Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination

by Vigen Guroian

Of all the animals and deer, the old stag is the most at home in the woods and the least afflicted by desolation. This is because he understands the order of existence and trusts in its Source. The aloneness to which Bambi is called is a way of learning important skills of survival. In this manner Bambi is prepared to become the guardian of the herd—not that he rules by might, but rather that he leads like the biblical prophet, through discernment and familiarity with the way of Being itself. The old stag brings up Bambi in this singleness of life for the good of all. And the last and most important lesson he teaches Bambi is about the true order of Being. At the close of the story, the old stag leads Bambi to the still and bloodied body of a poacher: “Do you see, Bambi,” the old stag went on, “do you see how He’s 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 silence. “Do you understand me, Bambi?” asked the old stag. “I think so,” Bambi said 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,” said the old stag. (pp. 187–88)