Now, what's to prevent the bees from seeing
how easily the man had dealt with the ants? A man would be far more
efficient, destroying ants, than a bee; just as a horse is more
efficient, dragging a load, than a man. And yet we know that the horse
was domesticated, here on the earth, simply because the humans saw his
possibilities; the horse could do a certain thing more efficiently than
a human.
"You notice," the doctor went on, with great care, "that everything I've
assumed is natural enough: the combination of an ant attack and the
man's approach, occurring at the same time. Suppose we add a third
factor: that the bees, even while fighting the ants, also started to
attack the man; but that he chanced to turn his attention to the ants
FIRST. So that the bees let him alone!
"We know what remarkable things bees are, when it comes to telling one
another what they know. Is there any reason why such an experience--all
natural enough--shouldn't demonstrate to them that they, by merely
threatening a man, could compel him to kill ants for them?"
Billie was dubious for a moment; then agreed that the man, also, might
notice that the bees failed to sting him as long as he continued to
destroy their other enemies.
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