Aristaeus the Bee-Keeper

Aristaeus was a bee-keeper. One day all of his bees died, and he asked his mother to help. She told him that if she were to force Proteus to help him, he would find out what happened.

So Aristaeus found Proteus, who told him that a nymph, while trying to escape from him, was bitten by a snake and died as a result. Her friends, angry, killed all his bees. The only way for him to get them back would be to kill four bulls, sacrifice them to the nymphs, and nine days later come back.

Aristaeus did so, and when he came back nine days later, he found that inside one of the carcasses bees had made a bee-hive.

This is supposed to explain why bees sometimes live in the wild.