had been through hard times, he had
got through them the better of the two.

Then the spring came and he began to grow sleek and fat; and, when he
shed his horns, the new ones began once more to grow far larger than
ever before. So he settled down for a luxurious summer, and took the
best of everything in the fields all round the coverts. And when the
late summer came he found that he needed a big tree to help him to rub
the velvet from his horns, so he chose a fine young oak and went round
it so often, rubbing and fraying and polishing, that he fairly cut the
bark off from all round the trunk and left the tree to die.

One morning, soon after he had cleaned his head, he went out to feed
in the fields as usual, and had just made his lair in the covert for
the day, when he was aware of a man, who came along one of the paths
with his eyes on the ground. The Stag waited till he was gone, and
then quietly rose and left the valley for the open moor. For he had a
shrewd suspicion that all was not right when a man came round looking
for his slot in the early morning; and he was wise, for a few hours
later the men and hounds came and searched for him everywhere. And he
heard them from his resting place trying the valley high and low, and
chuckled to himself when he thought how foolish the man was who
thought to harbour him in such a fashion.

But after this he left the valley for good, and went back to the
coverts that overhung the sea, where he hid himself so cunningly day
after day that he was never found during the whole of that season.
And when October came and the deer began to herd together, he looked
about for his wife, but he could not find her anywhere, and he had sad
misgivings that the hounds might have driven her away, or worse, while
he was away in the valley. His only comfort was the reflection that if
he wished to marry again, and he and another stag should fancy the
same bride, he could fight for her instead of stealing her away. All
that winter he lay on Dunkery with other stags, as big as himself and
bigger, for he was now a fine Deer, and began to take his place with
the lords of the herd. And he grew cunning too, for he soon found out
that hinds and not stags are hunted in the winter-time, and he did not
distress himself by running hard when there was no occasion for it. He
would hear the hounds chasing in the woods quite close to him and
never move.

One winter's day when he was lying in a patch of gor