Written by Blaž Kavčič

It was hot. The sun had been blazing mercilessly for three months. Fifteen-year-old Vid walked anxiously towards the beehive, where something strange had been happening for days. The familiar loud buzzing could no longer be heard. This time he was met with an eerie silence, and around the hive lay many dead bees.

The predictions of scientists and environmentalists had come true: bees were beginning to die out from disease and heat. And it was happening much faster than even the greatest pessimists had foreseen. Their hive was one of the last that still hosted bees.

Vid did not dare go home—his mother and father would be too saddened. He wandered into the forest, wishing to be alone. Sitting beneath a tree, he fell asleep.

In his dream the queen bee appeared and told him that she would help him. Wild bees flew around him, and through their dancing and buzzing explained that they would take over the work of the domestic bees—on one condition: people must promise not to steal their honey, while they continued to pollinate crops.

Vid awoke and ran home to tell his parents what had happened. At first they did not believe him. But soon people began to notice wild bees flying around blossoming orchards and fields. Vid and a group of friends raised awareness through different media about the importance of bees and about the promise people had to make.

The older generation listened to the young, realising their past mistakes. No longer did they use poisonous sprays and fertilisers.

In those harsh times, full of extreme weather, they came to understand that nature was governed by a fragile balance—one that even the smallest mistake could break. That was why it had to be respected and given back to in equal measure as was taken.