Bambi turned round and left. He wandered through a dense wilderness of goldenrods, passed through a group of tall beech trees, went through ancient hazel bushes, until he reached the edge of the great trench. Here he wandered round at random in the hope of coming across the elder. It was a long time since he had last seen him, not since Gobo met his end.
Now he saw him in the distance and ran towards him.
For a while, they walked beside each other in silence. Then the elder asked, “Well ... do they still talk about him?”
Bambi understood that he meant Gobo, and answered, “I don’t know ... I’m almost always by myself ...” He hesitated, “... but ... I can’t stop thinking about him all the time.”
“Ah!” said the elder, “are you by yourself now?”
“Yes,” said Bambi expectantly, but the elder remained silent.
They walked on. Suddenly the elder stopped. “Can’t you hear it?”
Bambi listened. No, he heard nothing.
“Come on!” the elder called as he hurried forward. Bambi followed him.
The elder stopped again. “Can you still not hear it?”