They ran on. The elder suddenly stopped.
“Can you see ...!” he exclaimed, “this is where you were lying on the ground.”
Bambi saw where the grass had been pressed down and saw a broad pool of his own blood soaking down into the ground.
The elder smelt the place carefully. “They’ve already been here ... Him and the dog ...” he said. “Now, come with me!” He walked slowly on, continually stopping to smell the ground.
Bambi noticed the drops of red on the leaves of the bushes and on the grass. “We’ve already been past here,” he thought, although he was not able to speak out loud.
“Good!” said the elder, almost gaily, “now we’ve got behind them ...”
He went for a while in the same direction. Then he turned suddenly to one side and set off in a new circle. Bambi staggered on behind him.
They arrived at the big oak tree once again, though this time from the other direction, they arrived once again at the place where Bambi had fallen, and then, once again, the elder took a new direction.
“Eat some of this!” he ordered, he had stopped, pushed the grass to one side and pointed to some tiny leaves, short and dark green, fat and fluffy, that were sprouting out of the bare ground.
Bambi did as he was told. The leaves were horribly bitter and had a repulsive smell.