2009
SE0925 : Fireplace in the entrance hall, Somerset House, Rawson Street, Halifax
taken 15 years ago, near to Halifax, Calderdale, England

Fireplace in the entrance hall, Somerset House, Rawson Street, Halifax
The plasterwork shows Aesop's fable of the bear and the honey bees. I have not been able to find this fable on-line, but from my memory of the text on the card next to the fireplace the bear investigated the hive and a single bee came out and stung it on the nose, whereupon the bear made an angry attack on the hive to steal the honeycombs, only to be attacked, stung and chased away by the whole swarm of bees. There are two morals, first that it is better to put up with a small injury than to make an angry retaliation resulting in a much worse injury, and secondly that a large number of very small creatures can defeat a much larger creature.