Page:Bambi A Life in the Woods (1928).pdf/107

“Where is your mother?” asked the stag.

Bambi answered still very softly, “I don’t know.”

The old stag kept gazing at him. “And still you’re not calling for her?” he said.

Bambi looked into the noble, iron-gray face, looked at the stag’s antlers and suddenly felt full of courage. “I can stay by myself, too,” he said.

The old stag considered him for a while; then he asked gently, “Aren’t you the little one that was crying for his mother not long ago?”

Bambi was somewhat embarrassed, but his courage held. “Yes I am,” he confessed.

The old stag looked at him in silence and it seemed to Bambi as if those deep eyes gazed still more mildly. “You scolded me then, Prince,” he cried excitedly, “because I was afraid of being left alone. Since then I haven’t been.”

The stag looked at Bambi appraisingly and smiled a very slight, hardly noticeable smile. Bambi noticed it however. “Noble Prince,” he asked confidently, “what has happened? I don’t understand it. Who is this ‘He’ they are all talking about?” He stopped, terrified by the dark glance that bade him be silent.