“Yes!” hissed the fox. “You’re a traitor. Nobody but you ... you’re the only one ...!”
They danced about in self-righteous anger. “I’m the only one ...? You liar! D’you think there aren’t loads and loads of others who are with ‘Im ...? The ‘orse ... the cows ... the lamb ... the chickens ... and some of all of you, all your species, there are loads who are with ‘Im, who pray to ‘im ... and serve ‘Im!”
“Rabble!” hissed the fox, full of boundless contempt.
The dog could control himself no longer and hurled himself at the fox’s throat. A snarling, spitting, gasping bundle, wild and whirring they rolled in the snow, snapping at each other, hair flew up, snow flew up, fine drops of blood flew up. But the fox was not able to maintain the fight for long. After just a few seconds he lay there on his back, showed his pale belly, twitched, stretched himself out, and died.
The dog shook him a few more times, then dropped him into the churned up snow, stood there with his legs wide apart and once more called out in a full, deep voice, “There! There! There he is!”
The others were disgusted and fled away in all directions.
“Horrible ...” said Bambi in his chamber to the elder.
“Worst of all,” the elder replied, “is that they believe in what the dog just said. They believe it, they live a life full of fear, they hate Him and they hate themselves ... and they kill themselves for his sake.”
[CHAPTER] 25
There came a break in the cold and a pause in the middle of winter. The Earth drank in the melting snow in great draughts, so that broad stretches of naked earth could be seen everywhere. The blackbirds were not singing yet but when they flew up from the ground where they had been hunting for worms, or when they flapped from tree to tree, they let out a long, shrill, cheerful cry which was almost like birdsong. The woodpecker began to laugh here and there, magpies and crows became more chatty, the tits talked gaily with each other, and the pheasants, when they had swung down from the trees where they had been sleeping, now remained in one spot for almost as long as they would in the good times, they would shake their plumage in the morning sunshine and continually burst out with their metallic cry.