John Drinkwater

DEER

"SHY in their herding dwell the fallow deer. They are sprits of wild sense. Nobody near comes upon their pastures. There are a life they have, there are a life they live. Of sufficient beauty, phantom, fugitive, treading as in jungles free Leopards do Printless as evelight, instant as dew. The great kine are patient and home-coming sheep, know our bidding. The fallow deer keep delicate and far their counsels wild, never to be folded reconciled. To the spoiling hand as the poor flocks are: Lightfoot, and swift, and unfamiliar these you may not hinder, unconfined beautiful flocks of the mind." - John Drinkwater

Fact

Deer appear in art from Palaeolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion, and literature throughout history, as well as in heraldry. Their economic importance includes the use of their meat as venison, their skins as soft, strong buckskin, and their antlers as handles for knives. Deer hunting has been a popular sport since at least the Middle Ages, and remains an important business today.