those years ago when the Man cave was first built. It was cold and still. It was the Man animal that had the large piece of armor or scale on its front. They then saw where Man had made a pile of earth. He also saw several holes in the ground. Yes man was going to build something here. So far he could not see any sign of the Man cave, but Man was interested in making something here. He also knew that Man would be back early the next morning. They looked at it a while and then walked into the forest and vanished into the trees.

They walked quietly back to the clearing where they left the doe with their new fawns. All were standing there calmly when they returned.

"Man is building a new Man cave," he said. "That means Man will hunt here in The Season. Man also has a Man cave deeper in the woods that I have seen. That may mean that Man will try and chase us from this part of the forest, toward the other Man cave."

"Or they could try and push us into the Meadow where they can use their killing sticks on us," the young Bambi said. "This does not look good for the herd here."

"No it does not look good," he repeated. "We must then decide what we will do when the time comes."

"The only way to go would be across the Man path into the other part of the forest," the elder Bambi said."

"Could we cross the small open space and run into the Meadow forest?" Gena asked.

"We have to cross the open space," he reminded them. "It is short, but large enough for Man to use his killing sticks on the herd."

"We could run deeper into this forest and hope we do not run into Men from the other Man cave," Stabo said. "If we all run in different directions, Man cannot be everywhere at once."

"True, my Son," he said. "There may not be a good answer to this problem. We have time to think about it."

"I am still a little hungry," Kena said getting up. "I think I will go into the next clearing and eat something."

"That sounds like a good idea," Gena said and got up with her. The other doe followed. He went with them and started to eat until his side hurt again and then he stopped. By then the greater light was rising.

Karene spoke up after she was done eating and feeding her fawn. "I think we should go deeper into the forest to get away from the noise. I like to try and sleep today."

"That sounds like a great idea," he said and followed her along with the others.

The noise continued for several more days. Each night they looked, the Man cave got bigger and bigger. There were also other things built that were not there before. He noticed a hole in the ground surrounded by red stone. The same red stone was being used to construct part of the Man cave. This cave looked much bigger than the last one. By the time they were done, the new Man cave looked about twice as big as the old cave. That meant more Men in the season and more killing sticks. Poor Stabo looked at it and his heart sank.

"If there are twice as many Men and they are come into the forest to hunt, then we are all going to end up like poor Balo and Stena," Stabo told him and both Bambis privately.

"We are going to have to flee across the Man path and hope Man does not follow us," the elder Bambi repeated.

"Or go deeper into the forest and hope you do not run into the other group of Man,' the younger Bambi told them.

"I do not like either idea," Stabo said. "And soon I am handing herd leadership to Bambi."

They all knew that was going to happen this summer. Young Bambi was old enough now and ready. This would be his first problem.

They left it there and hoped a solution would show itself before long. He went back teaching Kena and Kele, Gena younger daughters.

It was in late spring that something happened that both made him happy and sad. They were feeding one night on the edge of the open meadow where the grass had grown back. They were eating when five new deer walked onto the meadow: a big male, two doe, and three fawns. For a second he wondered where they came until he caught a scent of them.

"Stelar?" he said to himself.

"Sister?" Young Bambi said out loud.

All of them approached the new group. It was Stelar, Helos, Young Faline, and three new fawns. They all ran and greeted all of them.

"What has happened," he said to all of them.

"I left Delon," Young Faline said almost in tears. "He has changed. Stranger, after you left he argued with everyone. I tried to talk to him, but he would not listen. Finally I left. Stelar, Helos, and their fawn came with me."

"I cannot be around him anymore," Stelar said. "He said I cared more for you than his herd and he was right. He does not lead like you, Father. He orders the deer around and if they do not do what he says, he kicks them until they do. He is a bad leader and I fear he will come to a bad end. I do not want to be there when that happens."

He looked at the elder Bambi who swallowed hard and then turned away his head hung low. He started to walk away suddenly looking very old. The other looked at him with worry. It was if he was suddenly in great pain. He and Faline ran to him think he was going to fall, but he stopped and steadied himself. "I thought it was just like Geno," he said, his voice labored. "Now it is Delon too that I failed to reach."

"I did too," he told his old friend. "I feel as bad about this like I felt about Balo and Stena."

"Where did we go wrong?" he asked as if in pain.

"You did not go wrong," Young Bambi spoke up loudly. "Stabo did not go wrong, your daughter Gena did not go wrong. My Father did not go wrong. Gorro did not go wrong. "No, Bambi you and Stranger did nothing wrong. What this shows is that some deer can learn what you taught and some deer cannot."

"He is correct, my mate," Faline said nuzzling the back of Bambi's neck. "Other than Geno, our children came out fine. Even Geno's children are good. The failure is with the deer, not with you."

It was then he saw Faline stiffen like something had hit her. The others noticed it too.

"Faline," he said, "Are you alright."

She looked normal again. "No it is just a pain I get in my chest at times. Sometimes is goes down my left front leg and left side. Like you, Stranger, I am getting old."

"Faline are you sure?" Bambi asked and kissed the side of her face with affection.

"Yes," she said. "We should not be sad that Delon has failed. "We should be happy we have our family back."

"I agree," Gena said. "I am happy to have you all back."

"Young Faline looked at Stabo. "Can we stay here?" she asked.

"Of course you can," Stabo said. "All of you can stay."

All of them agreed. In a way he was happy. He liked the idea of his daughter's children running around and playing with them. One of the things he missed most about getting old was not playing with his children again.

"I have something to say about that," they heard from a distance.

"Onto the meadow walked Delon, big with a full rack growing He looked furious at them.

"It was not bad enough you threw my mother and father out so they could die, but now you take my mate and my children. No, that will not happen. She is coming back with me if I have to drag her back."

What happened after that was so fast he never had a chance to say a word. Young Bambi eyes flashed red. Without saying a word, he dropped his head and charge straight at Delon, who put his head down and charged. They both met head on with a crash. Both of them flew back. Young Bambi recovered first and charged again. Delon dropped and tried to trip Young Bambi by bringing his rear legs around. Young Bambi saw it and leaped up into the air coming down and kicking Delon in the side of the head. Delon managed to move aside and so the kick just grazed his head. Delon raised his head and let out a kick that caught Young Bambi in the side of the head knocking him sideways. Young Bambi went down, but rolled out of the way. However he did not get quickly to his feet. Delon saw the advantage and charged as he did Young Bambi lurched forward and brought his velvet covered antlers up underneath Delon plunging them into his chest. If they had been out of velvet, that might have killed Delon right there. At the same time he lifted with his powerful legs. As he did, Delone went flying through the air. Delon hit the ground hard and was stunned. They could all see the welts on his chest and belly bleeding, but not seriously. Young Bambi was on him in a moment and raised up to pound him on the side. If was then they are saw Young Bambi was going to killed Delon.

"NO!" both he and Bambi yelled out at the same time.

He tried to move to stop them, but Bambi was much faster now than he was. Young Bambi came down hard on the side of Delon with his front hoofs. He raised up to pound him again when Bambi ran forward and hit him in the flank with his shoulder. That knocked him aside and knocked him off his feet. He hit the ground rolled one and then got up quickly. Bambi stood between him and a Delon just getting to his feet.

"Enough!" Bambi called to both of them. "This family will not kill each other while I am still alive."

Bambi then turned and shoved his face again Delon's face like he had done to Krono all those seasons past. "You leave now, before I kill you myself. You have no place here. You have no claim on Young Faline or her fawns. You turn up

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