The Lore of the Honey-Bee

Synopsis

One of the oldest and prettiest fables in ancient mythology is that which deals with the origin of the honey-bee.  It was to Melissa and her sister Amalthea, the beautiful daughters of the King of Crete, that the god Jupiter was entrusted by his mother Ops, when Saturn, his father—following his custom of devouring his children at birth—sought to make the usual meal of this, his latest offspring. 

The story is variously rendered by ancient writers.  Some say that bees already existed in the world, and that Amalthea was only a goat, whose milk served to nourish the baby-god, in addition to the honey that Melissa obtained from the wild bees in the cave where Jupiter lay hidden

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