By Maryanna Gabriel
In Canada we have Spirit Bears. Here in the Southern Gulf Islands is a spirit deer.
A herd of deer often surround the house and are astonishingly pretty. They have colours ranging from black to brown, red to butterscotch, and are sometimes dappled with tan spots. One is white. She is pregnant. Intrigued, I researched further.
Fallow Deer originated in Persia, Turkey, and Anatolia and in parts of Europe, which seems terribly exotic. I notice in my reading that a zoo in Beijing has two white Fallow Deer, so it is a little startling. In this region, one is usually entreated to the brown Mule Tail Deer. Rumour has it, (and this was told to me at the local hardware store by a landscaper from the Comox Valley, so you will know it must be true,) that an enterprising soul introduced the deer when she brought them to the island to farm. Eventually, they were released.
One day I glanced out the kitchen window and around eight bucks strolled by. Their antlers were magnificent in that the colouration was the same ruddy red as an Arbutus. Others were chestnut coloured. A friend and I wondered it meant the antlers were bloodied from a recent shed of velvet or if this was the natural colour. It feels magical when they pass through, so I move quietly so as not to frighten them. I am glad they are skittish, for they need to be. There is always someone who wants to capture beauty that is spirit by killing it and nailing it to a wall.
