“It is all we can ask, Young Black Buck,” answered White Tail. “Now, under the Council Tree, we pledge ourselves to the service of the herd and to each other’s support. Let it be understood that when I am away, Young Black Buck shall be in command, and it is the duty of every one to follow and obey him. It is so agreed! The Council is now finished.”
The meeting immediately broke up, and the deer and bucks mingled together to congratulate the new leaders, for the council had ended happily, and there was no bitter feeling carried away. The older ones related to the young ones stories of other similar meetings under the Council Tree, and the latter listened eagerly to these tales.
Father Buck and Mother Deer withdrew silently, leaving White Tail in command, with the whole herd crowding around him to flatter and congratulate. There was a new spring in the ex-leader’s steps as he trotted away, and Mother Deer, walking along by his side, noticed it.
“You do not act like a fallen leader,” she said, smiling. “I haven’t seen you walk so lightly and happily for a long time.”
“A fallen leader is not always to be pitied, my dear,” Father Buck replied. “The greatest thing he can do is to lead his people successfully, and the next greatest thing is to rear a son to take his place. Have I not done both?”
Mother Deer nodded and smiled. Father Buck turned to her and affectionately licked her neck. “And the greatest thing you could do,” he added, “is to train your son so that he is worthy to lead. I’m proud of White Tail, and still prouder of you, Mother Deer. He is your son!”
A little later White Tail found them together in the woods, talking and smiling, and so happy in the possession of each other’s love that neither seemed to regret the loss of authority. And White Tail, watching them, said to himself:
“The honor of being leader of the herd is not all mine. I owe much of it to them. They have trained me and taught me, and suffered for me, that I might succeed. I shall never forget that.”
And to the end of his days, which were many, White Tail never forgot that to have good parents was greater even than to be leader of the herd.
The next story in the Twilight Series is entitled: Washer the Raccoon.