Once there was a bee who was strong and full of the hot blood of youth . One day he was flying blissfully from flower to flower, sucking nectar. He kept going farther from home forgetting that it would soon be evening and time to return. He had just flown into a lotus flower when the sun set and the lotus closed. The bee was trapped. He had a sharp stinger and could easily have pierced through the petals and flown away but he was lost in his own intoxication. He thought , "I' ll spend the night here drinking nectar and in the morning when the lotus opens, I'll fly, get my wife and my neighbours and friends and bring them here to drink nectar. They will be so pleased! They will be so grateful.

Soon it was midnight. There was a young elephant roaming through the forest, and he too was intoxicated. He was tearing down trees and ripping up plants and stuffing them into his mouth. When he came to the lake where the bee was revelling, he began to snatch the lotuses and eat them. The bee was still drinking nectar and thinking, ''I will bring my wife. I will bring my neighbours. I will bring all my friends. I will have a great honey factory. Suddenly there was a loud crunch. "Alas!" The bee cried. "I am dying, I am dying.....I am dead."

All the bee's plans remained in the lake. All his friends remained in their houses. His wife was still at home. And the bee was inside the elephant's mouth.

Like that bee, we are going farther and farther in this world, imagining that we are making greater and greater progress. Not realizing that we are leaving our source behind. Every day, the elephant of death comes closer, but we never notice his footsteps.