her Father had warned those yearlings, one more of them would be alive now.

“I think they will listen now,” Filon said trying to make her feel better. “The rest of the deer now know better. Experience is the best teacher, as long as you can stay alive long enough to learn.”

“I agree with Filon,” he Father told her. “You warned them, they did not listen, and one deer died for their stupidly. Maybe they will listen now. There was nothing more you could have done to prevent this.”

Her Father was also trying to make her feel better, but it did not help. “I am sorry, Father, but if they would have listened to you because you are the herd leader and the other deer respect you. They would have listened to Filon because he is a large male and they respect him. I am just a yearling doe and I feel none of them respect me so they did not listen, nor do I think they will listen to me in the future.”

She could not bear to stay there any longer. She ran off into the deeper forest. She heard her Father and Filon still talking about something, but she did not care. She just wanted to be by herself. She went to the lake, took a drink from its cool waters, and then walked around always testing the air. A bear had passed by, but long ago. She smelled no other danger. It was after the great light was overhead that she came upon the old down log she recognized. Her Mother had brought her and her brother here when they were fawns. She stopped to eat some grass and saw most of it was already gone.

“Thumper,” she spoke into the tree log. “It is Gurri.”

A few moments later the older gray rabbit appeared and looked up mouth open as if amazed. “It is you,” he said. “My, how you have grown since I last saw you. Where are your brother, father, and mother?

“Mother has two new fawns to raise,” she explained. “Father is with my brother teaching him all about the forest. They do not need me at home and so I am out on my own. I was walking by and thought I stop to say hello.”

“You are getting large, you look like your Mother,” Thumper said looking her over carefully.”

“How are you doing?” she asked.

The old hair looked away. “Oh, I found a new mate this spring. I have a new litter of rabbits. This will be my last liter I think.”

“Why is that?” she asked. He looked old yet healthy.

“I am getting old,” he said as a complaint. “Soon I think I will join your Grandfather.”

The way the old rabbit said it shocked her. “Do not say that Thumper. You are my Father’s friend and mine. You will live for a long time to come.”

“I like to, but I doubt it,” he said. “I am the oldest rabbit I know. None of my sisters are even alive. I do not even know if any of my children are still alive.”

She was going to answer when an odor crossed her nose. It was a fox. “Run, Thumper, the fox is here.”

He might be old, but the old hare vanished in an instant. She stood by the log and waited. Sure enough, the fox appeared silently out of the bushes.

“Still looking for Thumper,” she told the red furry animal with the white long tail. “I am afraid you missed him again.”

“I am patient, and there are others,” the sly fox said looking at her closely. The fox was sizing her up.

 

“Thinking of eating deer today?” she asked. “That would be a mistake.”

“Oh no,” the fox pleaded. “I would never eat something as big as you.”

She remembered what her father told her about foxes: ‘Believe nothing about a fox except that it is hungry.’

“Very well,” she said and pretended to turn away. The moment she seemed to take her eyes off the fox, she saw it shift its weight to it rear legs and leap.

She quickly brought her leg and hoof up as the fox jumped up for her throat. The hard hoof caught the fox in the face. The blow knocked him off-balance and he instead fell at her feet.  She raised up to stomp the fox hard on the ground, but he saw it coming and rolled away. In a flash, the creature was on his feet again.

“You tried to kill me,” it screamed.

“I will do more than try,” she growled and lashed out hard with her front legs again. This time the fox was ready and jumped back.

“Lost your taste for deer,” she said eyeing the creature well. “You should try something smaller,” she said and charged.

She did not think she would hit the fox, but it did scare him off. The last she saw was the white tail disappear into the bushes. She went back to the log.

“He is gone,” she told Thumper.

The old rabbit peaked out of the log. “That was like your Father,” he said.

 

“That was the second time today someone thought that because I was a doe and a yearling, I was weak and stupid. It is also the second time today they paid the price for their mistake.”

Thumper gazed at her in disbelief, “You remind me of your Father when he gets mad. He gets that same look in his eyes like he is ready to fight anyone.”

Inside she felt ready to fight anyone. There was still anger from before, and now this was just making her madder. She had to calm down. Mad deer can make stupid mistakes as her Father said to Geno. She calmed down but did not take her eyes off the bushes and trees around her.

“I am sorry, but it has been a bad day for me so far,” she explained.

Feeling calmer, she then told the old rabbit the story of what happened to her and how she felt about it. As she did, she felt the anger diminish inside her. She knew she had no right to burden Thumper with her problems, but it felt better to share it with someone else.

“I see,” Thumper said. “I am afraid you are right. The other creatures respect strength and that usually means males fighting for mates. It is not just deer. All sorts of creatures do that. That struggle is what drives the forest on. Females usually do not have the strength to gather that respect.”

“Well just because I am a female, it does not mean I cannot think. I am my Father’s daughter and I do see things. My Grandfather and Father taught me that much.”

“So I see, well I must go,” Thumper said and disappeared again into his log.

She walked away still keeping an eye out for the fox just in case he had not learned his lesson. She did not feel like seeing her parents or the other deer. She was near the lake. Beyond that, there were the hills her Grandfather had lived in. It looked safe enough so she and decided to go there. There was no deer here. She was alone. That suited her now. She ate in a small open area near the trees and drank in a small stream that came off the hills. It was peaceful here. Might not be a bad place to stay. Late in the day, she got up and started walking around the forest. She kept smelling the air and changed direction often. There were few predators by the open meadow here. Her Grandfather did not like visitors, so she was only here twice with her brother when they were fawns. She decided to go to her Grandfather’s old cave to look around. She climbed the hill looking carefully about her, as she got higher up. Near the top, she stopped. In the air was a faint scent. It was not a scent she smelled before. It smelled big and that meant she did not want to meet it. She stopped and began to go back the way she came. Halfway to the bottom, she heard branches cracking behind her. That was all she needed to hear, she ran.

She flew down the hill and ran toward the lake. The trees and bushes flew by her as she ran fast. There was nothing from behind her. Whoever was chasing her did not follow her far. She ran back to the lake before she felt tired and stopped. Everything was quiet around her. She looked around and found a hiding place in the trees behind some bushes. There she lay down on her knees and rested. Other than the usual sounds of the forest, that was nothing going on around her. It was easy for her to sleep into the night.

It was late evening when she got up and tested the air. Nothing was around her she could hear, see, or smell. She was hungry and grass grew alongside the lake. When she tasted it, the grass was delicious, so she ate her fill and drank from the lake. It was still late when her nose picked up a familiar scent. The odor was coming from the other direction she had run earlier. It was not the same scent as before on the hill. This one was another deer. A deer she did not know. She went back into the trees and waited.

A short while later, another deer walked carefully out of the trees and toward the lake. It was another yearling like her, but it was a male. Like her, he was testing the air with his nose. The male was small, barely her size. There was a patch of white on his chest, but otherwise, his fur was the same. He was not much to look at. He did not even look strong enough to be a herd male. He was also alone, which was unusual for a yearling. She watched him timidly approach the lake and start to eat, all the while looking around him. He was careful. She watched him eat and then drink from the lake near where she just did. He did not look like a threat. Quietly, she moved out of the trees and came up behind him. He turned quickly, glanced at her, and started to run.

“I will not hurt you,” she called out. “I am alone like you are.”

The male stopped suddenly and turned to look at her. She moved out into the open where the male could see her even in the dim glow from the lesser light. Slowly, as if expected her to attack him, he approached her. It was amusing to her that a doe like

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