There's something very mythic about this story; I imagine that it's heavily influenced by works like The Golden Bough, in that the king of the title is so associated with the land that he is sacrificed to it. It's a very interesting way of thinking about kingship - blood and monarchy and soil - and if there's not a great deal that's especially surprising about it, the story's still nicely told. I do think that the addition of the stag element is a little unnecessary, though. It doesn't seem quite as well integrated into the wider story as some of the other elements.