S.Rube has always been drawn to the story of Bambi. We inherited a 1000 books from my mom and there were four different versions of Bambi. Of course, S.Rube is mostly obsessed with the oldest version in the bunch - one of mine from the early 70's, where "Man" and his "long, stick that throws flames and destruction" play the lead role. (Not to mention how his campfire also burned the forest glade home of all of the animals and, dare I mention.... how his gun orphaned the young Bambi). This book doesn't hide the actual events, folks. It is not just about Bambi and Thumper playing with Flower down by the river.
There is a mean buck named Ronno, with whom S.Rube seems strangely attracted. Ronno and Bambi have a fight to protect the love interest, Faline. S.Rube's eyes always flutter when we say the name, "Faline." I personally think she'd rather have seen Ronno and Faline get together in the end and make little fawns. Instead, Bambi breaks one of Ronno's antlers in a head-to-head battle and Ronno is never seen again.
Part of S.Rube's freaky attraction to Ronno and the fight scene has more to do with an illustration 'mistake' that she has noticed. And noticed. And noticed. And noticed. The colours that have been used to paint in Bambi and Ronno, on this particular page, are not quite right, I agree. Ronno isn't dark enough - he looks more like Bambi should look. But, Bambi is too dark. And you can see the antler snapping off, so it is evident which deer is which. Except that they are coloured wrong. S.Rube figures we need to contact the publishing company or something.
Last night, I was triumphant as I got to the page after the fight scene and she had, for the first time ever, NOT stopped me to analyze the shoddy illustration and editing process of the 'mistake'. My invisible fist pumped the air and my inside voice said, "YES!" (getting caught up on that fight scene page adds at least 10 minutes to this already-too-long story.)
But, no.
Apparently she had either momentarily fallen asleep or was just teasing me, because two pages later, she stopped. And, with purpose and passion, went back two pages to talk about the 'mistake'.
Up until last night, S.Rube hasn't paid much attention to Bambi's mom's death. She has expressed confusion as to where she went and believed that Bambi's dad, the Great Prince of the Forest, was somehow responsible for her disappearance, as he is the first to arrive to tell Bambi that he "must now walk alone."
Last night, S.Rube learned about hunting.
S: What happened to Bambi's mom?
J: She died, honey.
S: Did Bambi's dad dead her?
J: No, no, babe. He didn't kill her. The man's big sticks did. (okay, I can't help but giggle here a bit. I foresee and dread upcoming sexuality talks.) The sticks they talk about are guns. And the men have the guns. And they're called hunters. And they go out and hunt. And they use their guns to shoot at deer. And they kill the deer. And that's what happened to Bambi's mom. She got shot by the hunters. (let's just tell it like it is, shall we?)
S: Why do they shoot deers? Bambi's mom should've got out of the way faster. Like the deer on that other page. The deers should just get out of the way faster. And then the gun will hit the tree.
J: Yeah, I'm sure they try to get out of the way, but the hunters are sneaky and quiet and fast. Sometimes the deer don't get away. People hunt deer for food and for sport. Just for fun really.
S: Ew. Well, it doesn't sound like much fun to me. Especially for the deers.
You got a point there, little Rube.
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