Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace.
- Date:
- [1983], ©1983
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: Prevention in family services : approaches to family wellness / edited by David R. Mace. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Guemey, Guerney, and Sebes [215] found he could understand everything the bee was saying! But he didn't much like what he heard: You laz-zy good-for-nothing boy, waz-zting z-zuch a beautiful z-zummer day! Forgive me, Mr. Bee, hesaid, butdon'tyouthinkyou're being— sorry, no pun intended in that—rather harsh in judging me lazy so quickly. After all, we've only just met. In fact, we haven't really met at all—my name is Billy, and yours is . . . ? Mr. Bee will do juz-zt fine. I don't have time to waz-zte on formalitiez-z. I've got all z-zortz-z of work to do today. In fact, I don't know why I'm taking the time to talk to you. Except that I z-zaw you reading Dr. Dolittle and I met him once. I was very imprez-zed. In fact, it was from him that I learned that people read and write. Bez-zidez-z, you're z-zitting practically on top of the flower from which I had come to get nectar. Well, said Billy, Dr. Dolittle is my favorite fictional character, and I'm honored to meet a friend of his. Would you tell me now, why do you say I'm lazy? Don't you think it's okay for a boy my age—I'm not even in my teens—to spend some time relaxing, enjoying nature, and reading a good book? Don't you do such things? I don't enjoy nature, said the bee, I am nature. And it's not natural to read. But itz-z all very well, I'd z-zay, for you to read a book if that's what gives you a buzz, but you should read late in the evening or on a Z-zunday. Now it'z-z the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. You should be doing az-z I'm doing—or waz-z doing 'til you got in my way. You should be out working, helping your mother and father earn a living. In a beez-z lifez-zpan, I'm far younger than you are; z-zo I don't z-zee that being a young boy haz-z any thing to do with it. Oh, said Billy, I think I understand why you feel as you do. As you said, you are nature. So work comes to you naturally. You know how to work without having to be taught. I guess this will seem very, very strange to you, but I don't know how to help my family earn a living. To prepare for the kind of work grown-ups do in my world, I have to go to a place—it's called a school—for many, many years to learn all kinds of things—especially reading, writing, and arithmetic— in order to do the kind of work that will earn a proper living. By the time I learn all I should know, I'll be just about old enough to start having children of my own. Well, said the bee, I think I do understand better now. Your world certainly iz-z vaz-ztly different than mine. Imagine, having to](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18037604_0218.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
