That great fight lasted a long time.  To pretty Miss Daintyfoot it seemed that it never would end.  But after a while Lightfoot’s greater size and strength began to tell.  Little by little the big stranger was forced back towards the edge of the open place.  Now he would be thrown to his knees when Lightfoot wasn’t.  As Lightfoot saw this, he seemed to gain new strength.  At last he caught the stranger in such a way that he threw him over.  While the stranger struggled to get to his feet again, Lightfoot’s sharp antlers made long tears in his gray coat.  The stranger was beaten and he knew it.  The instant he succeeded in getting to his feet he turned tail and plunged for the shelter of the Green Forest.  With a snort of triumph, Lightfoot plunged after him.

But now that he was beaten, fear took possession of the stranger.  All desire to fight left him.  His one thought was to get away, and fear gave him speed.  Straight back towards the Great Mountain from which he had come the stranger headed.  Lightfoot followed only a short distance.  He knew that that stranger was going for good and would not come back.  Then Lightfoot turned back to the open place where they had fought.  There he threw up his beautiful head, crowned by its great antlers, and whistled a challenge to all the Green Forest.  As she looked at him, Miss Daintyfoot knew that she had wanted him to win.  She knew that there simply couldn’t be anybody else so handsome and strong and brave in all the Great World.

CHAPTER XXXIX:  Lightfoot Discovers Love

Wonderfully handsome was Lightfoot the Deer as he stood in the little opening by the pond of Paddy the Beaver, his head thrown back proudly, as he received the congratulations of his neighbors of the Green Forest who had seen him win the great fight with the big stranger who had come down from the Great Mountain.  To beautiful Miss Daintyfoot, peeping out from the thicket where she had hidden to watch the great fight, Lightfoot was the most wonderful person in all the Great World.  She adored him, which means that she loved him just as much as it was possible for her to love.

But Lightfoot didn’t know this.  In fact, he didn’t know that Miss Daintyfoot was there.  His one thought had been to drive out of the Green Forest the big stranger who had come down from the Great Mountain.  He had been jealous of that big stranger, though he hadn’t known that he was jealous.  The real cause of his anger and desire to fight had been the fear that the big stranger would find Miss Daintyfoot and take her away.  Of course this was nothing but jealousy.

Now that the great fight was over, and he knew that the big stranger was hurrying back to the Great Mountain, all Lightfoot’s anger melted away.  In its place was a great longing to find Miss Daintyfoot.  His great eyes became once more soft and beautiful.  In them was a look of wistfulness.  Lightfoot walked down to the edge of the water and drank, for he was very, very thirsty.  Then he turned, intending to take up once more his search for beautiful Miss Daintyfoot.