This is not a friendly rubbing of antlers. The stag on the left is much stronger. The one on the ground knows that (from previous experience) and so refuses to accept the challenge. He is not a coward. He is wise.
I'd say that's a wise choice on the part of the buck who knows his place in the hierarchy. This photo tells a story, but had you not said what you did in the narrative, I would have thought a different story.
My thanks to all who leave comments for my work and to those of you who like one enough to make it a favourite. To touch just one person that way makes each image worthwhile. . . . . . . . . .. . . . "The question is not what you look at, but what you see" ~ Marcel Proust . . . . The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress." ~ Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)