LIGHTFOOT DISCOVERS LOVE
Wonderfully handsome was Lightfoot the Deer as he stood in the little
opening by the pond of Paddy the Beaver, his head thrown back proudly,
as he received the congratulations of his neighbors of the Green Forest
who had seen him win the great fight with the big stranger who had come
down from the Great Mountain. To beautiful Miss Daintyfoot, peeping out
from the thicket where she had hidden to watch the great fight,
Lightfoot was the most wonderful person in all the Great World. She
adored him, which means that she loved him just as much as it was
possible for her to love.
But Lightfoot didn't know this. In fact, he didn't know that Miss
Daintyfoot was there. His one thought had been to drive out of the Green
Forest the big stranger who had come down from the Great Mountain. He
had been jealous of that big stranger, though he hadn't known that he
was jealous. The real cause of his anger and desire to fight had been
the fear that the big stranger would find Miss Daintyfoot and take her
away. Of course this was nothing but jealousy.
Now that the great fight was over, and he knew that the big stranger
was hurrying back to the Great Mountain, all Lightfoot's anger melted
away. In its place was a great longing to find Miss Daintyfoot. His
great eyes became once more soft and beautiful. In them was a look of
wistfulness. Lightfoot walked down to the edge of the water and drank,
for he was very, very thirsty. Then he turned, intending to take up once
more his search for beautiful Miss Daintyfoot.
When he turned he faced the thicket in which Miss Daintyfoot was hiding.
His keen eyes caught a little movement of the branches. A beautiful head
was slowly thrust out, and Lightfoot gazed again into a pair of soft
eyes which he was sure were the most beautiful eyes in all the Great
World. He wondered if she would disappear and run away as she had the
last time he saw her.
He took a step or two forward. The beautiful head was withdrawn.
Lightfoot's heart sank. Then he bounded forward into that thicket. He
more than half expected to find no one there, but when he entered that
thicket he received the most wonderful surprise in all his life. There
stood Miss Daintyfoot, timid, bashful, but with a look in her eyes which
Lightfoot could not mistake. In that instant Lightfoot understood the
meaning of that longing which had kept him hunting for her and of the
rage which had filled him when he had discovered the presence of the big
stranger from the Great Mountain. It was love. Lightfoot knew that he
loved Miss Daintyfoot and, looking into her soft, gentle eyes, he knew
that Miss Daintyfoot loved him.