Lady of the Bees

The Latium Trilogy #3

by Thomas Burnett Swann

Thomas Burnett Swann is a true craftsman with a well-earned international reputation for his mystic, classical fantasies. Theodore Sturgeon, writing for the New York Times Book Review, said of "He writes blissfully and beautifully separated from trend and fashion; he writes his own 7 golden thing his own way."

The author considers LADY OF THE BEES, a lyric retelling of the legend of Romulus and Remus, to be the best book he has ever written.”

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

199 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Thomas Burnett Swann was best known as the author of numerous fantasies published in the 1960s and ’70s. Many of his bucolic tales were set in the Ancient World and populated by mythic creatures. His best-known works include the novel DAY OF THE MINOTAUR and the shorter works “Where Is the Bird of Fire?” and “The Manor of Roses,” all nominated for Hugo Awards. Swann was also a poet, professor, and literary critic.

Reviews

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn’t finish this one even though I loved it as a teenager. Sigh. Mellonia is so fucking boring and tragic I can’t take it. I’m leaving this as read though, I did finish it a long time ago. I just can’t now.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A retelling of the myth of Romulus and Remus, and an expansion of an earlier novella, 'Where is the Bird of Fire?' This is a sequel to the author's 'Green Phoenix' - in it, Mellonia, dryad, and former queen of the dryads, now lives alone in the forest following the deaths of her people, some from age, some from other natural causes and some from the depredations of humankind. The centaurs are all gone, rounded up for the entertainment of humans - in a Roman-style circus (the kind where people and animals fought to the death), although Rome is not yet founded as the story begins - and the fauns are in decline, able to breed only with the few human women who will accept them now that the dryads are gone.

The book is told from the alternate viewpoints of Mellonia and Sylvan, a young faun who is captured in a raid by Remus and his shepherds, but rescued by his gentler brother, Remus. The town, founded about four hundred years ago by Mellonia's first lover, Aeneas, and his son Ascanius, her second lover, is now ruled by a cruel tyrannt who has deposed the elderly king (who is the descendant of Ascanius by his human wife). Mellonia witnesses the burying alive of the king's daughter, a Vestal Virgin who has given birth to boys, whom she insists are the sons of Mars, and she assists with their rescue. In legend (I had a vague idea of the story of the origin of Rome and the saving of the twin boys by a she-wolf), the boys are suckled by the wolf until found by a shepherd but in this, although they are fed wolf's milk initially by Mellonia, the milk is brought from a nursing wolf and the young she-wolf she leaves at the shepherd's door with the babies is not the wolf who donated the milk. Nevertheless, when the story switches to when they are young men, and Sylvan enters the story, everyone believes that the now-elderly wolf was their first mother.

The story follows their plans to take back the town from the tyrannt, although it is Romulus, the more aggressive of the two, who actively pursues this course and trains a body of men, including murderers. Remus, meanwhile, is more interested in making friends with animals and bees, and, when he meets Mellonia, in becoming her lover. Sylvan is at first hurt by what he sees as his exclusion, but he and Mellonia do eventually become friends. There is also the rather odd interlude which is apparently based on 'Lost Horizon' etc with Japanese elements.

As I anticipated, the story did not have a happy ending and seems to be the final death knell of the Wildwood and its mythical creatures. The writing is fairly accomplished, but I didn't really enjoy it. And in the first section, I kept expecting Mellonia to arrange for the mother to be dug out since she was walled up in a space with an air tube, to suffer death by thirst. Even if this is according to the legend on which it is based, there was enough 'play' with other elements of the legend for her to have been rescued and to have helped raised her sons, even if she was then killed off conveniently afterwards.

I also found the cover of this edition rather odd - given that Mellonia is four feet tall, and green with pointed ears, although beautiful, and there is no other character approximating the skimpily clad woman on the cover, it can only be another example of exploitative 1970s book covers. Anyway, I can only award this an OK 2 stars.

[ΑΝΝΑ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Η κυρία των μελισσών ή Πράσινη του δάσους ή απλά Μελλώνια.
Τα μισά κεφάλαια της ανήκουν.
Τα άλλα μισά στον Συλβάν,ένας Φαύνο,ενα αγόρι-κατσίκα που διαφέρει απο τους ομοίους του και μεγαλώνει στον 12πλασιο χρόνο απο αυτόν των ανθρώπων.
Οι δυο τους αποτελούν το ήμισυ απο το κουαρτέτο των πρωταγωνιστών. Το αλλο ήμισυ είναι δυο δίδυμοι. Το Ξανθό κόντρα στο μελαχρινό. Δυο ημίθεοι σωσμενοι απο μια δρυαδα,γαλουχημενοι απο μια λύκαινα και μεγαλωμενοι απο ενα ζευγάρι βοσκών. Δυο ημίθεοι,δυο μελλοντικοί βασιλείς που τους στέρησαν το θρόνο που τους ανήκε δικαιωματικά. Ο Κάιν και ο Αβελ.
Ο συγγραφέας μας δίνει τον μύθο του Ρωμου και του Ρωμυλου με την δική του μοναδική και λυρική ματιά. Ο λόγος του σαν χείμαρρος. Το δασος του ένα κόσμος φαντασίας με δρυαδες,κενταυρους,πνεύματα λεμουρους,γαλάζιους αιωνοβιους πιθηκους και αρχαίους θεούς.
Οι πρώτοι κάτοικοι της Ρώμης ήταν βοσκοί αμόρφωτοι,ληστές και μαχαιροβγάλτες. Και ένας Ρωμύλος απομένει να βάλει μια σειρά.

Η αλήθεια είναι ότι μη εξοικειωμενη με αυτόν τον τρόπο γραφής,ζοριστηκα και δυσκολεύτηκα να ακολουθήσω σε ορισμένα σημεία τους διαλόγους. Άξιζε όμως τον κόπο.

[Rowena Wyckoff-Daubitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 Sterne

[Charlie Eckhaus]

Having collected all the original Ace Science Fiction Specials, when the Internet made it possible to locate the later ones I attempted to acquire the ones I missed and put them into my reading rotation. A couple of clunkers down the road, I'm second-guessing my goal, but will at least give them all a try and hope they're worth completing. This one seems promising based on my enjoyment of the novella by the same author in the Modern Classics of Fantasy anthology. After 20 pages, I find the seductive language appealing.
Less spellbound at the halfway point, still interested, but the allusive, poetic nature of the prose somewhat impedes my comprehension. Well-done stretches during the confrontation.
The magical writing carries the last 30 or so pages.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't moved by the story or the imagery. I wouldn't call it tedious, but I certainly wouldn't call it interesting either.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Die Bienen-koenigin