Natura Apis: Morali Ricardi Eremite is a song written by J.R.R. Tolkien. As with La, Huru, it is to be sung to the tune of Are You the O'Reilly Who Keeps This Hotel?. It was published as the 20th song in Songs for the Philologists in 1936.
The concluding verse is omitted from the original “Leeds Songs” version.[1]
Poem excerpt
Natura Apis: Morali Ricardi Eremite
The night is still young and our drinks are yet long,
The fire's burning bright and here brave is the throng,
So now I will sing you a sooth little song
Of the busy brown bee - with a ding and a dong,
With a fal-lal-lal la and a z z z z
a z z z z z, z z z z z (thrice)
Three virtuous habits hath every brown bee:
Ah, no, never, no, never idle is she;
If drone will not labour, then out bundles he
And the hive and the honey no more will he see!
References
- ↑ Hammond, W. G., Scull, C. [1993] J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography