The Princes of The Forest
It was a nice spring morning in the forest.
A nice day for fawns to frolic among the green grass and rabbits eat the blossoms of the clovers, skipping the greens.
A nice day to be introduced to the meadow for the first time.
The Young Prince of the Forest led his twins on to the meadow, explaining to them both that they weren't big enough, until now to be on the meadow.
Soon his twins, named Leo and Celvice, celebrated their new wide open surroundings with a run.
Bambi followed them, keeping a watchful eye on each of them.
The Great Prince looked down toward the meadow, where his son Bambi was busy watching his children.
A fluttering noise soon broke a birch from the trees and came to a stop on a tree branch.
"You shouldn't attack yourself. Your son wouldn't like it." A voice called from above.
The Great Prince was startled by this sudden interruption. His ears went up, and his eyes soon followed in the direction of the noise.
A figure of an owl came into his vision, it had been many years since they had spoken to each other, but they had a long history. They knew each other by their sent, their sight and by their friendship.
"Hello, Friend Owl." The Great Prince greeted him.
"You haven't forgotten me. I've been watching your family since you left your first love." Owl said, looking down at his friend.
The Great Prince returned to his vigilance of his son frolicking with his two fawns in the meadow, just as his mother did with him.
"She was beautiful. I cared for her very much, but things didn't work out between us." The Great Prince remembered.
"I remember when you were both fawns. She got on your nerves, you got annoyed and tried to run her down, but battle after battle you lost them all!" Owl chuckled.
"Don't you start!" The Great Prince said, a small smile forming on his face.
"What's that...is that a smile! It can't be, you must be sick." Owl chuckled again.
"You still can't stand spring! Why are you the only one of the forest who doesn't get Twitterpatted!" The Great Prince said.
"Good Comeback!" Owl said feeling embarrassed.
"I'm happy for him owl." The Great Prince said continuing to watch.
"I believe he's also happy that your in his life." Owl said.
"I never really raised him like his mother did. She wanted me to stay away, and I respected her wishes." The Great Prince said with some gloom in his voice.
"That's why its hard for me to say, "I love you." to his son." The Great Prince explained.
"Sometimes it's hard for Bambi to say those things too." Owl explained.
"It is? Do you think he feels bad about me not raising him with his mother?" The Great Prince asked looking up at his old friend.
"I think Bambi figured out that things between you and his mother, weren't what they could've been. He feels sad about that, but he hasn't let it bug him." Owl explained.
"I remember the night his mother died." The Great Prince said his voice falling flat.
Owl just listened intently.
"I remember walking in the forest west of the Meadow, when I heard a shot. I would've been able to sense man in the forest if the birds had been around, but since they fly south, it becomes more difficult for me to be the sentinel for the rest of the deer of the forest." The Great Prince remembered.
"What did you do after you heard the shot?" Owl asked.
"I ran for cover, heading even deeper into the forest. When night fell, I headed back to the spot were I believe the shot came from. It was the meadow, that's where most of us have gotten killed." The Great Prince said.
"How did you know it was your first love?" Owl asked.
"I walked out onto the meadow, and I saw a big stain of blood in one place, and a trail blood and brown fur leading away into the eastern side of the forrest. I picked up the scent of what was killed there. It was hers." The Great Prince explained.
"How did you know that?" Owl asked.
"When you make love to someone, you pick up their scents. It's what lovers do." The Great Prince explained.
"When I realized it was her, I felt as if I had been beaten again, like that buck that had beaten me and taken her away from me in my prime." The Great Prince continued.
"When did you go get your son?" Owl asked.
"At the time, I didn't know if he had been killed as well. It wasn't until I heard his crying and hurt voice in the darkness of the trees that I realized he was alive. It's scary cause, it was only the second time I had ever heard his voice. He called out for his mother, just as he did in the spring on the meadow." The Great Prince said with a painful expression on his face.
Owl studied his friends, facial expression very closely. He saw that he was almost about to cry.
"It's ok to cry. All of us do it, even though bucks aren't expected to do it. Real bucks do cry. It helps make up who you are." Owl explained.
"Thank you, owl." The Great Prince explained and went off a few feet away with his head down and shed a few tears.
Owl watched as his friend let his pain out. After a few moments of this, The Great Prince calmed down and went back to Owl.
Looking back up at Owl, he continued.
"When I heard his voice, I was over joyed inside. What was created out of our love for each other was still alive? I went to him, knowing that the huge responsibilities of a single parent had fallen on me." The Great Prince said.
"I bet, you also knew that you couldn't hide yourself from him any longer." Owl pointed out.
"Yes, I found him near some of the large oaks, it was snowing hard and he was on the verge of tears. I just let him find me, since he was coming in my direction already. I must have frightened him, when he first saw me." The Great Prince explained.
Owl listened.
"I remember the look of shock on his face, and me telling him straight out....
"Your mother cannot be with you anymore."
"It must have been a lot to have taken in all at once." Owl said.
"He just stared at me, with the same look on his face...then his head went down...it was as if time stopped for both of us. The silence and darkness of the woods around us had enveloped us." The Great Prince explained with his eyes looking into the empty space.
"Oh...my friend." Owl said with his eyes looking in another direction, to shake the feeling of confusion and taking it all in.
"When he lifted his head again, a single tear ran down his face." The Great Prince sighed.
"I kept the same stern look on my face. I didn't want him to let him know how I was feeling at the time, since he needed me, to be strong for him." The Great Prince said with a stronger sigh this time.
"He also needed you to be afraid for him." Owl said.
"What do you mean?" The Great Prince asked.
"Children want their parents to be more than strong for them, they also need them to be afraid for them as well, so they won't feel afraid." Owl explained.
"So that they won't have to deal with the problems of loss and fear alone?" The Great Prince asked.
"Yes." Owl answered.
"What happened between you and Bambi next?" Owl then asked.
"Hold, on!" The Great Prince said with a yawn.
He decided to walk around for a minute in order to stretch his muscles. He had been standing in the same spot for a long time.
Owl also stretched out to get the feeling back in his wings and back.
"Ok, what happened next...." The Great Prince said as he finished stretching.
Owl started to listen again.
"I said to Bambi, "Come, my son." as I began to walk toward my place in another part of the forest. He started to follow me, reluctantly turned his head back for a moment and started following me again." The Great Prince explained.
"How was the trip back to your place?" Owl asked.
"It was difficult for both of us. Every now and then he stopped, but then started following me again. He was silent for the whole trip." The Great Prince said.
"Did he know who you were?" Owl asked.
"He did. His mother never told him but he knew by the sound of my voice." The Great Prince explained.
"When we arrived at my sleeping ground, which was out in the open and not in the safety of a thicket or some protective covering. I could tell that Bambi was a little taken back that we had to sleep in the snow." The Great Prince chuckled.
"He would've complained about it but he acted like a real buck, and didn't complain. I guess he was too upset about his mother to care about where he
slept." The Great Prince Remembered.
"Was it hard for him to adjust?" Owl asked.
"It was. When we settled down, the first thing he did was cry, I let him get close to me and he cried while huddling close to my chest area. I think that my touch and my presence their helped him that night." The Great Prince said.
"It must have helped you too, since then you could...miss her together." Owl said.
"Therapy, just by being together, it was therapy." The Great Prince realized.
"Yes, taking care of him for the rest of the winter must have been challenging." Owl said.
"It was almost spring, since the first few patches of grass were starting to come into bloom. Yet, I still provided him with all the loose bark and parenting that his mother provided." The Great Prince explained.
"I wondered what had happened to Bambi. It was still another year before I saw him again." Owl said.
"Yes, I kept him closer to me than his mother did. I didn't let him go see his friends when the first spring came, at that time, I wanted him to learn how to survive on his own. That took up the majority of our time." The Great Prince explained.
"Even being Twitterpatted?" Owl asked chuckling.
"He didn't know what being Twitterpatted was until after you explained it to him." The Great Prince reminded him.
"Oh, yes." Owl remembered.
"Bambi did have all these strange feelings growing up and he asked me one day, why he was feeling aroused when he saw and older doe..." The Great Prince started.
"Oh, that must have been fun. What did you say about it?" Owl said.
"I told him that he was growing up. Just like when a fawn begins to lose his spots and grow his antlers, he was growing up. I then emphasized that he should not be afraid or ashamed of the changes going on inside him. I even told him his cousin Faline, was going through similar changes, with herself as well."
"Faline is Bambi's cousin?" Owl said with his eyes wide open.
"Yes, they are family. At least on his mothers side." The Great Prince explained.
"And they had kids?" Owl said looking up at Bambi who was still watching his young play on the meadow.
"Love is not something that can be contained. It can happen between family members, some may be morally upset by it, but it's one of the miracles of life." The Great Prince said as he looked toward his grand children.
"I can see what you mean." Owl replied.
"Anyway, as soon as I knew he was ready to be on his own. I let him sleep alone, gradually until he got used to being on his own. Than, I let him go back to the part of the forest that is his home." The Great Prince explained.
Owl than had a thought.
"It just occurred to me....have you ever met your grand children face to face?" Owl asked.
"........" The Great Prince was speechless.
"I think that Bambi would very much like you to meet them. Their YOUR children too." Owl persisted.
The Great Prince looked up at him. With a dumbfounded look on his face, wondering if he should take his advice and come out of the woods to greet his son and his children.
"Don't shut yourself out of their lives. You did that with Bambi, don't do it with the next generation." Owl encouraged him.
"Do you think he'll let me? After not being there for the first part of his life?" The Great Prince asked.
"I think Bambi has already forgiven you, now you can make him feel better, by going out there and meeting them." Owl said.
The Great Prince out towards them once again.
Reliving his life, he saw that he had been blessed with Bambi. His son.
Now Bambi had gone from infant to father. Blessed with two miracles of his own.
"Go on, I'll keep watch over them for you until you return." Owl offered.
"Thank you." The Great Prince said, and he walked out into the clearing of the meadow.
Owl watched The Great Prince walk out toward Bambi.
It wasn't long before Bambi saw his father and he walked up to him.
"Hi dad." Bambi greeted his father.
"Hi, how have you been?" The Great Prince asked.
"I'm happy, and I'm sure you want to meet, the rest of the family." Bambi stated.
Before the Great Prince could say anything else Bambi called out to his twins.
"Leo! Celvice! Come here for moment." Bambi called out.
"Ok dad!" Leo's voice called back in reply.
The two little fawns came bounding up a nearby hill.
"They're very obedient." Bambi chuckled.
"I see." The Great Prince grinned.
The two fawns came on opposite sides of their father.
"Who is this daddy?" Celvice, the one who looked like Faline asked.
"Celvice, Leo...." Bambi said bring his head down to his children's eye level.
"....When I was your age, someone took care of me, just like me your mother and I are taking care of each of you." Bambi explained.
"This is who took care of me." Bambi said facing his father.
"This is your Grampa." Bambi said.
"Oh, hi...." Celvice said in a shy voice.
"Hi Grampa!" Leo said in an excited voice.
The Great Prince just grinned at how awkward this meeting was.
"It's wonderful to meet you both." The Great Prince greeted them.
Bambi than looked over toward Friend Owl, who was still up in the tree and gave him a wink.
Owl returned the glance.
It was a nice spring morning in the forest.
A nice day for fawns to frolic among the green grass and rabbits eat the blossoms of the clovers, skipping the greens.
A nice day to be introduced to the meadow for the first time.
The Young Prince of the Forest led his twins on to the meadow, explaining to them both that they weren't big enough, until now to be on the meadow.
Soon his twins, named Leo and Celvice, celebrated their new wide open surroundings with a run.
Bambi followed them, keeping a watchful eye on each of them.
The Great Prince looked down toward the meadow, where his son Bambi was busy watching his children.
A fluttering noise soon broke a birch from the trees and came to a stop on a tree branch.
"You shouldn't attack yourself. Your son wouldn't like it." A voice called from above.
The Great Prince was startled by this sudden interruption. His ears went up, and his eyes soon followed in the direction of the noise.
A figure of an owl came into his vision, it had been many years since they had spoken to each other, but they had a long history. They knew each other by their sent, their sight and by their friendship.
"Hello, Friend Owl." The Great Prince greeted him.
"You haven't forgotten me. I've been watching your family since you left your first love." Owl said, looking down at his friend.
The Great Prince returned to his vigilance of his son frolicking with his two fawns in the meadow, just as his mother did with him.
"She was beautiful. I cared for her very much, but things didn't work out between us." The Great Prince remembered.
"I remember when you were both fawns. She got on your nerves, you got annoyed and tried to run her down, but battle after battle you lost them all!" Owl chuckled.
"Don't you start!" The Great Prince said, a small smile forming on his face.
"What's that...is that a smile! It can't be, you must be sick." Owl chuckled again.
"You still can't stand spring! Why are you the only one of the forest who doesn't get Twitterpatted!" The Great Prince said.
"Good Comeback!" Owl said feeling embarrassed.
"I'm happy for him owl." The Great Prince said continuing to watch.
"I believe he's also happy that your in his life." Owl said.
"I never really raised him like his mother did. She wanted me to stay away, and I respected her wishes." The Great Prince said with some gloom in his voice.
"That's why its hard for me to say, "I love you." to his son." The Great Prince explained.
"Sometimes it's hard for Bambi to say those things too." Owl explained.
"It is? Do you think he feels bad about me not raising him with his mother?" The Great Prince asked looking up at his old friend.
"I think Bambi figured out that things between you and his mother, weren't what they could've been. He feels sad about that, but he hasn't let it bug him." Owl explained.
"I remember the night his mother died." The Great Prince said his voice falling flat.
Owl just listened intently.
"I remember walking in the forest west of the Meadow, when I heard a shot. I would've been able to sense man in the forest if the birds had been around, but since they fly south, it becomes more difficult for me to be the sentinel for the rest of the deer of the forest." The Great Prince remembered.
"What did you do after you heard the shot?" Owl asked.
"I ran for cover, heading even deeper into the forest. When night fell, I headed back to the spot were I believe the shot came from. It was the meadow, that's where most of us have gotten killed." The Great Prince said.
"How did you know it was your first love?" Owl asked.
"I walked out onto the meadow, and I saw a big stain of blood in one place, and a trail blood and brown fur leading away into the eastern side of the forrest. I picked up the scent of what was killed there. It was hers." The Great Prince explained.
"How did you know that?" Owl asked.
"When you make love to someone, you pick up their scents. It's what lovers do." The Great Prince explained.
"When I realized it was her, I felt as if I had been beaten again, like that buck that had beaten me and taken her away from me in my prime." The Great Prince continued.
"When did you go get your son?" Owl asked.
"At the time, I didn't know if he had been killed as well. It wasn't until I heard his crying and hurt voice in the darkness of the trees that I realized he was alive. It's scary cause, it was only the second time I had ever heard his voice. He called out for his mother, just as he did in the spring on the meadow." The Great Prince said with a painful expression on his face.
Owl studied his friends, facial expression very closely. He saw that he was almost about to cry.
"It's ok to cry. All of us do it, even though bucks aren't expected to do it. Real bucks do cry. It helps make up who you are." Owl explained.
"Thank you, owl." The Great Prince explained and went off a few feet away with his head down and shed a few tears.
Owl watched as his friend let his pain out. After a few moments of this, The Great Prince calmed down and went back to Owl.
Looking back up at Owl, he continued.
"When I heard his voice, I was over joyed inside. What was created out of our love for each other was still alive? I went to him, knowing that the huge responsibilities of a single parent had fallen on me." The Great Prince said.
"I bet, you also knew that you couldn't hide yourself from him any longer." Owl pointed out.
"Yes, I found him near some of the large oaks, it was snowing hard and he was on the verge of tears. I just let him find me, since he was coming in my direction already. I must have frightened him, when he first saw me." The Great Prince explained.
Owl listened.
"I remember the look of shock on his face, and me telling him straight out....
"Your mother cannot be with you anymore."
"It must have been a lot to have taken in all at once." Owl said.
"He just stared at me, with the same look on his face...then his head went down...it was as if time stopped for both of us. The silence and darkness of the woods around us had enveloped us." The Great Prince explained with his eyes looking into the empty space.
"Oh...my friend." Owl said with his eyes looking in another direction, to shake the feeling of confusion and taking it all in.
"When he lifted his head again, a single tear ran down his face." The Great Prince sighed.
"I kept the same stern look on my face. I didn't want him to let him know how I was feeling at the time, since he needed me, to be strong for him." The Great Prince said with a stronger sigh this time.
"He also needed you to be afraid for him." Owl said.
"What do you mean?" The Great Prince asked.
"Children want their parents to be more than strong for them, they also need them to be afraid for them as well, so they won't feel afraid." Owl explained.
"So that they won't have to deal with the problems of loss and fear alone?" The Great Prince asked.
"Yes." Owl answered.
"What happened between you and Bambi next?" Owl then asked.
"Hold, on!" The Great Prince said with a yawn.
He decided to walk around for a minute in order to stretch his muscles. He had been standing in the same spot for a long time.
Owl also stretched out to get the feeling back in his wings and back.
"Ok, what happened next...." The Great Prince said as he finished stretching.
Owl started to listen again.
"I said to Bambi, "Come, my son." as I began to walk toward my place in another part of the forest. He started to follow me, reluctantly turned his head back for a moment and started following me again." The Great Prince explained.
"How was the trip back to your place?" Owl asked.
"It was difficult for both of us. Every now and then he stopped, but then started following me again. He was silent for the whole trip." The Great Prince said.
"Did he know who you were?" Owl asked.
"He did. His mother never told him but he knew by the sound of my voice." The Great Prince explained.
"When we arrived at my sleeping ground, which was out in the open and not in the safety of a thicket or some protective covering. I could tell that Bambi was a little taken back that we had to sleep in the snow." The Great Prince chuckled.
