Watership Down (72 page)

       
"I seem to know this story," whispered Hazel, "but I can't remember where I've heard it."

       
Bluebell sat up and scratched his neck with his hind leg. The little rabbits turned round at the interruption and in a moment had tumbled up the side of the hollow, squeaking "Hazel-rah! Hazel-rah!" and jumping on Hazel from all sides.

       
"Here, wait a minute," said Hazel, cuffing them off. "I didn't come here to get mixed up in a fight with a lot of roughs like you! Let's hear the rest of the story."

       
"But there's a man coming on a horse, Hazel-rah," said one of the young rabbits. "Oughtn't we to run into the wood?"

       
"How can you tell?" asked Hazel. "I can't hear anything."

       
"Neither can I," said Silver, listening with his ears up.

       
The little rabbit looked puzzled.

       
"I don't know how, Hazel-rah," he answered, "but I'm sure I'm not mistaken."

       
They waited for some little time, while the red sun sank lower. At last, just as Vilthuril was about to go on with the story, they heard hooves on the turf and the horseman appeared from the west, cantering easily along the track toward Cannon Heath Down.

       
"
He
won't bother us," said Silver. "No need to run: he'll just go by. You're a funny chap, though, young Threar, to spot him so far off."

       
"He's always doing things like that," said Vilthuril. "The other day he told me what a river looked like and said he'd seen it in a dream. It's Fiver's blood, you know. It's only to be expected with Fiver's blood."

       
"Fiver's blood?" said Hazel. "Well, as long as we've got some of that I dare say we'll be all right. But, you know, it's turning chilly here, isn't it? Come on, let's go down, and hear the rest of that story in a good, warm burrow. Look, there's Fiver over on the bank now. Who's going to get to him first?"

       
A few minutes later there was not a rabbit to be seen on the down. The sun sank below Ladle Hill and the autumn stars began to shine in the darkening east--Perseus and the Pleiades, Cassiopeia, faint Pisces and the great square of Pegasus. The wind freshened, and soon myriads of dry beech leaves were filling the ditches and hollows and blowing in gusts across the dark miles of open grass. Underground, the story continued.

Epilogue

                                       
He did look far

Into the service of the time, and was

Discipled of the bravest: he lasted long,

But on us both did haggish age steal on,

And wore us out of act....

Shakespeare,
All's Well That Ends Well

He was part of my dream, of course--but then I was part of his dream, too.

Lewis Carroll,
Through the Looking-Glass

"And what happened in the end?" asks the reader who has followed Hazel and his comrades in all their adventures and returned with them at last to the warren where Fiver brought them from the fields of Sandleford. The wise Mr. Lockley has told us that wild rabbits live for two or three years. He knows everything about rabbits: but all the same, Hazel lived longer than that. He lived a tidy few summers--as they say in that part of the world--and learned to know well the changes of the downs to spring, to winter and to spring again. He saw more young rabbits than he could remember. And sometimes, when they told tales on a sunny evening by the beech trees, he could not clearly recall whether they were about himself or about some other rabbit hero of days gone by.

       
The warren prospered and so, in the fullness of time, did the new warren on the Belt, half Watership and half Efrafan--the warren that Hazel had first envisaged on that terrible evening when he set out alone to face General Woundwort and try to save his friends against all odds. Groundsel was the first Chief Rabbit; but he had Strawberry and Buckthorn to give him advice and he had learned better than to mark anyone or to order more than a very occasional Wide Patrol. Campion readily agreed to send some rabbits from Efrafa and the first party was led by none other than Captain Avens, who acted sensibly and made a very good job of it.

       
General Woundwort was never seen again. But it was certainly true, as Groundsel said, that no one ever found his body, so it may perhaps be that, after all, that extraordinary rabbit really did wander away to live his fierce life somewhere else and to defy the elil as resourcefully as ever. Kehaar, who was once asked if he would look out for him in his flights over the downs, merely replied, "Dat damn rabbit--I no see 'im, I no vant I see 'im." Before many months had passed, no one on Watership knew or particularly cared to know whether he himself or his mate was descended from one or two Efrafan parents or from none at all. Hazel was glad that it should be so. And yet there endured the legend that somewhere out over the down there lived a great and solitary rabbit, a giant who drove the elil like mice and sometimes went to silflay in the sky. If ever great danger arose, he would come back to fight for those who honored his name. And mother rabbits would tell their kittens that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them--the General who was first cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument: and perhaps it would not have displeased him.

       
One chilly, blustery morning in March, I cannot tell exactly how many springs later, Hazel was dozing and waking in his burrow. He had spent a good deal of time there lately, for he felt the cold and could not seem to smell or run so well as in days gone by. He had been dreaming in a confused way--something about rain and elder bloom--when he woke to realize that there was a rabbit lying quietly beside him--no doubt some young buck who had come to ask his advice. The sentry in the run outside should not really have let him in without asking first. Never mind, thought Hazel. He raised his head and said, "Do you want to talk to me?"

