one evening, when he went back out onto the meadow with his mother, he thought he knew by now about everything that could be seen or heard there. but it turned out that he still did know as much as he had thought.
at first, everything was the same as his first time there. his mother allowed bambi to play tag with him. he ran round in circles, and the wide open space, the lofty sky and the freedom of the air were all so exhilarating that he rushed about with joy. after a time he noticed that his mother was standing still. he stopped suddenly as he was turning, so suddenly that his four legs were spread wide apart. he jumped high into the air so that his sudden halt would be more dignified, and now he was standing properly. his mother, a little way away seemed to be talking with someone but he could not make out, in the long grass, who that could be. curious, bambi went closer. there, in the tangle of grass stems close in to his mother, there were two long ears twitching. they were greyish-brown, and the black stripes on them made them quite pretty. bambi hesitated, but his mother said to him, “come here bambi, this is our friend, the hare. come on then, let him see you.”
bambi went up to her straight away. there sat the hare, and very honest he looked. his long ears rose in powerful grandeur high above his head, and then they fell back down and hung limply as if they had been suddenly transformed into something weak. when bambi saw the hare’s whiskers, which extended stiff and straight all around his mouth, he began to think about them. but he noticed that the hare had a very gently face, all his features seemed to indicate a good nature, and his big round eyes looked modestly out at the world. he really did look like a friend, this hare. the thoughts that had flickered through bambi’s head disappeared immediately. remarkably enough, and just as quickly, he even lost all the respect that he had felt at first.
“good evening, young sir,” said the hare with carefully chosen politeness.
bambi merely nodded “good evening” back to him. he did not know why, but all he did was nod. very friendly, very nicely, though perhaps a little condescending. there was no other way he could do it. perhaps it was something he was born with.
“what a handsome young prince!” said the hare to bambi’s mother. he looked at bambi carefully as he raised one of his ears high into the air, and then, soon after, the other ear, and then,soon after again, both of them, and sometimes he would let them drop suddenly and hang limply. bambi did not like this. this gesture seemed to be saying, ‘no, not worth it’.
the hare continued gently to examine bambi with his big, round eyes. his nose and his mouth, surrounded by its magnificent whiskers, were in continual movement, like the way someone’s nose and lips will twitch when he is trying hard not to sneeze. bambi could not help laughing, and the hare immediately and with good will joined in with the laughter, only his eyes became more thoughtful. “i congratulate you,” he said to bambi’s mother, “i sincerely congratulate you on having a son like this. yes, yes, yes ... he will be a majestic prince one day ... yes, yes, yes, you can see that at first glance.”
he raised himself upright, and now sat erect on his back legs, which astonished bambi immensely. after he had had a good look all around, his ears erect and his nose moving vigorously, he sat politely back down on all fours. “please give my regards to the honourable gentlemen,” he said. “i have many different things to do this evening. please give them my humble regards.” he turned around and hopped away, his ears pressed down on his shoulders.
“goodbye,” called bambi to him as he went.
his mother smiled: “he is a good hare, so simple and so modest. it is not easy for him in this world either.” there was sympathy in her words.
bambi walked around a little, allowing his mother to eat her food. he hoped he would come across them who he had met earlier, and would also have liked to make some new acquaintances. it was not entirely clear to him what he was missing, but he always felt he was waiting for something. suddenly he heard a gentle rustling from far across the meadow, and felt slight, rapid knocking in the ground. he looked up. over where the woods began there was something that flitted through the grass. there was a ... no ... there were two of them! bambi glanced at his mother, but she did not seem to be worried about anything and had her head deep in the grass. but at the other side of the meadow there was something rushing round in circles, just as he had been doing himself earlier on. bambi was so astonished that he leapt backwards, as if he meant to run away. his mother noticed him and raised her head.
