Prevod

Long ago, a bee, the mother of honeycombs, ascended to the gods to offer incense, bringing honey as her gift. Delighted with the bee’s offering, Zeus promised to grant her whatever she asked. She cried out to him in supplication: “O glorious god, creator of me, the bee, grant your handmaid a sting, so that if anyone approaches my home to take my honey, I may kill him.” But Zeus was displeased with her request, for he dearly loved humankind, and said to the bee: “It shall not be as you have asked. Rather, if someone comes to take honey from you, and you attack and sting him, it is you who will die when your sting is torn out, for your life is bound up with your sting.”

The fable shows that in our prayers and supplications we should ask for no harm to befall our enemies, for whatever harm you wish upon them will at once recoil upon you.