"Bambi," the old stag went on. "do you remember what Gobo said and what the dog said, what they all think, do you remember?

Bambi could not answer.

"Do you see, Bambi," the old stag went on, "do you see how He's [the man] lying there dead, like one of us? Listen, Bambi. He isn't all-powerful as they say. Everything that lives and grows doesn't come from Him. He isn't above us. He's just the same as we are. He has the same fears, the same needs, and suffers in the same way. He can be killed like us, and then He lies helpless on the ground like all the rest of us, as you see Him now."

There was a silence.

"Do you understand me, Bambi?" asked the old stag.

"I think so," said Bambi in a whisper.

"Then speak," the old stag commanded.

Bambi was inspired, and said trembling, "There is Another who is over us all, over us and over Him."

"Now I can go away," said the old stag.

He turned away, and they wandered side by side for a stretch.

Presently the old stag stopped in front of a tall oak.

"Don't follow me any farther, Bambi," he began with a calm voice, "my time is up. Now I have to look for a resting place."

Bambi tried to speak.

"Don't," said the old stag, cutting him short, "don't. In the hour which I am approaching we are all alone. Goodbye, my son. I loved you dearly."

Felix Salten, Bambi: A Life in the Woods (New York: Pocket Books, 1928, 1956, 187-188).