“Why can’t we go to the meadow?” he asked.

“You’ll find out all about it later when you’re bigger,” his mother replied.

“But,” Bambi insisted, “I’d rather know now.”

“Later,” his mother repeated. “You’re nothing but a baby yet,” she went on tenderly, “and we don’t talk about such things to children.” She had grown quite serious. “Fancy going to the meadow at this time of day. I don’t even like to think of it. Why, it’s broad daylight.”

“But it was broad daylight when we went to the meadow before,” Bambi objected.

“That’s different,” his mother explained; “it was early in the morning.”

“Can we only go there early in the morning?” Bambi was very curious.

His mother was patient. “Only in the early morning or late evening,” she said, “or at night.”

“And never in the daytime, never?”

His mother hesitated. “Well,” she said at last, “sometimes a few of us do go there in the daytime. . . . But those are special occasions. . . . I can’t just explain it to you, you are too young yet. . . . Some of us do go there. . . . But we are exposed to the greatest danger.”

“What kind of danger?” asked Bambi, all attention.

But his mother did not want to go on with the conversation. “We’re in danger, and that’s enough for you, my son. You can’t understand such things yet.”

Bambi thought that he could understand everything except why his mother did not want to tell him the truth. But he kept silent.

“That’s what life means for us,” his mother went on. “Though we all love the daylight, especially when we’re young, we have to lie quiet all day long. We can only roam around from evening till morning. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Bambi.

“So, my son, we’ll have to stay where we are. We’re safe here. Now lie down again and go to sleep.”

But Bambi didn’t want to lie down. “Why are we safe here?” he asked.

“Because all the bushes shield us,” his mother answered, “and the twigs snap on the shrubs and the dry twigs crackle and give us warning. And last year’s dead leaves lie on the ground and rustle to warn us, and the jays and magpies keep watch so we can tell from a distance if anybody is coming.”

“What are last year’s leaves?” Bambi asked.

“Come and sit beside me,” said his mother, “and I will tell you.” Bambi sat down contentedly, nestling close to his mother. And she told him how the trees are not always green, how the sunshine and the pleasant warmth disappear. Then it grows cold, the frost turns the leaves yellow, brown and red, and they fall slowly so that the trees and bushes stretch their bare branches to the sky and look perfectly naked. But the dry leaves lie on the ground, and when a foot stirs them they rustle. Then someone is coming. Oh, how kind last year’s dead leaves are! They do their duty so well and are so alert and watchful. Even in midsummer there are a lot of them hidden beneath the undergrowth. And they give warning in advance of every danger.

Bambi pressed close against his mother. It was so cozy to sit there and listen while his mother talked.

When she grew silent he began to think. He thought it was very kind of the good old leaves to keep watch, though they were all dead and frozen and had suffered so much.