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Maya the Bee

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Maya the Bee
File:DieBieneMajaIhreSchonstenAbenteuerBookCover.gif
Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer book cover.
GenreFantasy
Anime
Directed byHiroshi Saitô and Mitsuo Kaminashi and Seiji Endô
StudioNippon Animation

The Adventures of Maya the Bee (German: Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer; Italian: L'ape Maia; Polish: Pszczółka Maja; Serbian: Пчелица Маја/Pčelica Maja; Slovenian:Čebelica Maja; Croatian:Pčelica Maja; Slovak:Včielka Maja; Bulgarian:Пчеличката Мая; Czech:Včelka Mája; Hungarian:Maja a méhecske; Spanish:La abeja Maya; Turkish:Arı Maya) is a book written by Waldemar Bonsels and first published in 1912.

In this children's storybook, Maya and her friends (Willy the bee and Flip the grasshopper) and many other insects have a colourful life. There was Mrs. Cassandra, Maya's teacher who teaches Maya the virtues of the bee nation. The book depicts Maya's development from an adventurous, thoughtless youngster to a responsible adult of bee society.

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 Mitsubachi Maaya no Boken (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, France, Latin America, Israel, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Finland, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Turkey, Lebanon as "Zena", and Iran as "Nikoo" (نیکو).

The 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.

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)

Video games

  • Maya the Bee and Friends (mobile - 2006)

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

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, porcellain, games, publishers, including the realization of a capaing for the Kinder Surprise Chocolate Eggs of the Ferrero Company.

References

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