“what’s the matter?” she called.
but bambi was speechless, he could find no words and merely stammered, “th .. there...”
his mother looked in that direction. “oh, i see,” she said. “that’s my cousin and you’re right, she has a little child too, ... no, she has two.” his mother had spoken cheerfully, but now she became serious: “no ... ena with two children .. really, she has two ...”
bambi stood and stared. over there he could now see a figure, a figure that looked just like his mother. he had not noticed her before. now he could see two things that continued moving in circles in the grass, but only their red backs could be seen, thin red stripes.
“come on,” said his mother. “let’s go over to them. you’ll have some company there.”
bambi wanted to run there, but his mother only walked slowly, looking all around her with each step, so bambi held himself back. he was very excited though, and very impatient.
his mother continued speaking. “i thought we’d come across ena again some time. now, where’s she hiding? i knew she had a child too. that was easy to guess, but two children ...”
they had long been spotted by the others, who now were coming towards them. bambi had to say hello to his aunt, but he had eyes only for her children.
his aunt was very friendly. “yes,” she said to him. “now, that’s gobo and that’s faline. you can all play together any time you like.”
the children stood stiffly, without moving, and stared at each other. gobo close beside faline and bambi in front of them. none of them moved. they stood and gaped.
“go on then,” said bambi’s mother, “you’ll soon all be friends!”
“what a nice-looking child,” ena responded. “really, very nice indeed. so strong, and with such good posture.”
“yes, it’s alright,” his mother said modestly. we have to be satisfied with that. but ena, you’ve got two children!”
“yes, that’s what happens now and again,” ena explained. “but you do know, my dear, i’ve had many children before.”
“bambi is my first,” said his mother.
“well, you see,” ena reassured her, “it might be different for you too the next time.”
the children were still standing there and watching each other. none of them said a word. faline suddenly jumped and dashed away. the whole thing had become too boring for her.
in an instant, bambi ran after her, and gobo did the same. the rushed around in semi-circles, they turned round as quick as a flash, they tumbled over each other, they chased each other up and down. it was wonderful fun. when they suddenly stopped, a little short of breath, they were all good friends with each other. they began to talk.
bambi told them about how he had spoken with the good little grasshopper and the whiting.
“have you been talking with the shiny beetle too?” asked faline.”
no, bambi had never spoken with the shiny beetle. he did not know him at all, he did not know who it might be.
“i often talk with him,” faline explained, slightly boastfully.
“i was told off by the jay,” said bambi.
“really?” asked gobo in amazement. “the jay was as cheeky with you as that?” gobo was often in amazement at things, and he was exceptionally modest. “then,” he added, “the hedgehog pricked me in the nose.” but he only mentioned that in passing, as it were.
“who is the hedgehog?” bambi asked cheerfully. it felt so wonderful to be standing there, to have friends and to be hearing so many exciting things.
“the hedgehog is a terrible creature,” exclaimed faline. “covered in big spikes all over his body ... and he’s very spiteful too!”
“do you really think he’s spiteful?” asked gobo. “he never does any harm to anyone.”
“what?” retorted faline quickly. “didn’t he prick you in the nose then?”
“oh, that was only because i wanted to talk to him,” gobo objected, “and it was only a little prick. it didn’t hurt very much.”
bambi went closer to gobo. “why did he not want you to talk to him then?”
“he never wants to talk to anyone,” faline put in. “as soon as anyone gets near him he rolls up into a ball with his spikes sticking out in every direction. our mother tells us he’s one of those people who don’t want to have anything to do with the world.”
“perhaps he’s just afraid,” thought gobo.
but faline understood it better. “mother says you shouldn’t have anything to do with people like that.”
bambi suddenly asked gobo. “do you know what it is ... this danger?”
now the other two also became serious, and the three of them put their heads together. gobo thought about it. he made a real effort to work it out as he could see that bambi was very curious about the answer. “the danger ...” he whispered, “the danger ... that’s something very bad ...”
