rest here," he told them.

The others got up and walked away. He was left alone again. He closed his eyes and was thinking when he felt something close to him. He opened his eyes and saw some of the healing leaves in front of him. Standing above him was a large yearling male. He smelled of Gorro.

"I am Alar," Gorro's son," the deer said in a deep clear voice. "Father asked me to bring you these leaves for your illness."

"Thank you," he said. He doubted if they could help him now, but at least they could not hurt. He ate them and shortly he fell into a deep sleep.

The next few days he spent talking mostly to his family. Other deer came up mostly to look at him. Few had seen a deer as old as him. Many of the older males in the herd embraced him and treated him with the same respect as always. All about him he saw the new life taking hold. All of the deer looked healthy and fit to survive the winter. Gorro had done a good job in getting the herd prepared. The herd was ready. Gorro had succeeded. He now knew a son of his had learned the lessons of being a herd leader. He felt satisfied that all the time he and Strange had sped had not been for nothing. For the first time since Stranger died, he felt happy. He was glad he came home.

"The hunts were not too bad," Gorro told him. "I took the herd deep into the forest where Man could not find us. We lost only a few foolish deer that went out in the open."

"Good," he told his Son. "Gorro I am proud of you and others. Your mother, Claris, and Stanger would also be proud of you. You have made this old deer happy. Have you begun training your children" he wanted to know?

"Yes Father, in another year, I will have children that will be ready if something happens to me. Stuben is training his children and a few of the other yearlings are learning with them. We are teaching them everything you taught us."

"So it will all go on," he said.

Even through his chest hurt and his breath was short, he knew it did not matter anymore. No matter what happened to him, what he, Stranger, Faline and Claris taught them would go on long after them. He was content at that.

Epilogue: Into the Rising Light

Over the next few days his antlers started to itch and then shortly fell out as did with all the other males. He did not think he grow another pair. He spent the time at night on the open space near the lake getting to know his family again. It was a pleasant experience, but he did have a problem keeping the names straight. He watched Gorro and Stuben teaching the fawns and the yearlings the important information they would need to know. He could see all in the herd deferred to Gorro and Stuben, but Gorro did not use force or intimidation to get his way. The deer in the herd listed too him because they respected him. Many of the older deer also came to him and asked his advice. Gorro did not mind and went out of his way to show that while he was herd leader, Bambi was someone anyone could go to with a question. He tried to answer all of the questions and tell the other deer what they needed to know. Even the pain in his chest got less, but his shortness of breath was getting greater.

It was after the first snow fall. The snow covered him as he slept in the day. He was cold, but he seemed to shrug it off that night. He spent his time playing that winter night with the fawns. How quick the children were and how much energy they had as they darted around him in fawn play. He spoke to all his family, most about how the forest had been when he was a child. All the children listened and asked many question. He was glad he could tell them. He went to bed in the morning feeling happier than he had been in a while.

He felt very tired and asleep quickly. In his sleep he was use to seeing unusual things. Lately there were faces of Faline, Stranger, Claris and his dead son Veron. Tonight it was different. There was a solid white cloud stretching across his vision. As he looked along the edges he started to see the white shrink, being replaced by blackness. Slowly the blackness moved across his vision making everything around him as black as the deepest night. Finally the white light shrunk to a solid white dot of bright light. It stayed there in the middle of his view for a while and then started to grow. As it grew he realized it was not a dot of light, but something else. It had a form to it, a shape to it. It was a familiar shape. As the picture grew now more quickly he realized it was a tail. It was perfectly white deer's tale. The picture grew and grew and took on more shape. The light was bright, almost blinding like looking into the greater light. Slowly appeared strong legs, a solid heavily muscled body, and finally when he saw it a tall erect head with a huge rack. The deer suddenly turned around and he saw its face, but it had no scent. Even in the bright light he could see it clearly.

"Father," he called out loudly. "Father is it you?"

The deer looked at him with the same deep brown eyes he remember from when he was a child. "Yes, my Son. You can get up if you want to," he said in that gentle, but powerful voice.

It seemed easy enough he got up and stepped into the light next to his Father, as he did he looked back. Then was an image of an old deer, asleep on the ground. The body was covered in white and brown fur. It was still. The image was quickly fading. He looked back at his Father.

"That is me," he realized. "I am dead, Father?" he asked

"Yes, my Son," he said simply.

For a moment he did not know what to do. He almost felt like crying out like he was a fawn again that had done something wrong. Finally he bowed his head and said in a low voice, "I am sorry Father I did the best I could."

"That is true, my Son, you did do the best any deer could," his Father reassured him. "You certainly have done better than I could."

He looked back at his father who was almost beaming. He was happy. Maybe it had all been worth after all. "Thank you Father," he said.

"No, my Son, Thank You," his father said with pride in his voice. "Now we need to be going."

"Is what Stranger said about the Great Herd true?" he asked.

"Yes, My Son, Stranger was right about this and a great many other things. They are all there waiting for you. Faline is there, your son Veron, your daughters Gurri and Gerta. Stranger is there along with Claris. We even found room for a bear. Even your mother is there with me."

"Mother," he said like a fawn. "I like to see them.

"Then come with me, my Son," the Great Prince told him like so many times when he was a fawn. He followed him like a child.

Both Father and Son turned away from one life and together walked into the rising light.

The End