🎧 Bedtime Story Podcast #32
Audio version:
The Nectar Within
“Ah Damn! Come on! Oh for goodness’ sake!”
Jake had had enough. He was totally fed up. He buzzed on to the grass and sat there, fuming.
John turned up, along with Jenny.
“What’s the trouble?” asked Jenny.
“I can’t find any nectar at all,” sighed Jake. “I’ve been flying round looking for it for ages and still there is nothing to be seen!”
Jake was an unusual kind of bee. He was strange compared to the others. He felt like he was different to the rest. All the other bees seemed to think far less than he did, and weren’t worried about so much. The other bees were far more simple, but far more happy. Jake was convinced that all his thinking helped him, since he could compare things, analyse things, even create new things sometimes…but he did not feel happy.
“But there is nectar everywhere,” said John, bemused by the situation, “where have you been looking?”
“All round the outside of these flowers,” said Jake. “I feel like I’ve gone to every one, but nothing!”
“No, no,” giggled Jenny, innocently, “you have to go inside.”
“Inside?”
“Yes, that’s where all the nectar is. But if you are all worried looking around the outside, then you will only get a few scraps at best. The real nectar is within. The outside of the plant and flower is fine, they are beautiful, but go inside. Try it.”
“Ah! Ok!” said Jake, renewed with enthusiasm.
He flew up from the grass and dove straight inside the nearest flower. He was desperate now, and he was buzzing around so fast that he couldn’t see anything.
“Where’s the nectar then?!” he yelled out to his friends.
His two friends watched on, looking at how restless and impatient Jake had become. He was trying too hard, trying so hard to get the nectar that he could not notice it. It was all around him but he could not see it. He was too busy buzzing, moving, imagining where it would be and what it would be like when he finally got that precious nectar!
“Stop trying!” called Jenny, but Jake would not listen. Not trying would mean the nectar would never come. He was determined, and he continued to seek.
“No, you don’t get it,” said John, from outside, “just stop. Just don’t do anything.”
“Don’t do anything?” thought Jake. “Madness, what good ever came from doing nothing? I’m not even sure that’s possible.”
The day went on and Jake would not stop. He began searching even harder, becoming even more restless, feeling he must just not be doing it right.
Jake and Jenny had been telling him to just stop, but he could not hear them anymore. Now they had gone home.
Jake was thinking of every possible way to get his nectar, but nothing was working. He had looked outside and inside, and still there was nothing. “Is there even such thing as nectar?” he began to wonder. He had grown so exhausted and frustrated, and eventually was forced to admit defeat. After his long period of sustained effort, he was forced to surrender. He simply had to give up.
All his activities stopped. He didn’t even want the nectar anymore. “Perhaps I’ll stop, if just for a moment,” he decided. He could hear the birds in the trees, his friends around outside. How beautiful it was, actually. He was actually enjoying himself, just sitting there a moment, no longer so concerned with how much nectar he could or could not find.
Then he noticed something. He noticed that surrounding him, embracing him, was his beloved, sweet nectar. It was so full of richness and beauty, and it had been there the whole time! How simple. So simple, he could barely believe it.
He flew home, where he saw John and Jenny. He felt so relieved, so happy.
“Ah, so you found the nectar,” concluded John, seeing the look on Jake’s face.
“Maybe it found me,” smiled Jake.
Story written and read in English by Adam Oakley, Copyright © Adam Oakley
Adam Oakley Books 