the forest was steaming under the burning sun. ever since it had risen it had been drinking all the clouds out of the sky, even the tiniest wisps, and now it reigned alone in the expanse of blue, made pale by the heat. over the meadows and the treetops the air shimmered in glassy, transparent waves like it does above a flame. not a leaf moved, not a blade of grass. the birds remained silent, they sat hidden in the shade of the leaves and did not move from the spot. all the paths and lanes through the clearings were empty, as no animal was moving anywhere. the forest lay motionless in the dazzling light, as if in flame. the earth breathed, the trees, the bushes and the animals breathed in the weighty luxury of this heat. bambi slept.
he had spent a happy night and into the light of morning romping with faline, it was such bliss that he even forgot to eat. but that was because he had tired himself out so much that he did not even feel any hunger. his eyes fell shut. he had just gone into the middle of the undergrowth where he stopped, laid himself down and fell straight to sleep. the junipers, inflamed by the sun, threw out a bitter-sharp smell, the fine aroma from the young dampness rose into his head and exhilarated him as he slept and gave him new strength.
suddenly he woke up and felt confused.
was that not faline calling out?
bambi looked around. in his memory he could still see her as she stood here close by the hawthorns and picking off the leaves while he lay down. he had thought she would stay there beside him. but now she was gone, she had probably become tired of being alone and was now calling for him to come and find her.
as bambi listened he wondered how long he could have been asleep and how many times faline could have called. he could not work it out. his head was still dull behind the veil of sleep.
then the call came again. bambi swung round suddenly to face the direction the sound came from. there it was again! and he was suddenly cheerful. he felt wonderfully refreshed, felt he had rested long enough, felt strengthened, and he felt immensely hungry.
he heard the call again, loud and clear, as fine as gentle birdsong, yearning and tender, “come ... come.”
yes, that was her voice! that was faline! bambi rushed from where he was with such urgency that the thin twigs on the bushes broke and their hot, green leaves merely rustled.
but while he was jumping he had to stop and throw himself to one side. there stood the elder, blocking his way.
the only thing seething in bambi was his love. he did not care about the elder any more. he would certainly come across him again sometime. but now he had no time for old gentlemen, however venerable they might be. all he could think of now was faline.
he made a perfunctory greeting, and wanted to get quickly past him.
“where are you going?” the elder asked, seriously.
bambi was slightly ashamed, wondered how he could talk his way out of it, but then he regained his senses and answered honestly, “to her.”
“don’t go,” said the elder.
for a second, a spark of anger rose up in bambi, just one. not go to faline? how could the elder expect that of him. i’ll just run away, thought bambi. and he quickly looked at the elder. but the depth of the gaze directed at him from the elder’s dark eyes held him where he was. he shook with impatience, but he did not run away.
“she’s calling for me ...” he said, by way of explanation. he said it in a way that was clearly pleading. “don’t get in my way!”
“no,” said the elder, “she is not calling for you.”
the sound came again, loud and clear like birdsong, “come!”
“again now!” shouted bambi as he became more cross, “listen to me!”
“i’m listening,” the elder nodded.
“goodbye then ...,” bambi threw at him curtly.
but the elder commanded him, “stay here!”
“what is it you want then?” shouted bambi, out of control. “let me go! i haven’t got time for this! please ... if faline is calling for me ... you must be able to see ...”
“i’m telling you,” said the elder, “that is not faline.”
bambi was puzzled. “but ... i recognize her voice, i can hear her quite clearly ...”
“listen to me,” the elder continued.
the call came again.
the ground was burning under bambi’s feet. “later! i’ll come back,” he implored.
“no,” said the elder sadly. “you would not come back. not ever.”
the call came yet again.
“i’ve got to! i’ve got to ...” bambi was beginning entirely to lose control of himself.
“alright then,” the elder explained, still in command, “but the two of us will go there together.”
“quickly!” bambi declared and ran ahead.
“no ... go slowly!” the elder now commanded in a voice that left bambi with no choice but to obey. “you stay behind me ... step by step ...”
the elder began to move forward. bambi followed behind him, impatient and sighing.
