True story about an orphaned antelope fawn that is rescued by a girl in Tanganyika in 1951 and the great friendship that grows between them.
When the fawn is born he has long spindly legs, a large wobbly head with enormous dark eyes and long lashes; his thick brown fur is dappled with lighter spots. He is quite beautiful and completely helpless.
It is a dangerous world for the fawn. His worst enemy is the hyena with its sloping back and powerful jaws; leopards too are a threat - they lie in trees waiting to pounce and native hunters with their thin, starving dogs are always on the look out for food. One morning his mother led the hunters and their howling dogs away from her fawn while he waited. But she never returned.
The girl found him while taking her dogs and cats for their evening walk - as she approached the fawn lifted his head and twitched his soft ears at the sound of her footsteps. She knelt beside the tiny creature and lifted him onto her lap.
“I shall call you Freckles.” She said.