Maya the Bee

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This article is about the novel. For the anime series, see Maya the Bee (TV series).

The Adventures of Maya the Bee (In French: Maya l'abeille, in German Die Biene Maja) is a German book, comic book series and animated television series, first written by Waldemar Bonsels and published in 1912.

The stories revolve around a little bee named Maya and her friends Willy the bee, Flip the grasshopper, Mrs. Cassandra (Maya's teacher), and many other insects. The book depicts Maya's development from an adventurous youngster to a responsible adult member of bee society.

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[edit] Films

Wolfram Junghans, a German photographer, directed a live-action full-length film version of the story in 1924. It is considered to be the first full-length film to star live insects. The film was restored in 2005 by the Finnish Film Archive together with the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, and screened in Hamburg and Helsinki.

Perhaps the most popular and widely known adaptation of the story is the anime television series みつばちマーヤの冒険 (Mitsubachi Māya no Bōken, "The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee"). Originally aired on Japanese TV in 1975, the anime has been dubbed into numerous languages and screened on television in various territories, including Australia, Germany, the United States, South Africa, Portugal, Canada, Belgium, France, Latin America, Israel, Iran, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Spain, Finland, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon as "Zena", and Iran as "Nikoo" (نیکو). The Japanese TV series was preceded by Tokyo Kodomo Club's musical play based on the short story, presented as Mitsubachi Māya ("Maya the Honeybee"), distributed on a LP album.

[edit] Plot

The original book of Bonsels is actually quite short, less than 200 pages. The storyline is centered on the relation of Maya and her society, the adventures serving to educate the young Maya. In the TV-series, on the other hand, the relative importance of the adventures is increased.

Maya is a bee born in a bee hive during internal unrest: the hive is dividing itself into two new colonies. Maya is raised by her teacher, Mrs. Cassandra. Despite Mrs. Cassandra's warnings, Maya is imbued with desire to explore the wide world and commits the unforgivable crime of leaving the hive. During her adventures, Maya, now exile, befriends other insects and braves dangers with them. In the climax of the book, Maya is taken prisoner by hornets, the worst enemies of the bees.

Prisoner of the hornets, Maya learns of a hornet plan to attack her native hive. Maya is faced with the decision to either return to hive and suffer her due punishment, saving the hive, or leaving the plan unannounced, saving herself but destroying the hive. As may be expected, Maya, after severe pondering, makes the decision to return. In the hive, she announces the coming attack and is, totally unexpectedly, pardoned. The forewarned bees triumph over the hornet attack force. Maya, now a heroine of the hive, becomes a teacher, like Mrs. Cassandra and shares her experiences and wisdom with the future generation.

[edit] Main characters

  • Maya (Bee)
  • Willi (Drone, Maya's best friend. Lazy, good-natured)
  • Flip (Grasshopper. A wise friend of Maya and Willi)
  • Kurt (Dungbeetle who likes to be a "rose-beetle")
  • Puck (Fly)
  • Kassandra (Bee, Teacher at the Bee-School)
  • Thekla (cross spider)

[edit] Other languages

The series has been published in multiple other languages as well under the following names:

[edit] Video games

  • Maya the Bee and Friends (mobile – 2006)

Developed by Kiloo and co-published by Plan-B Media.

Developed by Shin'en Multimedia, published by Acclaim.

Developed by Shin'en Multimedia, published by Midway.

Developed and published by Midway (based on previous work by Shin'en).

[edit] Merchandising

A lot of companies participated worldwide to the success of this bee by producing and selling merchandising articles. Most of them have been drawn between 1976 and 1986 by the French licensed characters specialist André Roche, for example motives for textile, porcelain, games, publishers, including the realization of a campaign for the Kinder Surprise Chocolate Eggs of the Ferrero Company.

[edit] References