On the meadow, it was already very lively. Bambi’s friend the hare was sitting there with his family all around him. Auntie Ena was standing there with her children and some other people she knew. Today, Bambi saw his father again. The came slowly out from the trees, some here, some there, then someone else appeared. They walked slowly up and down along the edge of the woods, each one in his own place. They paid no attention to anyone, they did not even talk to each other. Bambi frequently looked over at them, respectfully but full of curiosity.
Then he talked with Faline, Gobo and a few other children. He thought it would be alright to play for a little while. All of them said they agreed, and then the running round in circles began. Faline showed that she was the merriest of them all. She was so lively and nimble and she sparkled with sudden new ideas. Gobo, though, quickly became tired. He had been terribly afraid while the storm was raging, it had made his heart beat fast and it was still doing so. Maybe Gobo was a little bit of a weakling, but Bambi loved him because he was so good-natured and so helpful and never let anyone see it when he was a little bit sad.
[CHAPTER] 6
Time passes, and Bambi learns how good grass tastes, how tender the buds of leaves are, and how sweet clover is. When he presses himself against his mother to get some refreshment she often pushes him away. “You’re not a little child any more,” she says. Sometimes she will be even more direct and say, “Go away, leave me in peace.” Sometimes his mother would even stand up in the middle of the day in their little place in the wood and just walk away without looking to see whether Bambi is following her or not. There are even times when she is walking along the familiar paths when she seems not to notice whether Bambi is trotting behind her like a good boy. One day his mother was not there, and Bambi does not know how that is possible, cannot understand it. But his mother is gone and Bambi, for the first time, is alone.
He is bewildered, he becomes uneasy, he becomes nervous and anxious, and he begins to long for her quite pitifully. Very sadly he stands there and calls to her. No-one answers, no-one comes.
He listens, he smells the air. Nothing. He calls again. Gently, inside himself, imploringly, he calls, “Mother ... Mother ...” All in vain.
Now he is gripped with doubt as to whether he can endure it, so he begins to walk.
He wanders along all the paths he knows, stops and calls out, walks on with hesitant steps, fearful and unable to understand. He is very sad.
He carries on walking and finds himself on paths where he has never been before, he finds himself in parts of the wood which are strange to him. He is lost.
Then he hears the voices of two children who are calling out like him: