CHAPTER XV
A few days later they were walking carefree together through an oak thicket on the far side of the meadow. They had to cross the meadow in order to reach their old trail where the tall oak stood.
As the bushes grew thinner around them they stopped and peered out. Something red was moving near the oak. Both of them looked at it.
“Who can it be?” whispered Bambi.
“Probably Ronno or Karus,” said Faline.
Bambi doubted it. “They don’t dare come near me any more,” Bambi said, peering sharply ahead. “No,” he decided, “that’s not Karus or Ronno. It’s a stranger.”
Faline agreed, surprised, and very curious. “Yes,” she said, “it’s a stranger. I see it, too, now. How curious!”
They watched him.
“How carelessly he acts,” exclaimed Faline.
“Stupid,” said Bambi, “really stupid. He acts like a little child, as if there were no danger.”
“Let’s go over,” Faline proposed. Her curiosity was getting the better of her.
“All right,” Bambi answered. “Let’s go, I want to have a better look at the fellow.”
They took a few steps and then Faline stopped. “Suppose he wants to fight you,” she said. “He’s strong.”
“Bah,” said Bambi holding his head cocked and putting on a disdainful air, “look at the little antlers he has. Should I be afraid of that? The fellow is fat and sleek enough, but is he strong? I don’t think so. Come along.”
They went on.
The stranger was busy nibbling meadow grass and did not notice them until they were a good way across the meadow. Then he ran forward to meet them. He gave joyful playful skips that made a curiously childish impression. Bambi and Faline stopped, surprised, and waited for him. When he was a few steps off he stood still likewise.
After a while he asked, “Don’t you know me?”
Bambi had lowered his head prepared for battle. “Do you know us?” he retorted.
The stranger interrupted him. “Bambi,” he cried reproachfully, yet confidently.
Bambi was startled to hear his name spoken. The sound of that voice stirred an old memory in his heart. But Faline had rushed towards the stranger.
“Gobo,” she cried and became speechless. She stood there silent without moving. She couldn’t breathe.
“Faline,” said Gobo softly, “Faline, sister, you knew me anyway.” He went to her and kissed her mouth. The tears were running down his cheeks. Faline was crying too, and couldn’t speak.
“Well, Gobo,” Bambi began. His voice trembled and he felt very bewildered. He was deeply moved and very much surprised. “Well, so you’re not dead,” he said.
Gobo burst out laughing. “You see that I’m not dead,” he said; “at least I think you can see that I’m not.”
“But what happened that time in the snow?” Bambi persisted.
“O then?” Gobo said thoughtfully. “He rescued me then.”
“And where have you been all this time?” asked Faline in astonishment.
“With Him,” Gobo replied, “I’ve been with Him all the time.”
He grew silent and looked at Faline and at Bambi. Their helpless astonishment delighted him. Then he added, “Yes, my dears, I’ve seen a lot more than all of you put together in your old forest.” He sounded somewhat boastful, but they paid no attention to it. They were still too much absorbed in their great surprise.
“Tell us about it,” cried Faline beside herself with joy.
“O,” said Gobo with satisfaction, “I could talk all day about it and never reach the end.”
“Well then, go ahead and talk,” Bambi urged.
Gobo turned to Faline and grew serious. “Is mother still alive?” he asked timidly and softly.
“Yes,” cried Faline gladly. “She’s alive but I haven’t seen her for a long while.”
“I’m going to see her right away,” said Gobo with decision. “Are you coming too?”
They all went.
They did not speak another word the whole way. Bambi and Faline felt Gobo’s impatient longing to see his mother, so both of them kept silent. Gobo walked ahead hurriedly and did not speak. They let him do as he liked.
Only sometimes when he hurried blindly over a cross-trail or when, in a sudden burst of speed, he took the wrong turning, they called gently to him. “This way,” Bambi would whisper, or Faline would say, “No, no, we go this way now.”
A number of times they had to cross wide clearings. They noticed that Gobo never stopped at the edge of the thicket, never peered around for a moment when he walked into the open, but simply ran out without any precaution. Bambi and Faline exchanged astonished glances whenever this happened, but they never said a word and followed Gobo with some hesitation. They had to wander around sometimes and search high and low.
Gobo recollected his childhood paths at once. He was delighted with himself, never realizing that Bambi and Faline were leading him. He looked around at them and called, “How do you like the way I can still find my way around?” They did not say anything, but they exchanged glances again.
Soon afterwards they came to a small leafy hollow. “Look,” cried Faline and glided in. Gobo followed her and stopped. It was the glade in which they were both born and had lived with their mother as little children. Gobo and Faline looked into each other’s eyes. They did not say a word. But Faline kissed her brother gently on the mouth. Then they hurried on.
They walked to and fro for a good hour. The sun shone brighter and brighter through the branches and the forest grew stiller and stiller. It was the time for lying down and resting. But Gobo didn’t feel tired. He walked swiftly ahead, breathing deeply with impatience and excitement, and gazed aimlessly about him. He shrank together whenever a weasel slunk through the bushes at his feet. He nearly stepped on the pheasants, and when they scolded him, flying up with a loud flapping of wings, he was terribly frightened. Bambi marveled at the strange, blind way Gobo moved around.
Presently Gobo stopped and turned to them both. “She isn’t anywhere here,” he cried in despair.
Faline soothed him. “We’ll soon find her,” she said, deeply moved, “soon, Gobo.” She looked at him. He still had that dejected look she knew so well.
“Shall we call her?” she asked smiling. “Shall we call her the way we used to when we were children?”
Bambi went away a few steps. Then he saw Aunt Ena. She had already settled herself to rest and was lying quietly in a nearby hazel bush.
“At last,” he said to himself. At the same moment Gobo and Faline came up. All three of them stood together and looked at Ena. She had raised her head quietly and looked sleepily back at them.
Gobo took a few hesitating steps and cried softly, “Mother.”
She was on her feet in a flash and stood as though transfixed. Gobo sprang to her quickly. “Mother,” he began again. He tried to speak but couldn’t utter a word.
His mother looked deep into his eyes. Her rigid body began to move. Wave after wave of trembling broke over her shoulders and down her back.
She did not ask any questions. She did not want any explanation or history. She kissed Gobo slowly on the mouth. She kissed his cheeks and his neck. She bathed him tirelessly in her kisses, as she had when he was born.
Bambi and Faline had gone away.