Pray Thee, a Sting

The Bee and Jupiter

A BEE from Mount Hymettus, the queen of the hive, ascended to Olympus to present Jupiter some honey fresh from her combs. Jupiter, delighted with the offering of honey, promised to give whatever she should ask. She therefore besought him, saying, "Give me, I pray thee, a sting, that if any mortal shall approach to take my honey, I may kill him." Jupiter was much displeased, for he loved the race of man, but could not refuse the request because of his promise. He thus answered the Bee: "You shall have your request, but it will be at the peril of your own life. For if you use your sting, it shall remain in the wound you make, and then you will die from the loss of it."

Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost.

- Æsop

This is the first blip on which I've used my new capacitative stylus instead of my finger while editing. It makes it a whole heap easier when painting on or erasing masks (in this case sharpening applied to the bee, and erasing of a reduced luminance curve from the bee and the lavender it was nomming).

And it was the princely sum of $6 or something (I'm not too sure, as my registrar kindly ordered me one along with his, so it actually cost me zero dinero).

Anyway... I did get a shot of the bee coming in to land on another flower, but this shot was a better composition, and the bokeh in the upper background also helped to sway me towards this - which is probably better viewed large.