The Bee on the Balcony (A2 Reading Story)

A2 · ELEMENTARY Reading practice · ~1,700 words · 11-min read

This is a short story for elementary learners. It is mostly in the past simple tense, so it is a good way to see A2 grammar in a real story. First, read the ten key words below. Then read the story. At the end, there is a small quiz to check what you understand.

The story

1 · A tired visitor

Maya moved into a new flat one month ago. It was on the third floor of an old building in the city. The flat was small — one bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and one big window. But it had one special thing: a balcony. A balcony is a small floor outside your window on a high building. Maya loved her balcony. From there, she could see the busy street below.

Every morning, Maya sat outside with a cup of tea. She watched the people, the cars, and the pigeons. She lived alone. She did not know many people in the city yet, and she was a little bit lonely.

One warm Saturday, the sun was bright. Maya took her tea out to the balcony and sat down. And then she saw it — a small yellow-and-black shape on the floor.

It was a bee. A bee is a small flying insect that makes honey.

But this bee was not flying. It was on its back, and its little legs moved slowly.

“Oh no,” Maya said. “You are hurt.”

Maya bent down close to the bee. It was still alive, but it looked very weak. Weak means not strong. Its wings did not move. Its small body looked tired.

Maya did not know much about bees. She was a little afraid of them, too. When she was a child, a bee stung her once, and it hurt. But this bee was so small and so sad.

“What can I do for you?” she said softly.

She looked around her balcony. She had two empty flowerpots — a flowerpot is a small pot for growing a flower. But the flowers in them were dead. She had no plants and no food for a tiny insect.

Then Maya remembered her neighbour, Mrs Green. Mrs Green lived in the flat next door. She was an old lady with white hair and kind blue eyes. Last week, Mrs Green said hello to Maya in the hallway.

“If you need anything, just knock,” Mrs Green told her.

Mrs Green was retired. Retired means she does not work any more, because she is old. Before that, she was a science teacher in a school for many years. Maybe Mrs Green knew about bees.

“Wait here,” Maya said to the bee. “I will come back.”

2 · The knock next door

Maya ran to Mrs Green’s door and knocked three times.

The door opened. Mrs Green wore a big blue apron, and there was flour on her hands. She smiled when she saw Maya.

“Good morning, Maya! Come in — I am making bread.”

“Mrs Green,” Maya said quickly, “I am sorry to knock. There is a bee on my balcony. It cannot fly. I think it is going to die. Can you help me?”

Mrs Green’s eyes went wide.

“A bee?” she said. “Show me. Quickly!”

She wiped her hands on her apron and followed Maya to the balcony. She bent down near the little bee and looked at it for a moment.

“Ah,” she said softly. “The poor thing. She is not hurt. She is only very tired.”

“Tired?” Maya said. “But she cannot even fly.”

“Bees fly a long way every day,” Mrs Green said. “They collect pollen from flowers. Pollen is the yellow dust you can see on flowers. And to collect means to pick things up from many places, one by one. So a bee flies to hundreds of flowers, and she carries the pollen back home. When there are not enough flowers in the city, the bees have to fly further and further. Sometimes they get too tired. Then they fall down, and they cannot fly home.”

Maya looked at the tiny bee. “So she is not sick. She is just… out of energy?”

“Yes, exactly. She needs food. And I know just what to give her. Come with me.”

3 · Sugar water

Mrs Green went back to her kitchen, and Maya followed. Mrs Green took a small spoon and a little cup. She poured warm water into the cup, added a spoonful of sugar, and stirred.

“This is sugar water,” she said. “For a tired bee, it is like magic. A little sugar gives her energy. In one or two hours, she can fly again.”

“Really?” Maya said. “Just sugar and water?”

“Just sugar and water. You must not give a bee honey from the shop. Shop honey can carry bee sickness. But sugar water is safe. Come — we will help her now.”

They went back to the balcony. Mrs Green took the spoon. Very carefully, she put a tiny drop of sugar water in front of the bee’s mouth.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then something amazing happened. A tiny tongue came out of the bee’s mouth — Maya could hardly see it — and the bee started to drink.

“Look!” Maya whispered. “She is drinking!”

“Yes,” Mrs Green smiled. “That is a very good sign. Now we wait.”

They sat on the balcony in the warm sun. Mrs Green told Maya more about bees.

“Bees are very important, Maya. Do you know why? Because they help our food grow. When a bee visits a flower for pollen, the pollen sticks to her body. Then she flies to the next flower, and a little pollen falls off there. That is how many plants make fruit and seeds. Apples, strawberries, tomatoes — all these things need bees. If there are no bees, there is less fruit for us.”

“I did not know that,” Maya said. “I always thought bees only made honey.”

“Honey is only one thing they make. The other job they do is much, much more important.”

Maya looked at the small bee. She drank a little more sugar water. Her wings moved just a tiny bit.

“She is a little stronger now,” Mrs Green said. “See her wings? Small movements. That is good.”

4 · The garden on the roof

While they waited, Mrs Green said, “Would you like to see something, Maya? Something I made for the bees.”

“Yes, please!”

Mrs Green took Maya up the stairs to the top of the building. There was a small door at the top. Mrs Green opened it, and they walked out onto the roof.

