Bambi was often left alone now. But he did not have the same fear of
it as he had the first time. His mother would disappear, and then,
however much he called for her, she did not come. But then she would
reappear unexpectedly.
One evening, feeling very lonely, he wandered once more along the
paths. He had not found Gobo and Faline even once. The sky had already
turned to a light grey and it was beginning to get dark, so that the
tops of the trees could be seen over the bushes and
undergrowth. Something rustled in the bushes, something hurtled its
way between the leaves, and then his mother appeared Close behind her
another deer made its way in. Bambi did not know who it was. Auntie
Ena or his father or someone else. But Bambi’s mother saw immediately
who it was, despite the speed at which she had rushed past him. He
heard the shrillness of her voice. She screamed, and it seemed to
Bambi that she did so only in fun, but then it occurred to him that
there was a slight ring of fear in that scream.
Another time, it happened in full daylight. Bambi had been walking for
hours through the dense woods and finally began to call. Not so much
because he was afraid, but because did not want to remain so alone any
more, and he felt he would soon be in a terrible state. So he began to
call for his mother.
Suddenly there was one of their fathers standing in front of him,
looking at him severely. Bambi had not heard him coming and he was
startled. This elder stag looked more powerful than the others, he was
taller and more proud. His coat was aflame with a deep dark red, but
his face shone silver-grey; and a powerful, black pearled crown
extended high above his playful ears.
“What are you calling for?” the old stag asked severely. Bambi
trembled in awe of the elder stag and did not dare to make any
answer. “Your mother hasn’t got the time to spend on you now!” the
elder continued. Bambi was completely cowed by this imperious voice,
but at the same time he felt admiration for it. “Can’t you be by
yourself for a while? You should be ashamed of yourself!” Bambi would
have liked to say that he could be by himself perfectly well, that he
had often been by himself, but he said nothing. He did as he was told
and became terribly ashamed. The elder turned round and left
him. Bambi did not know how the stag left, where he had gone, did not
even know whether he had left quickly or slowly. He was simply gone,
just as suddenly as he had arrived. Bambi strained his ears, but he
heard no steps moving away from him, no leaf being disturbed. That
made him suppose the elder must still be quite near to him, and he
smelt the air on every side. He learned nothing from that. Bambi
sighed in relief as he was once more alone, but at the same time he
yearned to see the old stag again and to make sure he was not
displeased with him.
Then his mother arrived but Bambi said nothing about his meeting with
the elder. Nor did he ever call for her, now, when she was out of
sight. He thought about the old stag when he wandered about on his
own; he felt a powerful wish to come across him. Then he would say to
him, “See? I’m not calling for anyone.” And the elder would praise
him.
He did speak to Gobo and Faline though, the next time they were
together on the meadow. They listened with excitement and they had had
no experience of their own that could compare with this. “Weren’t you
scared?” asked Gobo excitedly. Yes! Bambi admitted, he had been
scared. Just a little bit. “I’d have been terribly scared,” Gobo told
him. Bambi answered that no, he had not been very scared, because the
elder had been so majestic. Gobo told him, “That wouldn’t have been
much help for me. I’d have been too scared even to look at him. When I
get scared everything flickers in front of my eyes so that I can’t see
anything and my heart beats so hard that I can’t breathe.” What Bambi
had told them made Faline very thoughtful and she said nothing.
The next time they met, though, Gobo and Faline rushed to him in great
leaps and bounds. They were alone once more, as was Bambi. “We’ve been
looking for you for ages,” declared Gobo. “Yes,” said Faline with an
air of importance, “as now we know exactly who it was that you saw.”
Bambi was so keen to know he jumped in the air. “Who ...!?”
Faline took pleasure in saying, “It was the old prince.”
“How do you know that?” Bambi wanted to know.
“Our mother told us!” retorted Faline.
Bambi was astonished, and he showed it. “Did you tell her about it
then?” The two of them nodded their heads. “But that was a secret!”
objected Bambi.
Gobo quickly tried to excuse himself. “It wasn’t me. It was Faline who
did it.” But Faline cheerfully called, “Oh, so what? Secret!? I wanted
to know who it was, and now we do know, and that’s much more
interesting!” Bambi was burning to hear all about this, and his wish
was satisfied. Faline told him everything. “He’s the most noble stag
in the whole wood. He’s the prince. There is no second most noble,
no-one comes near to him. No-one knows how old he is. No-one knows
where he lives. No-one knows who his relatives are. Very few have ever
even seen him. Now and then there’s a rumour that he’s dead because he
hasn’t been seen for a long time. Then somebody catches a glimpse of
him and then everyone knows he’s still alive. No-one has ever dared to
ask him where he’s been. He doesn’t speak to anyone and no-one dares
to speak to him. He goes along the paths where no-one else ever goes;
he knows every part of the wood, even the most distant corner. And
nothing is a danger to him. Other princes might tussle with each
other, sometimes as a test or in fun but sometimes they fight in
earnest. It’s many years since he fought with anyone. And there’s
no-one still alive who did fight with him a long time ago. He’s the
great prince.”
