it was summertime and burning hot. the yearning began to rise again in bambi, the yearning that he had felt earlier, but this time it was much stronger than before, it boiled his blood and made him restless.
he wandered far and wide.
one day, he came across faline. he had not expected to find her at all, for his thoughts were at that time very confused from all the restless yearning that had possessed him, and he had not realized she was there. now she was standing in front of him. for a while he was speechless and merely stared at her, then, awestruck, he said, “faline ... you’ve become so beautiful ...”
faline retorted, “can you still recognize me then?”
“of course i can still recognize you!” bambi exclaimed. “we grew up together, didn’t we?”
faline sighed. “it’s been so long since we saw each other.” and then she added, “people can become complete strangers to each other,” but she said it in a teasing way, simple and elegant, like she had used to do.
they remained together, where they were.
“this path here,” said bambi after a long pause, “this is the path i used to go along with my mother when i was a child...”
“it leads to the meadow,” said faline.
“it was on the meadow that i first saw you,” said bambi, almost gaily. “do you remember?”
“yes,” faline answered, “me and gobo.” she sighed gently. “poor gobo.”
bambi repeated her. “poor gobo.”
then they began to talk about those days and frequently asked each other, “do you remember?” it turned out, to their delight, that they both remembered everything.
“out there, on the meadow,” bambi recalled, “we played tag ... remember?”
“i think we did ...,” said faline, and then she jumped away in a flash. at first bambi just stood there, wondering what had happened, but then he rushed after her. “wait! wait for me!” he shouted gaily.
“no, i’m not going to wait,” faline teased him. “i’m in a tremendous hurry!” and in short leaps she curved her way far across the bushes and grass. finally, bambi caught up with her, blocked her way, and then they stood quietly together. they laughed, and were very contented.
faline suddenly jumped into the air as if something had stung her and leapt away again. bambi rushed after her. faline made a curve, and then another, threw herself from side to side and got away from bambi time after time.
“stay where you are!” he gasped. “just stay where you are ... i’ve got to ask you something.”
faline stood still. she was curious and asked “what do you need to ask me?”
bambi said nothing.
“oh, well if you’re just cheating ...” said faline and was about to run off.
“no!” bambi quickly exclaimed. “stay there ... i want ... i want to ask you ... do you love me, faline?”
she looked at him with even more curiosity than before and felt slightly wary.” i don’t know.”
“yes you do,” bambi insisted. “you must know! and i know it too, i can feel it perfectly well that i love you. i’ve got a furious love for you, faline. so now tell me, do you love me?”
“maybe, it could well be that i’m fond of you,” she answered casually.
“and will you stay with me?” enquired bambi, becoming more excited.
“if you ask me nicely” ... said faline gaily.
bambi lost control of himself and exclaimed. “i am asking you, faline! my love, my beautiful faline, do you hear me? i’m asking you with all my heart!”
“then i certainly will stay with you,” said faline softly – and then she was gone.
enchanted, bambi shot off again in pursuit of her. faline swept across the meadow, turned sharply and disappeared into a thicket. but when bambi also turned suddenly in order to follow her there was a stormy rustling in the bushes, and out sprang karus.
“stop!” he called.
bambi did not understand. he was too occupied with faline. “let me pass,” he said hurriedly, “i haven’t got the time for you!”
“go away from here!” karus ordered him crossly. “go away, now! if not i will hunt you down till there’s not an ounce of breath left in you. i forbid you to chase after faline!”
slowly, bambi began to remember the previous summer, when he was so often humiliated by being chased away. he suddenly became angry. he said not a word, but immediately lowered his crown and threw himself at karus.
he hit him with such force than no-one could have resisted it and karus was lying in the grass before he knew what had happened to him.
he got up again as fast as lightning, but he was barely back on his feet when he was struck by another blow that left him reeling.
