At first, he thought someone had stolen it. Then — that maybe it had fallen and rolled somewhere out of sight.

But the longer he searched, the more a cold fear gripped him.

The rifle had vanished. Without a trace. And somewhere deep in the forest, the little fawn was standing beside the weapon and, according to forest rangers, later dragged it into an old burrow among the oak roots — a place where no human would ever find it.

The man never discovered where the rifle went. The little fawn, whom he had nearly killed, seemed to have taken its revenge.

Since that day, the man has never gone hunting again.