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by Frank R. Stockton (Author)
In the ancient country of Orn, there lived an old man who was called the Bee-Man, because his whole time was spent in the company of bees. He lived in a small hut, which was nothing more than an immense bee-hive, for these little creatures had built their honeycombs in every corner of the one room it contained, on the shelves, under the little table, all about the rough bench on which the old man sat, and even about the head-board and along the sides of his low bed. All day the air of the room was thick with buzzing insects, but this did not interfere in any way with the old Bee-Man, who walked in among them, ate his meals, and went to sleep, without the slightest fear of being stung. He had lived with the bees so long, they had become so accustomed to him, and his skin was so tough and hard, that the bees no more thought of stinging him than they would of stinging a tree or a stone. One day, there stopped at the hut of the Bee-Man a Junior Sorcerer. This young person, who was a student of magic, necromancy, and the kindred arts, was much interested in the Bee-Man. "Do you know," he said, when the Bee-Man came out of his hut, "that you have been transformed?" "What do you mean by that?" said the other, much surprised. "You have surely heard of animals and human beings who have been magically transformed into different kinds of creatures?" "Yes, I have heard of these things," said the Bee-Man; "but what have I been transformed from?" "That is more than I know," said the Junior Sorcerer. "But one thing is certain -- you ought to be changed back." .... Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 - April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century.Born in Philadelphia in the year 1834, Stockton was the son of a prominent Methodist minister who discouraged him from a writing career. After he married Mary Ann Edwards Tuttle, they moved to Burlington, New Jersey.where he produced some of his first literary work. The couple then moved to Nutley, New Jersey. For years he supported himself as a wood engraver until his father's death in 1860; in 1867, he moved back to Philadelphia to write for a newspaper founded by his brother. His first fairy tale, "Ting-a-ling," was published that year in The Riverside Magazine; his first book collection appeared in 1870. He was also an editor for Hearth and Home magazine in the early 1870s. He died in 1902 of cerebral hemorrhage and is buried at The Woodlands in Philadelphia....