“bambi!” he shouted, and was about to shout a second time, “bam...” when a third blow slid down from his shoulder and caused so much pain it took his breath away.
karus jumped to one side to avoid receiving yet another blow from bambi. he suddenly felt remarkably weak, and realized, to his disgust, that this was now a matter of life and death. a cold fear took hold of him. he turned to flee from bambi who was rushing close behind, and realized from bambi’s silence that in every sense, his anger and his ruthlessness, he was determined to kill him. karus fell into a panic. he turned away from the path, used the last of his strength to break through into the bushes, there was nothing he could wish for, nothing he could think of, other than to yearn for mercy or for rescue.
bambi suddenly stopped and left him alone. karus was so terrified that he did not notice this and ran on through the bushes, as well as he could.
but bambi had stopped because he had heard the fine call of faline. he listened, there she called again, in fear, oppressed. he immediately turned round and hurried back.
once he was back on the meadow he saw her just as she was fleeing into the thicket, pursued by ronno.
“ronno!” called bambi. he was not aware that he had called out.
ronno was not able to run very fast because his limp held him back, and he stopped.
“well, look who it is,” he said in a genteel tone, “it’s little bambi! can i help you in any way?”
“i want,” said bambi, calmly but in a voice that was distorted by the anger he was suppressing and the power he held back, “i want you to leave faline alone and i want you to go away, immediately.”
“oh, is that all?” said ronno with contempt. “what a cheeky young lad you’ve turned into ... i never would have expected that of you.”
“ronno,” said bambi even more gently, “it’s for your sake that i want it. because if you don’t go away now you will wish you could run away on those legs of yours, but you won’t be able to run away any more ...”
“what?!” ronno called out crossly, “because i’ve got a limp, is it? is that why you talk to me like that? you can hardly notice it anyway. or perhaps, after seeing what a pitiful coward karus was, you think i’m frightened of you. let me tell you this ...”
“no, ronno,” bambi interrupted him, “let me tell you something: go away!” his voice quivered as he spoke. “i’ve always liked you, ronno. i’ve always thought you’re very clever and i’ve felt respect for you because you’re much older than me. but now i’m telling you, for the last time, go away ... i haven’t got any more patience left ...!”
“pity you’ve got so little patience,” said ronno with contempt. “a great pity for you, lad. but now just calm down, i’ll soon be finished with you. you won’t have to wait long. or maybe you’ve forgotten how many times i’ve pushed you along.”
bambi had no words to put against this reminder and was no longer able to control himself. he rushed at ronno like a madman, and ronno received him with his head lowered. they crashed together. ronno stood his ground and wondered why bambi did not back away. he was also astonished at this sudden attack, he had not expected bambi to attack at all. he felt uncomfortable at bambi’s enormous strength and realized he would need to pull himself together. they stood there, pressed brow to brow, and ronno decided he would use a trick. he backed away suddenly so that bambi lost his balance and tumbled over.
but bambi raised himself on his hind legs and threw himself at ronno with twice as much fury, before ronno had even found the time to stand firm. there was a sharp crack as one of the branches of ronno’s crown broke. he thought his entire forehead had been smashed. he saw stars in front of his eyes and heard a swishing in his ears. in the next moment a powerful blow tore open his shoulder. he had no breath, he lay on the floor and bambi stood angrily over him.
“leave me alone,” ronno groaned.
bambi continued to strike him anywhere he could. there was a gleam in his eyes. he seemed to have no thought of showing any mercy.
“please ... just stop,” ronno begged him, pitifully. “you do know i walk with a limp ... i was only making a joke ... spare me ... don’t you understand a joke ...?”
bambi, without a word, stopped his attack. with great effort, ronno stood up. he was bleeding and he staggered. without a word, he limped away.
bambi was about to go into the thicket to find faline, but then she came out of it. she had been standing close to the edge of the trees and seen everything. “that was wonderful,” she said with a laugh. but then she became serious and gently added, “i love you.”
the two of them went on their way together and they were very happy.
