The Story of a Red Deer

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  THE STORY OF A RED-DEER]

  THE STORY OF A RED DEER

  THE STORY OF A RED DEER

  BY THE HON. J. W. FORTESCUE

  LondonMACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITEDNEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY1897

  RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITEDLONDON AND BUNGAY.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  EPISTLE DEDICATORY vCHAPTER I 1CHAPTER II 11CHAPTER III 24CHAPTER IV 35CHAPTER V 47CHAPTER VI 63CHAPTER VII 75CHAPTER VIII 87CHAPTER IX 103CHAPTER X 117CHAPTER XI 128

  THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

  _To_

  _MR. HUGH FORTESCUE_,

  _Honoured Sir_,

  _When in the spring of this present year you asked of me that I shouldwrite you a book, I was at the first not a little troubled; for ofmaking of many books there is no end, and of making of good books butsmall beginning; and albeit there be many heroes of our noble countyof Devon, whose lives, if worthily written, might exceed in value allother books (saving always those that are beyond price) that might beplaced in the hands of the youth thereof for instruction and example,yet for such a task I deemed myself all too poorly fitted; for if menwould write books to be read of the young, they must write them, notafter particular study, but from the fulness and the overflowing oftheir knowledge of such things as they have dwelt withal and felt andloved beyond all others._

  _So at the last I bethought me that there was no book that I couldmore profitably write for you than the life of one of our own reddeer, which, as they be of the most beautiful of all creatures to theeye, so be also the most worthy of study by the mind for theirsubtlety, their nobility and their wisdom. For though I would have youlove the stories of great men and take delight in the reading of goodbooks, yet I would have you take no less delight in the birds and thebeasts that share with you your home, and in the observance of theirgoings out and their comings in, of their friends and of theirenemies, of their prosperities and of their perils; whereby you willgain not only that which the great Mr. Milton (in his tract ofEducation) hath called the helpful experiences of hunters, fowlers andfishermen, but such a love of God's creatures as will make the worldthe fuller of joys for you because the fuller of friends; and this notin one wise only, for I have ever noticed that they which be fondestof dumb creatures are given to be tenderest to their fellow-men._

  _So here you have the life of a wild red deer, set down with suchpoor skill as I possess, even as the deer have told it to me in many along ride and many a stirring chase, and as they have told it to allothers that would listen, to such great hunters of old as the nobleCount Gaston de Foix and the worthy Sieur Jacques du Fouilloux, and tomany friends, of whom some indeed are passed away, but many yetremain, striving ever to hear more of the same story. And if my talebe short, yet blame me not, for it is for yourself by your ownlearning of the deer to enlarge and to enrich it; so that when yournine years are waxed to threescore and nine, you may take down thissmall volume and write it anew, out of the treasures of a fullerknowledge than mine own, for the generations that shall come after youin this our ancient and well-beloved home._

  _And so not doubting of your kindly acceptance hereof, I bid youheartily farewell, being always_

  _Your very loving kinsman and faithful friend to serve you,_

  _J. W. F._

  _Castle Hill. This 26th of September, 1897._