WAKE UP!!

Wake Up was inspired by Trilby

I forgot that I named it Wake Up and wrote Svengali in it instead.

I would like to continue writing about Bambi.

There is a character in the book Bambi that is not in the movie. His name is Gobo, the twin brother of Faline. He was weak and small. During the scene when Bambi's mother gets shot, and the deer are running from the hunters Gobo falls and can't get up. When they go back to find him he is gone and all that is around are foot prints of HIM.

In the spring, after the other deer have suffered through a winter, he re-enters the forest. This is the part that I would like to share with you for educational purposes.

"Yes," said Gobo, "He came. He called off the dogs and they quieted down at once. He called them again and they crouched motionless at His feet. Then He picked me up. I screamed but He petted me. He held me in His arms. He didn't hurt me. And then He carried me away."

Faline interrupted him. "What does 'carry' mean?" she asked.

Gobo began to explain it in great detail.

"It's very simple," Bambi broke in, "look at what the squirrel does when he takes a nut and carries it off."

The squirrel tried to speak again. " A cousin of mine . . ." he began eagerly. But the others cried out at once, "Be still, be still, let Gobo go on."

The squirrel had to keep quiet. He was desperate and pressing his forepaws against his white chest, he tried to begin a conversation with the magpie, "As I was saying a counsin of mine..." he began. But the magpie simply turned her back on him.

Gobo told of wonders. "Outside it will be cold and the storm is howling . But inside there's not a breath of wind and it's as warm as in summertime," he said.

"Akh!" screamed the jay.

"The rain may be pouring outside so that everyting is flooded. But not a drop of it gets inside and you keep dry."

The pheasant craned their necks and twisted their heads.

"Everything outside may be snowed under, but inside I was warm," said Gobo; "I was even hot. They gave me hat to eat and chestnuts, potatoes and turnips, whatever I wanted."

"Hay?" they all cried at once, amazed, incredulous and excited.

"Sweet, new-mown hay," Gobo repeated calmly, and gazed triumphantly around.

The squirrel's voice cut in, "A cousin of mine. . ."

"Keep quiet," cried the others.

"Where does He get hay and all the rest of the things in winter," asked Faline eagerly.

"He grows them," Gobo answered, "He grows what He wants and keeps what He wants."

Faline went on questioning him: "Weren't you ever afraid, Gobo, when you were with Him?" she asked.

Gobo smiled a very superior smile. "No, dear Faline," he said, "not any more. I got to know that He wouldn't hurt me. Why should I have been afraid? You all think He's wicked. But He isn't wicked. If He loves anybody or if anybody serves Him, He's good to him. Wonderfully good! Nobody in the world can be as kind as He can."

While Gobo was talking that way the old stag suddenly stepped noiselessly from the bushes.

Gobo didn't notice him and went on talking. But the others saw the old stag and held their breath in awe.

The old stag stood motionless, watching Gobo with deep and serious eyes.

Gobo said, "Not only He, but all His children loved me. His wife, and all of them used to pet me and play with me." He broke off suddenly. He had seen the old stag.

A silence followed.

Then the old stag asked in his quiet commanding voice, "What kind of a band is that you have on your neck?"

Everybody looked at it and noticed for the first time the dark strip of braided horsehair around Gobo's neck.

Gobo answered uneasily. "That? Why that's part of the halter I wore. It's His halter and it's the greatest honor to wear His halter, it's. . . " He grew confused and stammered.

Everyone was silent. The old stag looked at Gobo for a long time, piercingly and sadly.

"You poor thing!" he said softly at last, and turned and was gone.

In the astonished silence that followed, the squirrel began to chatter again. "As I was saying, a cousin of mine stayed with Him, too. He caught him and shut him up, oh, for the longest while, till one day my father. . . "

But nobody was listening to the squirrel. They were all walking away.