The Story of a Red Deer

by Sir J. W. Fortescue

  CHAPTER VII

  One day when they were out at feed our Pricket caught sight of alittle brown bird with a full dozen of little chicks cheeping allround her; and as he was always anxious to make new friends he trottedup to scrape acquaintance with the stranger. But what was hisastonishment when the little bird fluffed out her wings and flew athim.

  "You dare to touch mun," she said furiously, "you dare to touch mun,and I'll peck out the eyes of 'ee."

  "But, my dear soul," he said, "I won't do you any harm."

  "Oh, beg your pardon," said the little bird, "I didn't see who it was,and I made sure that it was one of they sheep-dogs. But I don't mindever to have seen one of you here; I thought you belonged farther downthe valley."

  "But I come from the moor," he said.

  "I ha'n't never been on the moor," said the little bird, "but there'smore of 'ee down the valley, at least I think there be, for, beggingyour honour's pardon, I don't rightly know who you be. Do 'ee want toknow the way? Then follow down the river till you'm clear of the woodsand then turn up over the fields, till you see another wood, and thatwill bring 'ee to the place where your friends be. And I beg yourhonour's pardon for mistaking your honour for a sheep-dog, for I'venever seen the like of you before, but they sheep-dogs do worry uspoor Partridges terrible."

  And she bustled away with her Chicks. But the Pricket was so muchexcited to hear of other Deer that he entreated his mother to go wherethe Partridge had told them. And they went just as she had said, overthe fields and into the wood that she spoke of, but to theirdisappointment saw no sign of a deer there. So they passed on throughthe wood to the valley again, and then they came to a park with theriver running through it, and great trees bigger than he had everseen, beech and oak and lime and chestnut, some in rows and some inclumps, a beautiful expanse of green, all dripping in the morning dew.And there the Pricket saw deer, and he was so delighted that he ranon by himself to speak to them; but he was puzzled, for some of themwere black, and some were white, and some were red, and the greaterpart were spotted; while not one was near so big as he was, thoughmany of them had growing horns as big as his own and bigger. So hemade sure that they must all be calves with some new description ofhorn, and going up to the biggest of them he said ratherpatronisingly, "Good morning, my little friend."

  But the other turned round and said, "Little friend! Do you know who Iam, sir? I am the Master-Buck of this park, sir, and I'll trouble younot to call me your little friend."

  "But why don't you come to the woods and on to the moor?" said thePricket, astonished. "I've never seen you there."

  "Did you hear me say that I was the Master-Buck of this park, sir?"said the Fallow-Buck, "and do you know what that means? I am lord ofthe whole of this herd, and master of everything inside thispark-fence. What do I want with woods and moors, when I have all thisbeautiful green park for a kingdom, and all this grass to feed on inthe summer, and hay, sir, hay brought to me in the winter? Do you gethay brought to you in the winter, sir?"

  "Why," broke in the Pricket, "do you mean to say that you can't feedyourself?"

  But here the Hind trotted up and fetched her son away. "They are onlymiserable little tame Fallow-Deer," she said. "You should never havelowered yourself to speak to them."

  "No, mother," he answered; "but fancy preferring to live in a wretchedlittle park instead of wandering free through the woods and over themoor! Do let me go back and thrash him."

  But when the Fallow-Buck heard this he trotted away as quick as hecould; and mother and son went back into the wood. And as they enteredit a very handsome bird with a grey back and a rosy breast and brightblue on his wings fluttered over their heads screeching at the top ofhis voice. "Come in," he said, "please to come right in. But we Jaysbe put here to scritch when any stranger cometh into the wood, andscritch I must and scritch I shall." And certainly he did, in a mostunpleasant tone, for he had been watching a brood of another bird'schicks instead of minding his proper business, and so had missed themwhen they first came in. So he screeched double to make up for losttime.

  Then presently there came towards them another bird, walking verydaintily on the ground. He had a green neck and bright red round hiseyes, and a coat which shone like burnished copper mixed withburnished gold. He stopped as they came up, and waiting till thePricket had wandered a little way from his mother, he went up to himand said in a very patronising tone: "Welcome, young sir, welcome tomy wood. I have not the pleasure of knowing who you are, but my name Iexpect is familiar to you. Phasianus Colchicus, ahem--" and hestrutted about with great importance. "You have heard of me, nodoubt."

  "I am afraid not," said the Pricket very civilly. "You see, I comefrom the moor. But I thought that I saw one or two birds like you aswe passed through this wood."

  "Like me," said the bird suspiciously; "are you quite sure that theywere like me, like me in every way?"

  "Well," said the Pricket hesitating, "they had pretty white ringsround their necks--?"

  "What!" broke in the bird, "rings round their necks, and like me! Oh,the ignorance of young people nowadays. My dear young friend, you havea great deal to learn. Have I a white ring round my neck? No. Well,now I must ask your pardon if I turn my back upon you for one moment."And round he turned very slowly and ceremoniously and stood with hisback to the Pricket, who stared at it not knowing what to say.

  "Well," said the bird, looking over his shoulder after a time. "Youmake no remark. Is it possible that you notice nothing? My dear youngfriend, let me ask you, do you see any green on my back?"

  "No," said the Pricket, and honestly he did not.

  "So," said the bird very tragically. "Look well at that back, for youwill never see such another again, my young friend. I am one of theold English breed, the last of my race, the last of those that, comingcenturies ago from the banks of the Phasis, made England their homeand were, I may venture to say, her greatest ornament. But now amiserable race of Chinese birds has come in, and go where I will I seenothing but white-ringed necks and hideous green backs. My verychildren, now no more, took them for wives and husbands, and I aloneam left of the old pure breed, the last of the true Pheasants, thelast king of this famous wood, the last and the greatest--bless me,what's that? Kok, kok, kok, kok, kok." Thereupon he flipped up into alarch-tree and began at the top of his voice: "You wretched creature,how often have I forbidden you the woods? Go home and catch mice, gohome. My dear young friend, let me entreat you to drive that wretchaway."

  And the Pricket looking round saw a little black and white Catslinking through the wood close by, a thing he had never seen beforeand did not at all like the sight of. She took not the least notice ofthe Pheasant till the Hind trotted down through the covert and saidvery sternly: "Go home, Pussy, go home. How dare you come out into thewoods? Take care, or you'll come to a bad end." And the Cat ran awayas fast as she could; and I may as well say that she did come to a badend the very next week, for she was caught in a trap and knocked onthe head, which last is the fate of all poaching cats sooner or later.So if ever you own a cat, be careful to keep it at home.

  "Ah!" said the old Cock-Pheasant, much relieved, as the Catdisappeared. "Is that your mother, my young friend? What an excellentperson! You must introduce me some day, but really at this moment Ifeel quite unfit to leave this tree."

  So they left him sitting in the larch tree, not looking at all kingly,and wandered about the wood, finding it very much to their liking; forthere was dry ground and wet ground, sunny beds and shady beds, warmplaces and cool places, and great quiet and repose. And that is whyall wild animals love Bremridge Wood and always have loved it.

  Now some days after they had made their home there, the Pricket becametroubled with a good deal of itching in the velvet on his head. Heshook his head violently, but this did no good except to make thevelvet fall down in little strips, so at last he picked out a neatlittle ash-tree and rubbed and scrubbed and frayed till all the velvetfell to the ground, and he was left with a clean little pair of sm
oothwhite horns. At this he was so pleased with himself that he must needsgo down to the river to look at himself in the water; and after thathe could not be satisfied till he had passed through the deer-park tolet the Fallow-Deer see him. But here he was a little abashed, for thehorns of the Bucks were many of them much bigger than his own, thoughflat, like your hand, and, as he thought, not nearly so handsome.

