Elphaba Bees Dorothy

'Come on, bees,' said the Witch, 'work with me now. All together on this one, honeys. We need a little sting, we need a little zip, we want a little nasty, can you give us a little jab? No, not us, listen when I talk to you, you simpletons! The girl on the hill below. She's after your Queen Bee! And when you're through with your job, I'll go down and collect those shoes.'

'What's that old hag blathering about now?' said Nanny to Liir.

The bees were alert to the pitch in the Witch's voice, and they rose to swarm out the window.

'You watch, I can't look,' said the Witch.

'The moon is just like a pretty peach rising over the mountains,' said Nanny with the telescope to her old cataracted eye. 'Why don't we put in some peach trees instead of all those infernal apples in the back?'

'The bees, Nanny. Liir, take that from her and tell me what happens.'

Liir gave a blow-by-blow recounting. 'They're swooping down, they look like a genie or something, all flying in a big clump with a straggly tail. The travelers see them coming. Yes! Yes! The Scarecrow is taking straw out of his chest and leggings, and covering the Lion and Dorothy, and there's a little dog, too. So the bees can't get through the straw, and the Scarecrow is all in pieces on the ground.'

It couldn't be. The Witch grabbed the eyepiece. 'Liir, you are a filthy liar,' she shouted. Her heart roared like a wind.

But it was true. There was nothing but straw and air inside the Scarecrow's clothes. No hidden lover returning, no last hope of salvation.

And the bees, having none left to attack but the Tin Woodman, flung themselves against him, and dropped in black heaps on the ground, like charred shadows, their stingers blunted on his fenders.

'You've got to give our guests credit for ingenuity,' said Liir.

'Will you shut up before I tie your tongue in a knot?' said the Witch.

- Wicked, Book 5