I was told that the queen should be wrapped in a banana leaf and baked.  So, I hurried out to get a banana leaf.  When I returned, ready to prepare my sumptuous treat, I noticed that, in my hurry, I had left the door to my room slightly open.

      I went in, and there, in the middle of the floor where the queen once lay, was a young chicken, jerking its head and blinking its bulging eyes, as chickens usually do.  I concluded that either my queen termite magically turned into a chicken - or that bug-eyed, mangy chicken ate my queen!  In any case, I lost what was probably the only chance I'll ever have to eat an African queen termite.  What a tragedy.  I guess the Kenyan proverb is true: "Hurry-hurry has no blessing."