  The Hind now became restless and inclined to wander, so that they wentthe round of all the woods in the neighbourhood; and thus it was thatone day they came upon ground covered with rhododendrons, and azaleas,and tall pine-trees of a kind that they had never seen before. Theywould hardly have ventured upon it if they had not heard the quackingof wild-ducks, which led them on till they came upon a little stream.They followed the water downward till they came to a waterfall, wherethey stopped for a minute in alarm; for at its foot lay the remains ofthree little ducks quite dead, little more indeed than heaps of wetfeathers, only to be recognised by their poor little olive-greenbeaks. But they still heard quacking below, and going on theypresently found a dozen Mallards and Ducks exactly like those thatthey had seen on the moor, all full-plumed and full-grown.

  The Hind went up to them at once, but they took not the least noticeof her. She wished them good-morning, but still they took no notice;so then she said in her gentlest voice: "I am afraid that you havehad a dreadful misfortune with your little Flappers."

  Then at last a little Duck turned round and said very rudely: "Ey?What yer s'yin'?"

  "Your little Ducklings which I saw lying dead by the fall," she said.

  "Well," said the Duck still more rudely, "let 'em lie there. I can'tbe bothered with 'em. Who asked you to come poking your nose into ourwater?"

  The Hind was very angry, for she had never been spoken to like this,and she remembered how very differently the Duck had talked to her onthe moor. So instead of leaving these disgraceful little Ducks alone,which would perhaps have been wiser, she began to scold them. "What,"she said, "do you mean to say that you let the poor little thingsdrown for want of proper care? I never heard of such a thing. Youought to be ashamed of yourselves."

  And then all the Ducks broke out in chorus. "'Ow, I s'y, 'ere's an oldparty come to teach us 'ow to bring up our chicks," said one. "Shall Ijust step out and teach your little feller 'ow to run?" said another."Look out, little 'un, or your 'orns will drop off," said a third; andthis annoyed the Pricket very much, for how could his horns bedropping off, considering that they were only just clean of velvet?"The old 'un hasn't got no 'orns," said a fourth; "there's an old Cowin the next field. Shall I go and borrow a pair for you, mum? She'llbe 'appy to lend 'em, I'm sure." And they all burst out laughingtogether, "Quar, quar, quar, quar!" And I am sorry to say that theDucks laughed even louder than the Mallards.

  Altogether they were so rude, and impudent, and vulgar, and odious,that the Deer walked away with great dignity without saying anotherword. And as they went they saw an old grey Fox crouching down in therushes by the water-side, as still as a stone, and quite hidden fromview. Then the Hind turned to warn the Ducks, but she could hardlyutter a word before they all came swimming down, laughing, "Quar,quar, quar," till she couldn't hear herself speak. Presently theyturned to the bank, still laughing, and waddled ashore one afteranother; when all of a sudden up jumped the Fox, caught the foremostMallard by the neck, threw him over his back, and trotted awaylaughing in his turn. And the rest of the ducks flew back to the waterfast enough then, you may be sure, and were sorry when it was toolate that they had been so rude. But the truth is, that these were nottrue wild-ducks, but what are called tame wild-ducks, which had beenbought in Leadenhall Market. And this accounted for their bad manners,their ugly language, and their conceit; for like a great many othercreatures that are bred in towns, they thought they knew everything,whereas in reality they could not take care of their children nor evenof themselves.

  The Hind was very much disgusted, and began to think that she hadwandered too far from the moor, as indeed she had. For on their wayback to Bremridge Wood they were chased by a sheep-dog, and when theyshook him off by jumping a hedge they found themselves in the middleof a lot of bullocks, which ran together and galloped after them andtried to mob them. So they decided to have no more to do with acountry where there were so many tame things, but to go straight backto the moor. The Pricket thought that it might be pleasanter only tomove up to their old home in the woods higher up the valley, but theHind was impatient to return to the moor. There was no one to warn hernot to go, and they set out that very same night.