“listen,” said the elder without stopping, “however many times you hear that call do not move from my side. if it is faline then we’ll find her soon enough. but it’s not faline. don’t let it tear you away from me. it all depends on whether you trust me or not.”
bambi did not dare to contradict him and remained silent.
the elder walked slowly forward and bambi followed. oh, how skilled the elder was in knowing how to walk! no sound came from under his hooves. not a leave moved. no twig cracked. in this way the elder crept through the dense undergrowth, slid his way through the tangle of ancient bushes. bambi could only be amazed, he had to admire the elder despite his feverish impatience. he had never realized it was possible to go forward in this way.
the call came again and again.
the elder stopped, listened and nodded his head.
bambi stood near him, shaken with yearning, tortured by what he had to do, and understood nothing.
the elder stopped several times without the call having been heard, he would throw his head up high, listen, and nod. bambi heard nothing. the elder turned away from the direction the call was coming from, he was going to approach it in a curve. this made bambi very angry.
the call came over and again.
at last they were getting nearer, nearer still, and then very near.
the elder whispered, “whatever you see now ... don’t move ... do you hear? pay attention to everything i do and you do exactly the same ... be careful! and don’t panic ...!”
a few steps further on ... there came suddenly that sharp, stimulating smell that bambi knew so well, strong in his nose. it was so strong that he nearly cried out. he stood there as if nailed to the ground. his heart suddenly began to beat so hard he could feel it in his throat.
the elder stood relaxed next to him. he showed the direction with his eyes: there!
but there stood he!
he stood quite close nearby, pressed against the trunk of an oak tree, covered in hazel bushes, and the gentle call could be heard: “come ... come ...”
all that could be seen was his back, his face was very unclear, and could only be seen at all when he turned his head slightly to one side.
bambi was so completely confused, so shocked that he only slowly came to understand: he was standing there, it was him who had been imitating faline’s voice. it was him who had been whistling, “come ... come ...”
a pale horror ran through all of bambi’s limbs. the thought of flight came up from his heart and pulled at him, tugged at him.
“keep still!” the elder promptly commanded in a whisper, as if he wanted to pre-empt an outbreak of panic. and bambi, with some effort, kept control of himself.
the elder looked at him; it seemed to bambi at first, despite where he was, that the elder was gently mocking him. but then, straight afterwards, he seemed once more to be fully serious and benevolent.
bambi blinked as he looked over to where he stood, and felt that he would no longer be able to stand being near something as horrifying as this.
the elder seemed to understand what bambi was thinking and whispered, “let’s go ...,” as he turned round and left.
they crept carefully away, the elder moving in strange zig-zags, though bambi could not understand why. even now he found it hard to contain his impatience as he followed these slow steps. it had been his yearning for faline that had driven him along the path to this place, but now the urge to flee was chasing through his veins.
the elder, though, continued in his slow walk, then stopped, listened, went on, still on a zig-zag route, stopped again, went on again, slowly, very slowly.
they must, by now, have been well away from that place of terror.
“he keeps on stopping, so i suppose it’ll be alright to start speaking again, and then i’ll say thank-you to him.” he could see the elder just in front of him as he disappeared into a dense tangle of dogwood bushes. not a leaf moved, not a twig cracked as the elder crept into it.
bambi followed him and tried very hard to pass through just as silently, just as artfully to avoid making any sound. but he did not have that luck. the leaves rustled gently, branches bent under the pressure of his flank, flicked back again with a loud rattling, dry twigs broke with a quick, loud crack against his breast.
“he saved my life,” bambi continued to ponder. “what should i say to him?”
but the elder could no longer be seen. bambi stepped very slowly out of the bushes, saw a wild tangle of goldenrods in front of him, raised his head and looked around. there was not a blade of grass moving for as far as he could see. he was alone.
there was nothing, now, to tell him what to do, and the urge to flee quickly took hold of him. as he rushed through them, the goldenrods were divided with a broad hiss, as if being cut down with a scythe.
it was a long time wandering lost in the forest before he found faline. he was breathless, he was tired, he was happy and deeply moved.
“please, my love,” he said, “please ... don’t call to me when we’re apart ... never call to me again ...! we can look for each other until we find one another ... but please, don’t call to me as ... your voice is something i can’t resist.”