       
"Yes, that's what I've come for," replied the other. "You know me, don't you?"

       
"Yes, of course," said Hazel, hoping he would be able to remember his name in a moment. Then he saw that in the darkness of the burrow the stranger's ears were shining with a faint silver light. "Yes, my lord," he said, "Yes, I know you."

       
"You've been feeling tired," said the stranger, "but I can do something about that. I've come to ask whether you'd care to join my Owsla. We shall be glad to have you and you'll enjoy it. If you're ready, we might go along now."

       
They went out past the young sentry, who paid the visitor no attention. The sun was shining and in spite of the cold there were a few bucks and does at silflay, keeping out of the wind as they nibbled the shoots of spring grass. It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch, but stopped for a moment to watch his rabbits and to try to get used to the extraordinary feeling that strength and speed were flowing inexhaustibly out of him into their sleek young bodies and healthy senses.

       
"You needn't worry about them," said his companion. "They'll be all right--and thousands like them. If you'll come along, I'll show you what I mean."

       
He reached the top of the bank in a single, powerful leap. Hazel followed; and together they slipped away, running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.

Lapine Glossary

Bob-stones
        
A traditional game among rabbits.

Crixa, the
          
The center of Efrafa, at the crossing point of two bridle paths.

Efrafa
               
The name of the warren founded by General Woundwort.

El-ahrairah
        
The rabbit folk hero. The name (Elil-hrair-rah) means "Enemies-Thousand-Prince" = the Prince with a
                   
Thousand Enemies.

Elil
                   
Enemies (of rabbits).

Embleer
     
      
Stinking, e.g. the smell of a fox.

Flay
    
             
Food, e.g. grass or other green fodder.

Flayrah
     
               
Unusually good food, e.g. lettuce.

Frith
    
            
The sun, personified as a god by rabbits. Frithrah! = the lord Sun--used as an exclamation.

Fu Inlé
    
         
After moonrise.

Hlao
    
            
Any dimple or depression in the grass, such as that formed by a daisy plant or thistle, which can hold
                   
moisture. The name of a rabbit.

Hlao-roo
    
      
"Little Hlao." An affectionate diminutive of the name of Hlao, one of the rabbits in the story.

Hlessi
    
          
A rabbit living above ground, without a regular hole or warren. A wandering rabbit, living in the open.
                    
(Plural, hlessil.)

Homba
    
         
A fox. (Plural, hombil.)

Hrair
    
            
A great many; an uncountable number; any number over four. U Hrair = The Thousand (enemies).

Hrairoo
     
               
"Little Thousand." The name of Fiver in Lapine.

Hraka
    
          
Droppings, excreta.

Hrududu
    
       
A tractor, car or any motor vehicle. (Plural, hrududil.)

Hyzenthlay
    
   
Literally, "Shine-dew-fur" = Fur shining like dew. The name of a doe.

Inlé
    
             
Literally, the moon; also moonrise. But a second meaning carries the idea of darkness, fear and
                          
death.

Lendri
    
          
A badger.

Marli
    
            
A doe. Also carries the meaning "mother."

M'saion
     
       
"We meet them."

Narn
    
            
Nice, pleasant (to eat).

Ni-Frith
    
        
Noon.

Nildro-hain
    
   
"Blackbird's Song." The name of a doe.

Owsla
           
   
The strongest rabbits in a warren, the ruling clique.
 

Owslafa
         
  
The Council police (a word found only in Efrafa).

Pfeffa
    
          
A cat.

Rah
    
             
A prince, leader or chief rabbit. Usually used as a suffix. E.g. Threarah = Lord Threar.

Roo
    
             
Used as a suffix to denote a diminutive. E.g. Hrairoo.

Sayn
    
            
Groundsel.

Silf
    
              
Outside, that is, not underground.

Silflay
    
          
To go above ground to feed. Literally, to feed outside. Also used as a noun.

Tharn
    
          
Stupefied, distraught, hypnotized with fear. But can also, in certain contexts, mean "looking foolish,"
 
                
or again "heartbroken" or "forlorn."

Thethuthinnang
 
"Movement of Leaves." The name of a doe.

Thlay
    
           
Fur.

Thlayli
    
         
"Fur-head." A nickname.

Threar
    
         
A rowan tree, or mountain ash.

Vair
    
             
To excrete, pass droppings.

Yona
    
           
A hedgehog. (Plural, yonil.)

Zorn
    
            
Destroyed, murdered. Denotes a catastrophe.

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