There upon a soft patch of grass I laid myself to rest, to rest, to meditate, to be at peace. I am generally a shy fawn, who does not like to come out. My mother often compared me to a tortoise, never coming out of my shell. Why? Because there is no peace in it; I love the solemn silence that comes from avoiding loud deer. So there I was, meditating among the flowers.

After a moment or two, a few stags and does appeared from the other side of the river (we were by the crying idol). They sniffed themselves, and then they sniffed me. I was a stranger, but they appeared to be a group of friends. A loud fawn came up, I gave it the cold shoulder, but I saw the group of older deer playing and dancing. Needless to say, I quit my meditating for a moment and hobbled over to them. Hello, said I, bowing my face to the moist ground.

The stag whom I bowed to sniffed me, and for a while stared blankly at me, then repeated my previous action of bowing. Hello, said the deer.

The stag pulled away and called his friends over to him. I thought I was being deserted, as always. My parents deserted me in the forest one day while I went to sleep, and when I awoke they had vanished. This is why I became reclusive, spending most my time meditating. But then the deer that had left me just then started to get in a line and dance. Their little hooves were so gleefully stepping in time with music from the forest that I was overcome. Dance, my instincts seranaded to me. Dance.

And I did.

Peace and happiness doesn't come from an isolated life. It comes from living in harmony. When the other deer and I danced, we were in perfect harmony each hoof coming down when the other went up. If we all live in this way, perhaps we can exist in a wonderous way.
-Falamir