"He would've complained about it but he acted like a real buck, and didn't complain. I guess he was too upset about his mother to care about where he
slept." The Great Prince Remembered.
"Was it hard for him to adjust?" Owl asked.
"It was. When we settled down, the first thing he did was cry, I let him get close to me and he cried while huddling close to my chest area. I think that my touch and my presence their helped him that night." The Great Prince said.
"It must have helped you too, since then you could...miss her together." Owl said.
"Therapy, just by being together, it was therapy." The Great Prince realized.
"Yes, taking care of him for the rest of the winter must have been challenging." Owl said.
"It was almost spring, since the first few patches of grass were starting to come into bloom. Yet, I still provided him with all the loose bark and parenting that his mother provided." The Great Prince explained.
"I wondered what had happened to Bambi. It was still another year before I saw him again." Owl said.
"Yes, I kept him closer to me than his mother did. I didn't let him go see his friends when the first spring came, at that time, I wanted him to learn how to survive on his own. That took up the majority of our time." The Great Prince explained.
"Even being Twitterpatted?" Owl asked chuckling.
"He didn't know what being Twitterpatted was until after you explained it to him." The Great Prince reminded him.
"Oh, yes." Owl remembered.
"Bambi did have all these strange feelings growing up and he asked me one day, why he was feeling aroused when he saw and older doe..." The Great Prince started.
"Oh, that must have been fun. What did you say about it?" Owl said.
"I told him that he was growing up. Just like when a fawn begins to lose his spots and grow his antlers, he was growing up. I then emphasized that he should not be afraid or ashamed of the changes going on inside him. I even told him his cousin Faline, was going through similar changes, with herself as well."
"Faline is Bambi's cousin?" Owl said with his eyes wide open.
"Yes, they are family. At least on his mothers side." The Great Prince explained.
"And they had kids?" Owl said looking up at Bambi who was still watching his young play on the meadow.
"Love is not something that can be contained. It can happen between family members, some may be morally upset by it, but it's one of the miracles of life." The Great Prince said as he looked toward his grand children.
"I can see what you mean." Owl replied.
"Anyway, as soon as I knew he was ready to be on his own. I let him sleep alone, gradually until he got used to being on his own. Than, I let him go back to the part of the forest that is his home." The Great Prince explained.
Owl than had a thought.
"It just occurred to me....have you ever met your grand children face to face?" Owl asked.
"........" The Great Prince was speechless.
"I think that Bambi would very much like you to meet them. Their YOUR children too." Owl persisted.
The Great Prince looked up at him. With a dumbfounded look on his face, wondering if he should take his advice and come out of the woods to greet his son and his children.
"Don't shut yourself out of their lives. You did that with Bambi, don't do it with the next generation." Owl encouraged him.
"Do you think he'll let me? After not being there for the first part of his life?" The Great Prince asked.
"I think Bambi has already forgiven you, now you can make him feel better, by going out there and meeting them." Owl said.
The Great Prince out towards them once again.
Reliving his life, he saw that he had been blessed with Bambi. His son.
Now Bambi had gone from infant to father. Blessed with two miracles of his own.
"Go on, I'll keep watch over them for you until you return." Owl offered.
"Thank you." The Great Prince said, and he walked out into the clearing of the meadow.
Owl watched The Great Prince walk out toward Bambi.
It wasn't long before Bambi saw his father and he walked up to him.
"Hi dad." Bambi greeted his father.
"Hi, how have you been?" The Great Prince asked.
"I'm happy, and I'm sure you want to meet, the rest of the family." Bambi stated.
Before the Great Prince could say anything else Bambi called out to his twins.
"Leo! Celvice! Come here for moment." Bambi called out.
"Ok dad!" Leo's voice called back in reply.
The two little fawns came bounding up a nearby hill.
"They're very obedient." Bambi chuckled.
"I see." The Great Prince grinned.
The two fawns came on opposite sides of their father.
"Who is this daddy?" Celvice, the one who looked like Faline asked.
"Celvice, Leo...." Bambi said bring his head down to his children's eye level.
"....When I was your age, someone took care of me, just like me your mother and I are taking care of each of you." Bambi explained.
"This is who took care of me." Bambi said facing his father.
"This is your Grampa." Bambi said.
"Oh, hi...." Celvice said in a shy voice.
"Hi Grampa!" Leo said in an excited voice.
The Great Prince just grinned at how awkward this meeting was.
"It's wonderful to meet you both." The Great Prince greeted them.
Bambi than looked over toward Friend Owl, who was still up in the tree and gave him a wink.
Owl returned the glance.