The next time they met, though, Gobo and Faline rushed to him in great leaps and bounds. They were alone once more, as was Bambi. “We’ve been looking for you for ages,” declared Gobo. “Yes,” said Faline with an air of importance, “as now we know exactly who it was that you saw.” Bambi was so keen to know he jumped in the air. “Who ...!?”
Faline took pleasure in saying, “It was the old prince.”
“How do you know that?” Bambi wanted to know.
“Our mother told us!” retorted Faline.
Bambi was astonished, and he showed it. “Did you tell her about it then?” The two of them nodded their heads. “But that was a secret!” objected Bambi.
Gobo quickly tried to excuse himself. “It wasn’t me. It was Faline who did it.” But Faline cheerfully called, “Oh, so what? Secret!? I wanted to know who it was, and now we do know, and that’s much more interesting!” Bambi was burning to hear all about this, and his wish was satisfied. Faline told him everything. “He’s the most noble stag in the whole wood. He’s the prince. There is no second most noble, no-one comes near to him. No-one knows how old he is. No-one knows where he lives. No-one knows who his relatives are. Very few have ever even seen him. Now and then there’s a rumour that he’s dead because he hasn’t been seen for a long time. Then somebody catches a glimpse of him and then everyone knows he’s still alive. No-one has ever dared to ask him where he’s been. He doesn’t speak to anyone and no-one dares to speak to him. He goes along the paths where no-one else ever goes; he knows every part of the wood, even the most distant corner. And nothing is a danger to him. Other princes might tussle with each other, sometimes as a test or in fun but sometimes they fight in earnest. It’s many years since he fought with anyone. And there’s no-one still alive who did fight with him a long time ago. He’s the great prince.”
Bambi forgave Gobo and Faline for having carelessly chatted about his secret with their mother. He was even quite satisfied about it as now, after all, it was him who had experienced all the all these important things. Nonetheless, he was glad that Gobo and Faline did not know everything quite precisely, that the great prince had said, “Can’t you be by yourself for a while?,” that they did not know he had said, “You should be ashamed of yourself!.” Bambi was glad, now, that he had kept silent about these admonitions. Faline would have told everything about that just like everything else, and then the whole forest would have been gossiping about it.
That night, as the moon was rising, Bambi’s mother came back again. She was suddenly there standing under the great oak at the edge of the meadow and looking round for Bambi. He saw her straight away and ran over to her. That night Bambi had another new experience. His mother was tired and hungry. She did not walk about as much as she usually did but satisfied herself there on the meadow where Bambi also usually took his meals. Together there, they munched on the bushes and as they did so, in that remarkably pleasant way, they wandered deeper and deeper into the woods. There was a loud noise that came through the greenery. Before Bambi had any idea of what was happening his mother began to scream loudly, just as she did when she was greatly startled or confused. “A-oh!” she screamed, jumped away, then stopped and screamed, “A-oh, ba-oh!.” Then, Bambi saw some immense figures appear, coming towards them through the noise. They came quite close. They looked like Bambi and his mother, like Auntie Ena and anyone else of their species, but they were enormous, they had grown so big and powerful that you felt compelled to look up at them. Like his mother, Bambi began to scream, “A-oh ... Ba-oh ...Ba-oh!.” He was hardly aware that he was screaming, he could not stop himself. The line of figures went slowly past, three or four enormous figures one after another. Last of all came one that was even bigger than the others, it had a wild mane around its neck and its head was crowned with a whole tree. Just to see it took your breath away. Bambi stood there and howled as loudly as he could, as he felt more frightened and bewildered than he ever had been before. His fear was of a particular kind. He felt as if he were pitifully small, and even his mother seemed to be the same. He felt ashamed, although he had no idea why, at the same time the horror of it shook him and he once more began to howl. “Ba-oh ... Ba-a-oh!.” It made him feel better when he shouted like that.
The line of figures had passed. There was nothing more to see and nothing more to hear from in. Even Bambi’s mother became silent. There was only Bambi who would whine briefly from time to time. He was still afraid.
“You can be quiet now,” his mother said, “look, they’ve gone away.”