Forest World by Felix Salten Read Free Book Online Page B

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He might have been secure against attack without so much violence. None of us ever thinks of attacking another one of us. We fight a little bit in mating time, yes. But apart from that we’re always peaceful.You think he was respected? Well, he wasn’t. Fear isn’t respect. When I’m afraid, I avoid the one who makes me afraid, but to my mind he was a bad fellow and I pay no respect to a bad fellow!” Rabot ended emphatically.
    â€œHe wasn’t bad,” Arilla protested; “not to me. He was good to me.”
    â€œNow you are mistaken!” Rabot retorted sharply. “You can hold it against me if you want to. But I say you’re badly mistaken. Every one of us knows he was rude to you. Domineering and ill-tempered! A bully! Deny it if you can!”
    Arilla dropped her head. “I can’t,” she whispered. “But I loved him. His death hurts me.”
    â€œThat’s something else again, Arilla. But you’re alone in your love and your sorrow.”
    â€œYou mean nobody liked him at all? Nobody is sorry he’s dead?”
    â€œNo one! In fact everybody’s pleased he’s gone!”
    Arilla shuddered. “How horrible!”
    â€œYes, it is horrible to have no friends to mourn you.Now you see, Arilla, what it really means to be ‘proud,’ and ‘brave,’ and everything else that you say about him. He was a ruffian, a terror to all who wanted to live peacefully. An object of hatred! Now he’s gone and we all feel relieved. So you must stop grieving. He was never worthy of your love and he’s not worth your sorrow.”
    â€œIs this just your queer way of consoling me?” Arilla whispered in distressed suspicion.
    â€œNo! But it should console you—to learn the plain truth. If you don’t believe me , wait and see whether anybody else has a bit of regret for him.”
    Arilla stood wretchedly. Then she broke out with, “I never thought—I never believed that He would do anything to him! That He would kill him with His thunder-stick—He, who was always so gentle!”
    â€œAnd just. Gentle and just. Do you deny that He’s just?”
    â€œYes! Yes! I do! I can never have confidence in Him again!”
    A fawn came up to join in the talk. “Don’t be bitter, Arilla. You forget how good He has always been to us.”
    A few others, bucks and fawns, arrived.
    â€œWe’re all grateful for His generosity,” a strong roebuck said decisively.
    Members of the group around him agreed loudly.
    â€œThat’s right!”
    â€œHe deserves our confidence!”
    â€œYes, even our love—”
    â€œWhy, in the winter He sees to it that we don’t starve!”
    Arilla looked pleadingly around the circle. “But you aren’t all glad He killed my mate—?”
    A chorus of “Yes! Yes, we are!” answered her.
    â€œHe’s given us peace from a murderer,” a handsome buck declared.
    â€œJust as we’ve hoped He would,” added another. “We’ve all been hoping for this very thing. We expected it of Him. We trusted Him to come and help us. And now He’s done it—He’s put an end to the wretch.”
    The last speaker pushed forward. “Look, Arilla, look at me.” He showed his flank along which ran a wide scar. “That’s a little token your mate gave me. Only amiracle saved me then! I was sick and weak for a long time and suffered horrible pain!”
    â€œAre you still surprised, Arilla?” Rabot asked quietly. “Or do you think we’re cruel?”
    She shook her head silently.
    And then, all at once, they were saying: “We’re sorry for you, Arilla! . . . We always pitied you. . . . You were blinded. . . . You can begin a new life now. . . . Yes, yes, a new life, no longer enslaved . . . no longer