3 AN ADVENTURE WITH A HIND 



I give it up, and thinking of something easier to 

 understand quietly pursue my way to the exit. 



One afternoon in late summer I was walking with 

 three ladies among the scattered oak trees near the 

 Pen Ponds when we saw a hind, a big beautiful beast, 

 rearing up in her efforts to reach the fuUy ripe acorns, 

 and on my plucking a few and holding them out to her, 

 she came readily to take them from my hand. She 

 invariably took the acorn with a sudden violent jerk; 

 not that she was alarmed or suspicious, but simply 

 because it was the only way known to a hind to take 

 an acorn from the branch to which it is attached with 

 a very tough stem. To her mind the acorn had to 

 be wrenched from me. My friends also gave her 

 acorns, and she greedily devoured them all and still 

 asked for more. 



And while we were amusing ourselves in this way, 

 two ladies accompanied by a little girl of about eight 

 or nine came up and looked on with delight at our 

 doings. Presently the httle girl cried out, " Oh, 

 mother, may I give it an acorn ? " And the mother 

 said " No." But I said, " Oh, yes, come along and 

 take this one and hold it out to the deer." She took 

 it from me gladly and held it out as directed. Then 

 a sudden change came over the temper of the animal; 

 instead of taking it readily she drew back, looking 

 startled and angry; then slowly, as if suspiciously, 

 approached the child and took the acorn, and almost 

 at the same instant sprang clear over the child's 

 head, and on coming down on the other side, struck 

 violently out with her hind feet. One hoof grazed 



