not here by coincidence. His Father said he would not suffer. Now he understood. This was his Father’s plan.

He closed his eyes fighting back his sobbing like a newborn fawn again. He turned quickly around and ran off into the woods. He did not want to see or hear what would happen next.

He spent the night in his Father’s cave looking out over the meadow. Around him, he could see the dark shadows move as the trees moved with the wind. He could not believe that just like that, his father was gone. It was almost worse than when he lost his mother to Man. He felt alone. He was now the Great Prince of the Forest, yet he did not even know where to begin. What could he do; what should he do? It was all as black as the night around him. At times he sobbed, at times he felt like curling up like a fawn afraid of the forest around him. Toward morning, he realized his Father would have never acted like this, and neither would he.

He left the cave just before dawn and walked toward the clearing he knew Faline liked to sleep in. It was just after the great light rose. He walked up quietly past sleeping birds. The owls and night animals were returning to their rest and the animals of the day would soon rise. He took in the air searching for strange scents. He found none. All about him, he heard the cries and calls of the forest. All was as much at peace as he could expect considering the ‘eat or be eaten’ way of the forest. It was full light when he came to the clearing. He saw her at a distance.

She was still beautiful. Sleek, perfectly shaped doe with the most pleasant scent of any deer he ever knew. He could see a few gray hairs and maybe her lines were sagging a bit. She was also hanging low from the fawns she still carried. Those were his fawns and it brought back the memory of how he had made them with her. It was a pleasant thought. Soon they would come into the forest, live their lives, and then leave. She left her clearing and emptied herself well away from the entrance to the thicket. She walked slowly seeming to bend over to eat with effort. He walked out of the bush and came up upon her. She smelled him at once.

“Bambi,” she called out and walked over to him. He kissed her passionately and for a long time. Even if it was not the season, he still liked doing this. It made him feel warm inside. She then broke away.

“Bambi, what is wrong?” she said with apprehension. “It is not the children, is it?”

“No,” he said. “Geno and Gurri are fine. I saw them yesterday with my Father, just before…” and then he trailed off.

“What is it?” she asked gently. She still had a smooth voice.

He took a deep breath and resolved he would not start crying again. “We all met my Father. My Father sent the children away and took me to a place by the small stream near his hill. It was where he met my mother. He was very sick. He lay down, closed his eyes, and now my Father is gone.”

“Gone,” she said with a shrill.

“Yes, he is gone” he repeated in a low voice. “We will see him no more.”

“Oh, Bambi,” she said and nuzzled him along the side of his mouth. Then she suddenly stopped and drew back. “That means you are now the Great Prince of the Forest.”

“Yes,” he muttered, “And I am not ready for it.”

“What will you do?” his mate asked.

He turned to look at her. “I will do the best I can,” he said plainly. “I must go tell the others; the herd must know.”

“Of course they must,” Faline said.

He then looked at her and her bulging stomach. “How are you and them?”

“I am fine, the fawns are so heavy. They will soon be born, if not today, then soon. It is tiring to walk around with them.”

He nodded feeling bad that he was partly responsible for her discomfort. “When it is your time, send Gurri or Geno to find me. I am living in my Father’s cave, but I will stay around here for a while. I must go find the others now.”

“I will send them,” she said “You should go, they will be eating on the meadow,” Faline said.

He left her next to her thicket and made his way to the meadow. As he got there, he saw the herd males all in a group. So many he could not count them. There were Ronno and Kragas, both males he had beaten for Faline. Most of the others he did not know well. Most would never count for much in the herd. They were neither big enough nor strong enough to be a senior male. Maybe five males in the herd could be leaders. They must be hungry if they were out in daylight this late. There was certainly no Man around. With that many deer, he would have easily killed one by now.

He walked openly on the meadow and as he bellowed out to call all of the males over to him. He stood alone as they all came over to him. Ronno and Kragas were up front. As soon as they all got near him, he spoke up trying to keep his voice from breaking.

“I called you all over here to tell you that my Father is gone. We will not see the Great Prince of the Forest again.”

An utter stunned shock showed on all the faces. His Father had been here all their lives. Now he was gone and it seemed impossible. It was like the sky or trees had disappeared.

“Gone,” Kragas repeated.

“Yes gone,” Bambi said. “He was old, and sick from the hard winter. He told me goodbye and then he was gone.”

“This makes you The Great Prince of the Forest,” Ronno spat out in disbelief.

“No, I will not call myself Great Prince of the Forest,” Bambi said. “I will take my role as herd leader, but only my Father was the Great Prince. That is something you earn as you get older.”

“Good,” Ronno said in relief. “Look, Bambi, it is no secret to say I do not like you, I never have like you, and I never will like you. I respected and listened to your Father because of his age and wisdom. I do not respect you in the same way.”

That sounded like a direct challenge to his place as herd leader. No herd leader can put up with that. He leaped forward and rammed his head against Ronno’s hard, knocking him back.

“Anytime you want to become herd leader, Ronno, you can come see me and I will beat you like I did before,” he said letting his anger show through. “Anyone here, who thinks they want to be herd leader, is welcomed to try.”

With that, he stepped back to see if there were any takers. As he expected, no one stepped forward.

“There is one more thing,” Celon a five-season male spoke up. He was also one of the senior males.

“What is that?” he asked.

“I have heard a new deer was seen near the big open field on the other side of the large lake. He is a male and he is big, but I have not seen him.”

He thought about it for a while and then told the herd males, “If you see this deer, come find me.”

All nodded approval. “One last thing,” he said. “Having so many deer in the open and in the daylight is asking for one or more of us to die. Keep that in mind and remember what Man can see, Man can kill.”

He turned around and headed back to where Faline was. He had other things to worry about now.

 

CHAPTER TWO: ARRIVALS

 

Bambi lay on the ground resting in the daylight. The air was warmer, but still had a trace of coolness in the early morning. By now the grass was growing at full and that would continue until near The Season. The last few days of hearty eating had gone a long way to restore him from the privations of winter. About him, the trees were growing new leaves, the bushes were growing thick, and the grass was coming up in huge patches. Even berries were appearing. He loved spring. It was the time to renew life.

He lay near Faline's den. The previous night, Gurri had found him and told him that her mother had told her the time of birth had arrived for her fawns. While the birth of his children had nothing to do with him, prowling foxes, badgers, and other smaller predators would make an easy meal of a newborn fawn, if they could find it. He would make sure that would not happen. He had stood watch on the hill in his old forest with his Father when Geno and Gurri were born. He did not want to go there this time. The memory of his Father was still too painful. Instead, he lay on the ground and watch a pair of newly mated bluebirds build a nest in the nearby tree. About them, other birds did the same. Overhead, almost out of sight, soared the hawks and other predators of the air looking to swoop down for a meal to feed their own chicks.

The great light was high overhead when he heard the light footsteps of another deer close by. He looked and saw Gurri walk out of the trees and toward him. She was already starting to fill out like her mother did when they were the same age. She would be a beautiful doe, like her mother that should give her the pick of males. He only hoped she find a good one. He coughed once to let her know he was there and she came quickly over and lay down next to him. It was as if she was a fawn again. Like her mother, her scent was pleasing to his nose. She nuzzled him and he did the same to her.

"I wanted to see if I could help Mother," she told him.

"That is good of you, my daughter," he said still nuzzling her affectionately. "However, doe like being alone at this time. I am just here to make sure no one disturbs her."

"Yes Father," she said. She then looked up and her eyes started to tear. "I also wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about Grandfather. I do not understand why he did not tell us when we were there.

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