“yes,” bambi insisted, “yes, something very bad ... but what?”
all three of them shuddered at the horror of it.
faline suddenly called out loudly and gaily, “the danger is ... when you have to run away from it.” she jumped away, she didn’t want to stay there and feel afraid. bambi and gobo jumped straight after her. they started to play again and tumbled about in the green and rustling silk of the meadow where they soon forgot about that serious question. after a while they stopped and stood close to each other as they had before and began to chat. they looked over to their mothers. they too were happily close to each other, eating a little and holding a gentle conversation.
auntie ena lifted her head and called over to her children. “gobo! faline! we’ve got to go soon ...”
and bambi’s mother warned him too. “come on bambi, it’s time to go.”
“oh not yet,” faline begged crossly. “just a little bit longer!”
bambi begged too, “oh please, let’s stay longer, it’s so nice here!”
and gobo quietly repeated what they had said, “it’s so nice here ...just a little bit longer!”
the three of them spoke at the same time.
ena looked at bambi’s mother. “there, what did i tell you? they’ve already become inseparable.”
then something else happened, and it was something much bigger than all the other things that bambi had experienced that day.
a thumping and a stamping coming out of the woods could be felt all through ground. branches of trees cracked, twigs rustled, and before anyone could even prick up his ears it broke its way out of the thicket. one of them with a rustling and a banging, the other in a great rush behind him. they ran forward like a storm wind, completed a broad arch across the meadow, disappeared back into the woods where they could be heard galloping, they hurtled once more out of the thicket and then they suddenly stopped and stood quietly, twenty paces apart from each other.
bambi looked at them and did not move. they looked a little like his mother and auntie ena. but on their heads there was a glittering crown of antlers made of brown pearls and bright white prongs. bambi could not move; he looked at one, and then at the other. one of them was smaller than the other, and his crown was less developed too. but the other had a beauty that gave him an air of authority. he held his head high, and his crown was even higher. it sparkled from the darkness into the light, it was adorned with the majesty of many black and brown pearls, and the long, white tips glittered.
“oh!” exclaimed faline in amazement. gobo repeated her quietly. bambi, though, said nothing at all. he was captivated and silent.
the two of them now began to move, getting further apart from each other as they went, each of them to a different side of the meadow and there they went slowly back into the woods. the majestic figure came up quite close to the children, bambi’s mother and auntie ena. his step showed a quiet glory, he held his noble head up high like a king and dignified no-one with as much as a glance. the children did not dare to breathe until he had disappeared back into the thicket. they looked around, trying to see him, but just at that moment the green doors of the wood closed behind him.
faline was the first to break the silence. “who was that?” she exclaimed. but her little, arrogant voice had a quake in it.
in a voice that could hardly be heard, gobo repeated her: “who was that?”
bambi was silent.
auntie ena said joyfully, “those were your fathers.”
nothing else was said, and the group moved apart.
auntie ena went with her children into the nearest patch of undergrowth. that was the way they always went. bambi and his mother had to go right across the meadow to the oak tree to get to the route they usually took. for a long time he remained silent until finally he asked, “did they not see us?”
his mother understood what he meant, and replied, “of course they saw us. they see everything.”
bambi felt shy, and did not dare to ask any more questions, but the wish to do so overcame his shyness. “why ...” he began, and then he was silent again.
his mother helped him. “what is it you want to say, my child?”
“why didn’t they stay with us?”
“they don’t stay with us,” his mother answered, “only now and then ...”
“why didn’t they speak to us?”
his mother said, “they don’t speak to us any more ... only, now and then ... we have to wait till they come, and then we have to wait till they talk to us ... if they want to.”
bambi became cross and asked, “will my father speak to me?”
“of course he will, my child,” his mother promised him, “when you’re grown up he’ll speak to you and sometimes he’ll let you be with him.”
in silence, bambi went closer to his mother, his mind filled with thoughts about the appearance of his father. “he’s so beautiful!” he thought, and then again, “so beautiful!”
his mother seemed able to read his mind, and she said, “if you’re still alive, my child, if you’re clever and avoid danger, you’ll be as strong and as beautiful as your father, and you’ll carry a crown on your head, just like his.
bambi took a deep breath. his heart became big with happiness and anticipation.
