help Bambi as well as it helped him.

"Here," he said and showed the others the plant. "He used his teeth to cut off a branch of many leaves and held it in his mouth. "See that Bambi eats about this many leaves every day," he showed them. "Can you all find this bush again if I am someplace else?"

"Yes I know it," Faline said. "I never saw it grow here before. My old Aunt Ena told me about it in the old forest."

"Now let us hurry back to the cave," he said and ran off with the others behind him.

When they got back they saw an interesting site. Bambi was trying to drink but his legs were shaking. Both Stena and Gerta were on either side of him trying to hold him steady as he drank. They were having problems because Bambi was so much heavier than they were. Balo stood like a tree against Bambi's back to make sure he did not fall that way. Bambi managed to get several mouths full of water then stood up.

He came over and offered the leaves to him. "These are bitter, but they should help you. Try and eat them,"

Bambi ate the leaves off the branch he was holding. He made at face at the first leaf, but ate all of them.

"Do you think you can eat some grass," he asked.

"Too far to the meadow," Bambi said. It was obviously tiring for him to stand.

"There is grass behind the cave," Faline said. "You can eat that."

"Need it for winter," Bambi told them.

"It will grow back before winter," he pointed out. "Right now you need it so eat it."

Bambi walked behind the cave and started eating on the grass. Bambi only ate for a short while before he heard a great growling noise coming from inside him. Bambi's tail shot upward exposing the white underside. He lurched forward and bounded into the trees for a second. They then heard a groan and the sound of Bambi's waste being emptied onto the ground. A little while later he came back. He looked embarrassed, but continued eating. After a while he limped back to his cave and lay down again. He went to sleep almost immediately.

"He may sleep for a while," he told the others. "I know I did." He then looked at Gerta and Gurri. "You Father may need some help over the next few days. He will be weak, but I hope he will be back to normal soon." It was then he realized the day was far along and he was tired from his trip last night and the events of today. "We will discuss this more tonight," he told all of them and went back to his thicket. Claris lay on one side of him and Stena lay on the other side."

"I will help Bambi, if I can," Stena said.

"I know you will," he said and nuzzled her cheek. "You and your brother have done well and I am proud of you both of you. For now let us sleep."

He noticed Jolo had bedded down not far away from Gurri and Balo. That may prove interesting in the future.

Over the next few days, Bambi began to improve. He got up and moved around more, but he could tell his muscles were still tight and hard to move. He told him how he had gone through the same thing. It was not long before Bambi could walk to the meadow at night, but he and Faline ate alone. Bambi also did not talk with many deer including him. When he did speak to him it was formal like a member of the herd would talk to the herd leader. This bothered him. When Bambi was herd leader he and Claris had paid him his proper respect when they were with the herd, but he always treated Bambi more as a friend and not just the herd leader. Something was bothering Bambi on the inside and being the tight lipped sometime arrogant deer that Bambi could be, he knew he could not expect Bambi to come to him.

As the days went on he noticed Gurri was staying closer to Jolo. He looked at them. Yes, he was tall, strong and wise. He had never had a doe he cared about. Jolo had bred doe during the Season like he had done before meeting Claris. As he thought about it there was almost a flash of light in his head. One of the things he had always wondered about was why Bambi pushed him and Claris together when he first got here. Bambi had never explained. Now he understood. If relations were close between males and doe, there would be stronger within the herd. Making him stronger made the herd stronger.

After the two of them had fed, he walked over to Jolo. Gurri walked away thinking he wanted to talk to him about the herd. In a way she was right.

"May I ask you something?" he asked the large deer watching Gurri walk away.

'Of course," he said with a slight bow.

"Do you like Gurri?"

"Yes," Jolo said warily. "Do you or Bambi object?"

"I will not speak for Bambi," he said. "As for me, I do not object. Does she like you?"

"I think so, she has never told me to go away. I have fun around Balo. He will sometime make mock charges at me and I will push him away. I think she is lonely after Delor died."

"Good," he said with a smile. "I will tell you one thing and that is ask her if she feels for you. She will tell you."

"What about Bambi?" Jolo asked as if unsure.

"If Bambi or Faline wanted to say something about Gurri and you, I can promise you they would. Besides Gurri is a four season doe and is the same age as you. She is old enough to know what she wants. Like I said, ask her. I will talk to Bambi."

With that he left him alone. It was getting toward day. Although he could see no sign of Man, he still did not want the herd to be in the open in the light. He called to the herd for them to leave the meadow. All of them followed his instructions and within a short while the meadow was empty of deer again.

He noticed Jolo and Curri walked away from the others. He saw Balo running around with Stena. As they got back to the cave he told Claris he wanted to talk alone with Bambi for a while. The he walked up to the old deer who was hardly limping now.

"Can I talk to you alone?" he asked Bambi. He thought any doe with them would only get in the way of this conversation.

Bambi nodded and followed him. When they got far away Bambi asked "What can I do for the herd leader."

"First off stop talking to me like you are some yearling," he said seriously. "When you were herd leader Claris and I paid you and Faline respect when we were with the others, but when we were alone I always treated you as if you were my friend. You always gave me advice as if you were my friend, not just the herd leader. You are still my friend and nothing that has happened is going to change that."

Bambi bowed his head. "I am sorry, but lately I feel useless. I have no purpose here."

He was shocked. No purpose, how can that be? "What do you mean; you are the wisest deer I know. If nothing else you can still offer me advice in case I start to do something stupid."

"You have not done anything stupid since I have been back," Bambi told him head still down. "You seem to be as wise as I ever was."

"And I learned this from who," he interrupted. "I learned that watching you. I took up with Claris on your advice and it was the best thing I ever done. No my friend, you are far from useless. "

With that Bambi raised his head. "But look at me. I am a beaten deer."

Now we were getting to the point. Beaten senior males leave the herd, live alone, and usually die soon afterward. "No you are not beaten. You did not fight back and yes that was a mistake. I know you could have beaten your son into the ground if you had wanted too. You have only been pushed back not beaten."

"But I feel weak and tired," Bambi's said his voice also sounding strained.

'Like I did when I came back from the bear; do you remember how you got me my strength back? You and I would go off alone and have mock combat. You would push me down and I pushed back and over time I got stronger. Well I am going to do the same to you. After feeding every night we are going to come alone to the clearing and I will spar with you alone. You will push back and get stronger and when you are strong enough I hope you go back and beat some sense into your son."

"No, the others will beat him in time. He will be run out and mostly likely die soon afterwards. I do not want to go back there; I just want to feel useful. Otherwise I might as well walk alone into the meadow in the morning."

That shocked him most of all. Bambi being dead would solve no one problem's except his. "NO!" he shouted. Even Bambi took a step back. "I will not see your head going up in some Man cave. You are going to be of use to me here along with Jolo. By the way, I hoped you noticed Jolo and Gurri are a couple."

Bambi smiled for the first time. "That was the one thing that made me feel happy. They would be good for each other."

"Then tell Jolo and Gurri, in the same way you did for me and Claris. You see I finally understand why you did that too."

"Maybe I can be of some use," Bambi muttered and walked back with him to the cave.

Chapter 6: Uninvited Guests

The late summer passed with no further interruptions by Man. The grasses grew tall and there were no major problems. In fact, this was one of the most peaceful times, other than winter, he could remember since arriving in the forest. The only annoyance was that it tended to rain more than before. His thicket protected him from the worse of the rain, but all of them got soaking wet on more than one occasion. The herd fed at night, the fawns grew larger, and his rack finally filled out. Claris told him it looked about the same size as last

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