Buzz a Buzz by Wilhelm Busch

Buzz a Buzz or The Bees is a spirited comic verse book that turns beekeeping into a miniature epic of satire, folklore, and affectionate absurdity. Through whimsical prefaces, playful "fyttes," and self-aware notes, it builds a lively world where worker bees, queens, drones, swarms, and honey thieves mirror human vanity, labor, greed, and love. The scenes range from a queen bee's May Day fête and a mock-heroic frog chorus to rustic farce involving Johnny Dull, Christine, Richard Dean, and the jealous Eugene, whose honey raids, stings, and slapstick mishaps spiral into comic chaos. Alongside the storytelling runs a thread of practical apiculture: advice on hive management, gentleness with bees, swarm control, bar-frame hives, pure-bred queens, and protecting apiaries from thieves. Classical allusion, punning verse, mock scholarship, and humorous commentary give the book its eccentric charm, while its underlying admiration for bees and rural life keeps the fantasy grounded. It is at once a parody, a natural-history jest, and a celebration of nature's stubborn independence. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.