Bambi looked at him, filled with a remarkable enthusiasm and shuddering with a mysterious thrill. He wanted to call out, “Because I love you!” But, instead, he answered, “I don’t know ...”
The aged one looked at him. “I haven’t seen you for a long time. You’ve grown big and strong.”
Bambi gave no answer. He trembled with joy.
The elder continued, he wanted to test him and make his assessment of him. Then, surprisingly, he stepped very close to Bambi, causing Bambi much alarm. “Whatever you do, do it with nobility ...,” the aged one said.
He turned away, and in the next moment he was gone. Bambi remained on the same spot for a long time afterwards.
[CHAPTER] 13
It was summertime and burning hot. The yearning began to rise again in Bambi, the yearning that he had felt earlier, but this time it was much stronger than before, it boiled his blood and made him restless.
He wandered far and wide.
One day, he came across Faline. He had not expected to find her at all, for his thoughts were at that time very confused from all the restless yearning that had possessed him, and he had not realized she was there. Now she was standing in front of him. For a while he was speechless and merely stared at her, then, awestruck, he said, “Faline ... you’ve become so beautiful ...”
Faline retorted, “Can you still recognize me then?”