Dawn of the summer’s day came hot, without a breath of wind or the usual
morning chill. The sun seemed to come up faster than usual. It rose
swiftly and flashed like a torch with dazzling rays.
The dew on the meadows and bushes was drawn up in an instant. The earth
was perfectly dry so that the clods crumbled. The forest had been still
from an early hour. Only a woodpecker hammered now and then, or the
doves cooed their tireless, fervid tenderness.
Bambi was standing in a little clearing, forming a narrow glade in the
heart of the thicket.
A swarm of midges danced and hummed around his head in the warm
sunshine.
There was a low buzzing among the leaves of the hazel bushes near Bambi,
and a big may-beetle crawled out and flew slowly by. He flew among the
midges, up and up, till he reached the tree-top where he intended to
sleep till evening. His wing-covers folded down hard and neatly and his
wings vibrated with strength.
The midges divided to let the may-beetle pass through, and closed behind
him again. His dark brown body, over which shone the vibrant glassy
shimmer of his whirring wings, flashed for a moment in the sunshine as
he disappeared.
“Did you see him?” the midges asked each other.
“That’s the old may-beetle,” some of them hummed.
Others said, “All of his offspring are dead. Only one is still alive.
Only one.”
“How long will he live?” a number of midges asked.
The others answered, “We don’t know. Some of his offspring live a long
time. They live forever almost.... They see the sun thirty or forty
times, we don’t know exactly how many. Our lives are long enough, but we
see the daylight only once or twice.”
“How long has the old beetle been living?” some very small midges asked.
“He has outlived his whole family. He’s as old as the hills, as old as
the hills. He’s seen more and been through more in this world than we
can even imagine.”
Bambi walked on. “Midge buzzings,” he thought, “midge buzzings.”
A delicate frightened call came to his ears.
He listened and went closer, perfectly softly, keeping among the
thickest bushes, and moving noiselessly as he had long known how to do.
The call came again, more urgent, more plaintively. Fawns’ voices were
wailing, “Mother! Mother!”
Bambi glided through the bushes and followed the calls.
Two fawns were standing side by side, in their little red coats, a
brother and sister, forsaken and despondent.
[Illustration: _Two fawns were standing side by side, in their little
red coats._]
“Mother! Mother!” they called.
Before they knew what had happened Bambi was standing in front of them.
They stared at him speechlessly.
“Your mother has no time for you now,” said Bambi severely.
He looked into the little brother’s eyes. “Can’t you stay by yourself?”
he asked.
The little brother and sister were silent.
Bambi turned and, gliding into the bushes, disappeared before they had
come to their senses. He walked along.
“The little fellow pleases me,” he thought, “perhaps I’ll meet him again
when he’s larger....”
He walked along. “The little girl is nice too,” he thought, “Faline
looked like that when she was a fawn.”
He went on, and vanished in the forest.
THE END
* * * * *
_from_ THE INNER SANCTUM _of_
SIMON and SCHUSTER _Publishers_
31 West 57th Street : _New York_
The _Inner Sanctum_ made three glamorous pilgrimages to the city
of ARTHUR SCHNITZLER, FRANZ WEFREL, RICHARD STRAUSS and
_Eroicastrasse_ [our favorite thoroughfare] in arranging for the
publication of this idyll of a deer: _Bambi, A Life In The Woods_.
Having made numerous channel crossings and having battled with proof in
every tantalizing form, _The Inner Sanctum_ particularly appreciates
the force and grace of JOHN GALSWORTHY'S tribute in the
foreword.
Masterpieces, little or big, are rare phenomena. It is _The Inner
Sanctum's_ profound conviction that the accolade is deserved by
_Bambi_--and a first edition of seventy-five thousand copies is the
ratification of this enthusiasm.
--ESSANDESS
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER NOTES
Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where
multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.
Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer
errors occur.