This is Jody’s Fawn is written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. It is about a human’s feeling towards an animal whose mother has been killed by his father.
Summary
Jody’s father is bitten by a rattlesnake. He quickly kills a doe and uses its heart and liver to draw out the poison. Jody wonders what will happen to the little fawn left without its mother.
Jody could not forget the incident. He loved the little fawn. His father, Penny lay in bed. Jody enquired after his health. Penny said he had escaped death narrowly. He felt proud of his son for his help. He owed his life to the she deer or the doe whom he had killed to press out the snake poison in his body.
Jody was worried about the little fawn. He wanted to find the fawn and bring it home. Penny allowed the boy to save the little animal. It would be ungrateful to leave the fawn to starve. Doc Wilson also supported Jody.
Jody decided to go to the forest with Mill-wheel in search of the fawn. He hoped to be back home for dinner. The two rode out. Jody had a vague idea of the place where his father had been bitten by the snake. The bushes there were thick. So he proposed to go on foot. The twigs under his feet creaked and broke the silence.
Suddenly he saw a large vulture like bird flying into the air. Soon he found that many birds were feeding on the dead body of the doe. He threw his stick at them to keep them away. The incident had occurred only 24 hours ago. He went round but did not find the fawn. Even the footprints on the grass had been washed away in the rain.
Just then he was startled to see the fawn lifting its face. It was shaking. Jody walked upto it and put his arms around its body. Its skin was soft and clean. It did not kick, nor bleat. He saved its face from the thorny plants.
He picked it up and walked as fast as he could until he came to the intersection with the road home. When tired, he set it down and rested for a while. He again carried it on his arms to some distance.
Finally, he reached home and took the fawn into his father’s room. Penny was glad to see it. Jody gave it milk to drink. He dipped his fingers into the milk and let it suck. Then it drank off the last drop of milk. Jody was happy now.