Note 191 — Chapter XVIII · THE INHABITANTS OF THE NEILGHERRIES.
Reading edition
In many parts of the Neilgherries there is a large species of solitary bee which the Todas declared incurred the displeasure of the Great Spirit by stinging him, and was therefore condemned to eternal separation from its kind. But as huge combs and excellent honey abound on these hills, their savage inhabitants of course superstitionize upon the subject of the bee. The Creator, they say, desirous of knowing how honey is made, caught the animal, and she proving obstinate and refractory, confined her by means of a string tied round the middle; hence her peculiar shape! Is not this clearly a psychological allusion to the powerful volition for which the fair sex is proverbially famous?