“Don’t be frightened,” the elder went on. “Come with me now and don’t be afraid. I’m glad I’ve got the chance to take you there and let you see it ...” He hesitated and gently added, “before I go.”
Bambi was taken aback at this and stared at the elder. He suddenly became aware of how frail he looked; his head was now entirely white, his face had become very gaunt, his beautiful eyes had lost their sparkle, they had taken on a dull green appearance and seemed to be somehow broken.
Bambi and the elder did not go far, they could feel the first winds of a heavy storm blowing at them, a storm that was capable of putting so much threat and dread into their hearts.
Bambi stopped, but the elder carried on walking, directly towards the storm. Bambi hesitantly followed behind him.
The scent of the storm came at them in ever stronger waves and drew them forward. The elder went straight on. Thoughts of flight had sprung into Bambi, he could feel tension in his breast which boiled through his head and all his limbs. They nearly tore him away from the place. He stayed strong and continued to walk behind the elder.
Now this malevolent storm had swollen up into something so mighty that there was nothing else it was possible to feel, and so that it was now barely possible to breathe.
“There!” said the elder, and he stepped to one side.
Two steps away from them, He lay there on the ground on bent and broken bushes and in churned up snow.
Bambi half-suppressed a scream of horror, and with a sudden jump he fled, as he had already been wishing to do . He was nearly out of his senses in terror.
“Stop!” he heard the elder call. He looked back and saw that the elder was calmly standing there where He was lying on the ground. Beside himself in astonishment, Bambi stepped closer, compelled by his obedience, by his boundless curiosity, by his quaking anticipation.