Bambi forgave Gobo and Faline for having carelessly chatted about his
secret with their mother. He was even quite satisfied about it as now,
after all, it was him who had experienced all the all these important
things. Nonetheless, he was glad that Gobo and Faline did not know
everything quite precisely, that the great prince had said, “Can’t you
be by yourself for a while?,” that they did not know he had said, “You
should be ashamed of yourself!.” Bambi was glad, now, that he had kept
silent about these admonitions. Faline would have told everything
about that just like everything else, and then the whole forest would
have been gossiping about it.
That night, as the moon was rising, Bambi’s mother came back
again. She was suddenly there standing under the great oak at the edge
of the meadow and looking round for Bambi. He saw her straight away
and ran over to her. That night Bambi had another new experience. His
mother was tired and hungry. She did not walk about as much as she
usually did but satisfied herself there on the meadow where Bambi also
usually took his meals. Together there, they munched on the bushes and
as they did so, in that remarkably pleasant way, they wandered deeper
and deeper into the woods. There was a loud noise that came through
the greenery. Before Bambi had any idea of what was happening his
mother began to scream loudly, just as she did when she was greatly
startled or confused. “A-oh!” she screamed, jumped away, then stopped
and screamed, “A-oh, ba-oh!.” Then, Bambi saw some immense figures
appear, coming towards them through the noise. They came quite
close. They looked like Bambi and his mother, like Auntie Ena and
anyone else of their species, but they were enormous, they had grown
so big and powerful that you felt compelled to look up at them. Like
his mother, Bambi began to scream, “A-oh ... Ba-oh ...Ba-oh!.” He was
hardly aware that he was screaming, he could not stop himself. The
line of figures went slowly past, three or four enormous figures one
after another. Last of all came one that was even bigger than the
others, it had a wild mane around its neck and its head was crowned
with a whole tree. Just to see it took your breath away. Bambi stood
there and howled as loudly as he could, as he felt more frightened and
bewildered than he ever had been before. His fear was of a particular
kind. He felt as if he were pitifully small, and even his mother
seemed to be the same. He felt ashamed, although he had no idea why,
at the same time the horror of it shook him and he once more began to
howl. “Ba-oh ... Ba-a-oh!.” It made him feel better when he shouted
like that.
The line of figures had passed. There was nothing more to see and
nothing more to hear from in. Even Bambi’s mother became silent. There
was only Bambi who would whine briefly from time to time. He was still
afraid.
“You can be quiet now,” his mother said, “look, they’ve gone away.”
“Oh, mother,” whispered Bambi, “who was that?”
“Oh, they’re not really that dangerous,” his mother said. “They were
our big relatives ... yes ... they are big and they’re quality ...
much higher quality than you or me ...”
“And aren’t they dangerous?” Bambi asked.
“Not normally,” his mother explained. “But they say there are many
things that have happened. People say this and that about them but I
don’t know if there’s any truth in these stories. They’ve never done
anything to me or to anyone I know.”
“Why would they do anything to us when they’re relatives of ours?”
thought Bambi. He wanted to be quiet, but he was still shaking.
“No, I don’t suppose they’ll do anything to us,” his mother answered,
“but I’m not sure, and I get alarmed every time I see them. I can’t
stop myself. It’s the same every time.”
Bambi was slowly soothed down by this conversation, but he remained
thoughtful. Right above him, in among the branches of an alder tree,
an impressive tawny owl shrieked. But Bambi was confused and forgot,
for once, to show that he was startled. The owl, however still came
down to him and asked, “Give you a shock, did I?.”
“Of course,” answered Bambi. “You always give me a shock.”
The owl gave a quiet laugh; he was satisfied. “I hope you don’t blame
me for it,” he said. “It’s just the way I do things.” He fluffed up
his plumage till he looked like a ball, sank his beak into his soft,
downy feathers, and put on a terribly nice, serious expression. That
was enough for him.
Bambi opened his heart to him. “Do you know,” he began in a way that
seemed older than his age, “I’ve just had a shock that was far bigger
than the one you gave me.”
“What?” asked the owl, no longer so satisfied with himself.
Bambi told him about his meeting with his enormous relatives.
“Don’t tell me about your relatives,” declared the owl. “I’ve got
relatives too, you know. But all I have to do is look round me
anywhere in the daytime and they’re all over me. Na, there’s not much
point in having relatives. If they’re bigger than you they’re good for
nothing, and if they’re smaller they’re even more good for nothing. If
they’re bigger than you then you can’t stand them ‘cause they’re so
haughty, and if they’re smaller they can’t stand you ‘cause they think
you’re haughty. Na, I don’t want to know anything about anything of
that.”
“But ... I don’t even know my relatives ...” said Bambi shyly and
wishing he did. “I’d never heard anything about them and today was the
first time I saw them.”
“Don’t you bother about those people,” the owl advised him. “Just take
my word for it,” he said, rolling his eyes in a meaningful way, “take
my word, that’s the best thing to do. Relatives are never as good as
friends. Look at the two of us, we’re not related but we’re good
friends, aren’t we, and very nice it is too.”
Bambi was about to say something more, but the owl continued speaking.
“I’ve got some experience in things like that. You’re a bit young,
still. Take my word, I know better about these things. And anyway, I
don’t see why I should get involved in your family matters.” He rolled
his eyes, and rolled them in a way that seemed so thoughtful, and sat
with an expression that seemed so earnest and meaningful, that Bambi
was modest and said nothing.