Roe deer

The Roe deer in Lars Haug’s childhood memory are two young animals whose desperate flight brings him face to face with the Alsatian chasing them. Their peril prompts Lars to take up a gun, but the encounter also becomes the setting for a lasting conflict between his wish to protect them and his distress at killing the dog.

Identity and Setting

The animals are two young Roe deer, described as fauns, familiar to Lars and his family from sightings near the north meadow. They graze in the brushwood at the forest’s edge and usually remain close together. When the incident occurs, the setting is an autumn midday: the air is clear, and the quiet around the farm seems uncanny to Lars as he searches for the dog.

The Pursuit

An Alsatian is hunting the deer at the edge of the forest. It chases and encircles them, biting at their hocks until they are exhausted and have little chance of escape. Lars’s mother sees what is happening and, unable to keep watching, telephones the bailiff for advice. The bailiff tells her that the dog must be shot; she then asks Lars to do it.

Flight Past Lars

Lars is reluctant: he hardly ever handles the gun and does not want the task. He takes it because he feels sorry for the deer and no one else is at home who can act. After crossing the meadow, he initially cannot see the Alsatian. His mother watches from the house window, while Lars stands listening and looks again toward the forest path.

The two Roe deer suddenly run straight toward him. They are so terrified that they do not notice him—or are too exhausted to react to another threat. Lars kneels and raises the gun, but they keep their course, rushing past within a hand’s breadth of his shoulder. He hears them panting and sees the whites of their wide, staring eyes. The Alsatian follows about thirty metres behind. The account does not say what becomes of the deer after they pass him.

Place in Lars’s Memory

Lars tells the story while explaining that he had once shot a dog and promised himself he would never do so again. The danger to the Roe deer explains why he acted despite his reluctance: they were being run down, and he felt responsible for stopping the pursuit. Yet the episode does not resolve into a simple rescue. After firing at the Alsatian, Lars sees it fall alive and paralysed; when it growls and snaps at his hand as he tries to pat its head, he fires again and kills it. The deer’s terror is thus the immediate cause of the shooting, while the dog’s suffering leaves Lars with a painful memory that informs his later promise.