Bambi

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ©Jason I. Stutz 2019

Introduction

Emotional Origins

The fox stole an egg of a small bird species, straight from the nest.  The animals were very concerned and called him to counsel.

“Why have you done such a thing, fox?  That little bird never had a chance to see our beautiful world and sing its heart’s song.”

The fox’s brow grew worried.  “I saw the man doing it, thus did I imitate him.”  For, man was the image of God on this Earth.

And all at the counsel shivered ice cold in their blood at this hearing.  Terror was upon the land and covered the sky.   The larger animals grew claws and fangs, to their own horror, and their appetite grew for the flesh of their dear friends, until they couldn’t even remember what it was like to enjoy fruits, nuts, roots, or herbs.

And the animals all feared each other, and tore at each other’s flesh to drink of the life in there.  Some formed alliances, and some of those alliances were bound with a wary eye.

Some, like the deer, had the heart to keep as to their nature, and grew legs as fast as the Spirit of the Wind that bore them on the Earth.  One day soon, the story will be told of the deer, who combs the earth for food without harming another being.

 

I.

Bambi lost his mother to the bullet fired through the rifle of a sporting hunter who thought nothing of the love in Bambi’s mother’s heart.  They all thought there were too many deer anyway, but it was their ways that created the imbalance.  The deer were not burdened by their own numbers.  They each were happy with their life.

Bambi cried.  Bambi cried and cried as he knelt his knees upon his mother’s body, her warm skin trembling.  Bambi’s mother, her voice gone, shone her eyes into Bambi’s eyes, and let them speak the words she could not breath out.  “I’m sorry,” said the great deer to her doe.  “Find your way,” and, “Be cautious,” and “I am so grateful to have known you,” spoke her eyes to Bambi’s young mind.  “Hurry!” the great deer mother broke off as the huntsman charged near.  And she died, and Bambi stayed motionless in fright next to her limp body, his mother there no more.  His eyes widened and his four thin legs stood straight, charged like rifles to the forest floor.  “Run!” he heard in his mind- his mother’s voice.  The huntsman’s boots stomped near.  So, Bambi ran.  His heart broke from his mother’s lifeless body and he ran.

He ran into the deep of the forest where the light of the fading day could no longer reach.  He hid in the soft quiet as the sound of his breathing was a fire alarm in his ears. Over his head, he heard the crack of more gunshots.

If it weren’t for Thumper, where would he be?