Transcript for Parent Storytellers
On a sunny spring morning in the garden behind Oni Pepperoni’s house, a little bee named Buzzy was buzzing around looking for flowers. Buzzy was young and still learning how to be a good bee, but sometimes he got frustrated when things didn’t go exactly as planned.
“Buzz, buzz, buzz!” Buzzy hummed to himself as he flew from flower to flower. “Today I’m going to collect the most delicious nectar ever!”
Buzzy spotted a beautiful yellow sunflower swaying gently in the breeze. The flower looked perfect, with bright golden petals and a big center full of sweet nectar.
“That’s the one!” Buzzy said excitedly, zooming toward the flower.
But just as Buzzy was about to land, a gust of wind made the sunflower sway to one side. Buzzy misjudged his landing and… BONK! He bumped his head right into the flower’s stem.
“Ow!” Buzzy cried, rubbing his fuzzy little head. “That hurt!”
Buzzy felt angry and embarrassed. He had been flying for weeks now, and he thought he was getting pretty good at it. But this clumsy landing made him feel like he was still just a baby bee.
“This is all your fault, flower!” Buzzy said grumpily, hovering in front of the sunflower. “You moved right when I was trying to land!”
The sunflower looked sad. “I’m sorry, little bee. I can’t help it when the wind blows. I have to move with it, or I might break.”
But Buzzy was too upset to listen. “Well, I don’t want your nectar anyway!” he huffed. And with that, he flew away to find other flowers.
Buzzy spent the rest of the morning visiting different flowers around the garden. But he was still feeling grumpy about his earlier mishap. At each flower, he took more nectar than he needed, and he didn’t say “thank you” like his mother had taught him.
“Take that!” Buzzy muttered as he collected nectar from a group of purple petunias. “I’ll show that sunflower that I don’t need her!”
As the day went on, Buzzy began to feel tired. His little bee belly was full of nectar, but somehow he didn’t feel happy. He decided to fly back to the sunflower to see if she was still there.
When he arrived, Buzzy was surprised to see the sunflower looking droopy and sad. Her bright yellow petals were starting to curl, and she looked like she needed water.
“Oh no,” Buzzy whispered to himself. “What happened to you, sunflower?”
Just then, he heard a familiar voice. “Hi Buzzy!” called Scout, a friendly dragonfly who lived near the garden pond. Scout had once helped Oni Pepperoni with mosquitoes during a vacation.
“Hi Scout,” Buzzy said quietly. “Something’s wrong with this sunflower, but I don’t know what.”
Scout flew closer to examine the sunflower. “She looks dehydrated,” Scout said. “Sunflowers need lots of water, especially on hot days like today. But there’s something else…”
Scout looked at Buzzy thoughtfully. “Did you know that flowers and bees are supposed to help each other?”
“What do you mean?” asked Buzzy.
“Well,” Scout explained, “when you visit a flower to collect nectar, you’re supposed to spread pollen from flower to flower. That’s how flowers make seeds and grow new baby flowers. But if you take the nectar without helping spread the pollen, the flowers can’t do their job.”
Buzzy’s eyes grew wide. “I… I didn’t know that. I just thought flowers were there to give me food.”
“The sunflower gave you a place to land and sweet nectar to eat,” Scout said gently. “But what did you give her in return?”
Buzzy felt ashamed. He thought about how he had been angry at the sunflower for moving in the wind, and how he had taken nectar from all the other flowers without thinking about helping them.
“I didn’t give her anything,” Buzzy admitted. “I was just mad because I bumped my head.”
“It’s okay to feel frustrated when things don’t go as planned,” Scout said. “But the sunflower was just doing what sunflowers do. She can’t control the wind.”
Buzzy looked at the droopy sunflower and felt sorry for being so selfish. “Is there anything I can do to help her now?”
Scout smiled. “Actually, yes! See that dusty yellow powder on your fuzzy body? That’s pollen from all the flowers you visited today. If you gently rub against the sunflower’s center, you can share that pollen with her. It will help her make seeds.”
Buzzy flew over to the sunflower. “I’m sorry I was mean to you earlier,” he said softly. “I was embarrassed about bumping into you, but that wasn’t your fault.”
The sunflower lifted her head slightly. “Thank you for saying that, little bee. I understand that landing can be tricky.”
Buzzy carefully landed on the sunflower’s center and rolled around gently, spreading the pollen he had collected from other flowers. As he did, something wonderful happened. The sunflower began to perk up, her petals becoming brighter and her stem standing taller.
“Wow!” Buzzy exclaimed. “You look so much better!”
“That’s because you’ve helped me do my job,” the sunflower explained. “With this pollen, I can make seeds that will grow into new sunflowers next year. And in return, I have fresh nectar for you.”
Buzzy sipped the sweet nectar gratefully. It tasted even better than before because he knew he had earned it by helping.
“Thank you for teaching me about friendship,” Buzzy said to Scout. “I didn’t know that bees and flowers are supposed to help each other.”
“That’s what friends do,” Scout replied. “They help each other, even when things don’t go perfectly.”
From that day on, Buzzy became the most helpful bee in the garden. He still bumped into things sometimes (because that’s what young bees do), but he never got angry at the flowers for moving in the wind. Instead, he learned to be patient and always made sure to spread pollen wherever he went.
And the sunflower? She became Buzzy’s best friend in the garden. Whenever the wind was blowing extra hard, she would try to hold still for just a moment to help Buzzy land safely.
“Working together makes everything better,” Buzzy would tell the other young bees. “And saying ‘I’m sorry’ when you make a mistake is the first step to making things right.”
As the summer went on, the garden became the most beautiful place in the neighborhood, filled with happy flowers and busy bees who all knew the secret of friendship: helping each other makes everyone stronger.