Maya’s mouth fell open.

The whole roof was a garden. There were pots and wooden boxes everywhere. There were red flowers, yellow flowers, and purple flowers. There were tomato plants and strawberry plants. There were tall sunflowers, small blue flowers, and green herbs that smelled sweet in the sun.

And there were bees. Many, many bees. They flew from flower to flower. They did not sting anybody. They were only busy with their work.

“Mrs Green,” Maya said. “This is beautiful. Did you make all of this?”

“Yes, I did,” Mrs Green said. “When I retired from my school, I had a lot of free time. One day I read a story in the newspaper. It said bees are dying because there are not enough flowers in the cities. So I thought, ‘I have a roof. I have hands. I can make a garden for them.’ Every year I plant more flowers. Every year more bees come.”

Maya walked slowly around the roof. A yellow bee sat on a purple flower, then flew to a pink one. She could hear the soft sound of many wings.

“So the bee on my balcony — is she from your garden?”

“Maybe. Or maybe from a hive far away. A hive is the house where bees live together. Bees can fly many kilometres. But every bee is welcome up here.”

Maya thought for a moment. Then she said, “Mrs Green, my balcony is empty. My flowerpots are all dead. Can you show me how to plant flowers for bees, too? I want to help.”

Mrs Green’s eyes shone. “Oh, Maya. Yes, of course. I have some little plants I can give you. It is easy. And when the flowers open, the bees will come to visit your balcony every day. You will not be alone up there any more.”

Maya smiled. It was a big smile — the biggest smile she had smiled in a long time.

5 · Two friends

Maya and Mrs Green went back down together. They walked out onto Maya’s balcony.

The bee was still there. But now she was on her feet. Her small wings were open.

“Look!” Maya said.

Very slowly, the bee started to move. She walked to the edge of the balcony. She stopped. Her wings made a small sound — bzz, bzz.

And then she flew. Just for a second, she was in the air by Maya’s face. Maya did not move. She held her breath.

The bee flew up, up, up — over the balcony, over the street, over the rooftops, and up towards the blue sky. In a moment, she was gone.

“She is going home to her hive,” Mrs Green said quietly. “You saved her, Maya.”

“We saved her,” Maya said. “Together.”

They stood there for a while without speaking. The sun was warm. The street below was busy. Maya’s first cup of tea was cold now, but she did not care.

“Mrs Green,” Maya said, “will you come for tea tomorrow? On my balcony? I have no bees yet, and no flowers. But I have tea and biscuits.”

Mrs Green laughed. It was a warm, soft laugh, like the sun on her face. “I would love that. And I will bring some little plants with me. Tomorrow, we are going to make a bee garden on your balcony together.”

That night, Maya lay in bed and thought about the small bee. She thought about the roof full of flowers. She thought about kind old Mrs Green.

Something new was going to grow on Maya’s balcony. Flowers, yes — but maybe something more, too. A new friendship. A new home.

And somewhere in the city, a small yellow-and-black bee was safe in her hive, ready for tomorrow.

But before she went to sleep, Maya had one more question in her head. She wanted to ask Mrs Green tomorrow: how many flowers do I need to plant on my balcony, so that a tired bee can find me all the way from far away?

Check your understanding

Read each question. Think about your answer. Then click “Show answer” to check.

Words to remember

Here are the ten key words again, in new sentences. Try to say each one out loud.

• bee — A little bee landed on my arm, but she did not sting me.
• hive — At sunset, all the bees fly back to their hive.
• balcony — In summer, we eat dinner on the balcony under the stars.
• weak — I was ill last week, and my legs still feel weak today.
• pollen — In spring, yellow pollen covers the cars in our street.
• collect — My son loves to collect small stones from the beach.
• retired — My father is sixty-eight, and he retired from his job last year.
• flowerpot — I put three little flowerpots by my kitchen window.
• sugar water — If you find a tired bee, you can give her a drop of sugar water.
• wing — The small bird had one hurt wing, so it could not fly.

Talk about it · Write about it

Talk about it: Do you like insects, or are you a little afraid of them? Are there many bees, birds, or animals where you live? What can people in a big city do to help nature?

Write about it: Write 6–8 sentences about a time you helped an animal or an insect. What happened? What did you do? How did you feel after? Try to use the past simple: I saw…, I gave…, it flew away…

🎉 Well done — you read a whole A2 story in English, and you saw the past simple in action! You also learned ten useful new words about nature and city life.

But wait — will the bees really find Maya’s small balcony from all the way up in the sky? How does one tiny bee choose which garden to visit? You will find out more in the next story…

Next story: Read another A2 story →

About this story: This is an original A2 (elementary) graded reader of about 1,700 words. The vocabulary is controlled to roughly the top 700 English words, and any harder word (like pollen, hive, or retired) is explained the first time it appears and then reused inside the story. The main grammar focus is the past simple, with a little going to and will for future actions.

Khamis Maiouf

My name is Khamis Maiouf. I am the creator of the English Teacher Site, dedicated to providing valuable resources and insights for students around the world. With a passion for education and a commitment to helping students enhance their skills, I aim to make English teaching more effective and enjoyable for both educators and students.