chasing after deer

we live near a royal park that is filled to the top with deer.
the queen protects the deer... and they have been so
for hundreds and hundreds of years... because of
this they are almost tame... you can walk within
an inch of their herd and they wont startle.
this is still a difficult concept for me to
understand because in the states,
deer run away from me.

TODAY while i was walking molly,
i entered the park and saw them
on my right... now.. they are
beautiful and majestic... but
they scare me to death for
i think at any given time
they might just charge,
stab me with their
antlers... then i die.

there were about 10 stags,
maybe 40 younger ones,
several spotted fawns,
and 1 lovely white doe.
(the specialist and rarest that i love so much)

i held my breath and walked past them.

we walked for some time and were
just back at our own gate when
the biggest stag (18 point antlers)
decided to cross our path to the
other field to graze... then
one by one the whole herd
followed him starting with
the biggest antlers all the
way down to the smallest.

molly and i froze during the parade.
some of the herd didnt notice that
the king had started to move.
they had tiny antlers and
were still grazing away.
i thought to myself
this deer parade
will take all day!
i HAVE to cross.
i have to.

i waited for a small
break in the floats,
held my breath,
and walked.

there was a very polite deer who noticed
me and stopped to let me pass by.
i think i even saw him smile.


ps
i didnt have my camera
so this is a picture i
got off the news :)