At the beginning of time, many things were different than they are today. In those early days, the honeybee had no stinger. Without a stinger, the honeybee could not protect her honey. The honeybee worked very hard to make her honey, but people would often come and take her honey from her. This made the honeybee very angry.

The honeybee decided to ask the gods to help her protect her honey. She took some of her finest honey and flew to Mount Olympus where the gods lived.

The honeybee went to see Jupiter, king of the gods and presented the honey to him as a gift. Jupiter loved the honey for he had never before tasted something so sweet. Jupiter said it was a great gift and promised to give the honeybee a gift in return. He asked her what she wanted.

The honeybee explained her problem to Jupiter. She explained how hard she worked to make honey. She explained how people were always stealing honey from her. She asked Jupiter to give her a stinger that she could use to sting people who tried to steal her honey.

Jupiter did not like this idea because he loved people and he did not want them to get stung. But he had promised to give her anything she asked for. As promised, Jupiter gave the honeybee a stinger, but his gift came at a price—her life. He would give the honeybee a stinger, but using it would cause her to die. The honeybee would have to choose between her honey and her life. Will she let people take her honey and live? Or will she use her stinger and die? Jupiter gave all the other honeybees in the world stingers, too. Since then, all honeybees must make this difficult choice.