-o_xxmFkX1LRMbrBV8BmmFpfNcI6LdAZnAZV1A.yahoo.invalid> Subject: Re: Bee goddesses?
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, 18 March, 2010, 8:24

DD :

> It depends on whether they started as gold and got their black stripes, or started black and got gold stripes, doesn't it?

:)

RW bees are as far as I know black with the golden stripes added, but there is of course no reason why the Gloranthan bees should follow that pattern, nor why there couldn't be some that started black and others that started gold, nor why they shouldn't have started out as striped, nor various other possible origins stories...

Are they creatures of light that venture into darkness ? Are they old darkness creatures that have transcended their natures and learned to love the light ? Are they the product of a romantic love story between a darkness mother and a sun father ? Are they the result of a "Trickster Helps the Beetles" myth ? Are they all of the above ?

The story that I would like to tell would be that the bees were created at the Dawn, when the Lightbringers came to visit the Insect Tribes -- most of the insects feared the New Sun, and so they burrowed away into the ground and into the caves to find the sheltering darkness, but some tribes of the insects came forward and greeted the Lightbringers, and so they were rewarded with a place in the new world and with all the riches of the new growing flowers, and the secret of turning these into the sweet honey. If I made an Orlathi version, I'd make it part of the Voria myth cycle, so therefore appropriate for young children, and give it some fairytale like qualities ; possibly even Disney-like, with an Evil Dark Queen that the young Bee Princess (and her retinue of loyal handmaidens) must escape from, with the help of her brave and dashing young captain -- and they all lived happily ever after!

Anyway, just as in RW there are many species of bees and bee-like creatures, so I would expect Glorantha to provide various types of origins for them, not forgetting the special origins of the Giant Bees of course :)

Julian Lord

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