The Adventures of Maya the Bee

Waldemar Bonsels (1880-1952) was a German writer of children's books. He wrote only one children's book in the strict sense, Die Biene Maja (The Adventures of Maya the Bee, 1912). People in the Sky (Himmelsvolk, 1915) is not a proper children's book but has a much deeper mystical layer showing the unity of all creation and its relationship to God. There are a number of novels and shorter stories dealing with love such as Eros and on the higher level of divine love in the spirit of romanticism (Eros und die Evangelien, Menschenwege, Narren und Helden, etc. ), with the relationship between man and nature in a simple life unchanged by modern civilization (Anjekind, etc. ) and also including a historical novel from the time of Jesus (Der Grieche Dositos). He travelled extensively in Europe and Asia. Indienfahrt (Voyage in India, 1916) is the fruit of one of these travels.