A stag becomes a legend

Press, 13 February 1982, Page 17

A stag becomes a legend

White Patch. By Philip Holden. Hodder and Stoughton, 1931. 144 pp. $10.95. (Reviewed by Lorna Buchanan) “White Patch" concludes a trilogy of tales about the life of a red deer in the remote south-west of the South Island, a series which Philip Holden first considered writing while he was deer culling in the North Island in 1967, before helicopter hunting and deer farming had transformed the place of deer in New Zealand. After his early years described in “Fawn" and "Stag." the great deer at the centre of the books has grown into a mature legend for the telling of "White Patch.” With 16 points to his antlers, he is coveted by every trophy hunter who has ever heard of him. “White Patch" can be read as an exciting self-contained story, although it adds to the enjoyment to have read the

earlier books. The trilogy makes fair adult reading, but probably appeals most to younger teen-agers. The latest book is spoilt a little by a clumsy passage descrioing the manner in which a pet German Shepherd was turned, by cruelty, into a wild dog. The section adds little to the rest of the book — almost as though' Holden was working off his personal horror of an incident he had once heard of. Wild dogs do. however, play a part in the story as a whole, providing one of the enemies the magnificent stag must deal with. In spite of a gruesome passage, in which goats are attacked by wild dogs, Holden evokes splendidly the bush and mountains, and the men and animals who survive there. Once again, he tells the story from all sides, showing no bias and creating no particular loyalties. And does the white-patched stag survive? He certainly deserves to, but that is for readers to discover themselves.