Watership Down

The rabbit burrows are small and hard, but the 12 travelers don’t care, and human noises are far away, so they sleep safely into the next morning. The burrows are too shallow for winter. Blackberry believes there are easier diggings up above, but Hazel thinks bucks won’t scratch out new holes. Blackberry says if rabbits can change, as did those in Cowslip’s warren, then so can they.

The group visits a narrow copse of beech trees on the ridge. Fiver suggests digging beneath the tree roots. Pipkin and Hazel start in; the others hesitate, but some join in. A kestrel soars overhead; the rabbits keep a wary eye on it.

Later, Hazel, Bigwig, Dandelion, and Speedwell climb down to graze on the rich grasses below. At twilight, they’re interrupted by a stamping sound, and a mournful wailing erupts: “All dead! O zorn!” (180). Bigwig hears his name; in a trance, he moves toward the voice, but Hazel stops him. He and Dandelion investigate: It’s a wounded rabbit.

They recognize him: It’s Captain Holly of the old Owsla.

The dazed Holly begins to come around. One of his lieutenants, Bluebell, appears. He tells a silly joke to Holly. Holly insists Bluebell’s chatter has kept him alive. The group makes a slow, anxious climb to the rabbit holes. Bigwig thanks Hazel for taking care of Holly while Bigwig stood stunned.

The next day, Hazel’s group continues digging under the beech trees. With Strawberry’s help, they enlarge a central burrow and leave several vertical tree roots to hang, which will keep the ceiling stable during rain. They name the room “the Honeycomb.”

A kestrel appears again; the rabbits dash for cover. They see a mouse crouched out on the grass. Hazel calls to it in a simple animal language, telling it to run to him. The mouse scurries forward; and the kestrel dives toward it. The mouse darts into the rabbit hole just as the bird’s talons slam into the ground behind it.

Holly feels better. He walks up to the new burrow and is impressed. The mouse says goodbye to Hazel, adding that he owes him and will return the favor when called.

Holly tells the group that the Owsla pursued Hazel’s escapees but gave up at the brook. The Threarah thought Fiver might be right, but he decided that an evacuation would cost more than most dangers.

One day, Holly saw men closing some of the rabbit holes. They put tubes into the remaining holes and sent poison air into them. Holly smelled some and became deranged. Bluebell says the runs were quickly clogged with desperate rabbits. Some escaped, but the humans shot them. Bluebell found an ancient run and, with another rabbit, Pimpernel, followed it to an exit in the woods.

Holly says the men removed the poison tubes, then a great yellow hrududu rolled up and, using a shiny blade, tore apart the field, pushing dirt and bushes before it.

Holly got it in his head to find Bigwig and apologize to him. He, Bluebell, Pimpernel, and Toadflax traveled through the woods. Toadflax lay down to rest and died. The others tracked Hazel’s group to Cowslip’s warren, where they asked about Hazel and promptly were attacked. Pimpernel was killed, and Holly suffered an ear injury, but Cowslip’s rabbits were poor fighters, and Holly and Bluebell escaped. Cowslip pursued, but Holly bested him. He was about to kill him when Cowslip told him where Hazel’s group went. Holly merely wounded him and let him go. 

By the time they arrived at Watership Down, all the horror, plus Holly’s injured ear and his guilt over Pimpernel’s death, rendered him half insane. To Bigwig, he says, “It wasn’t I who tried to arrest you, Bigwig—that was another rabbit, long, long ago” (210).

Hazel and others take turns licking Holly’s injured ear to clean it. Silver asks why Hazel was kind to the mouse. Hazel thinks some animals might repay a rescue with information. That evening, Speedwell and Hawkbit return with news: They spoke to a mouse who heard of Hazel’s good deed and who suggested a nearby horse field as a good source of food. The rabbits go there and find delicious six-inch grass.

Bluebell tells about the time El-ahrairah and his friend Rabscuttle were separated by Prince Rainbow, and El-ahrairah got a new burrow mate, Hufsa. The guest is very nice, but thereafter El-ahrairah’s food raids all fail, and he realizes Hufsa is a spy. To taunt El-ahrairah, the prince plants a carrot patch nearby.

El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle pay two animals to act crazy that night. El-ahrairah tricks Hufsa into helping him steal the carrots. On the way, they see a hedgehog singing and a pheasant swimming, things they never do, plus a fierce-looking rabbit-god—Rabscuttle in disguise. El-ahrairah and Hufsa steal the carrots and hide them. The next day, Rabscuttle moves the carrots.

Prince Rainbow arrests El-ahrairah and orders him to face trial before a jury of predators. El-ahrairah questions Hufsa, who claims he saw a singing hedgehog, a swimming pheasant, and a rabbit god. The predators decide Hufsa is crazy. Hufsa shows them the carrot hiding place, but the carrots are gone. El-ahrairah is acquitted, and he and the other rabbits suffer little more than tummy aches from eating too many carrots.

Bigwig and Silver encounter an injured bird. It’s a black-headed gull named Kehaar; his wing is damaged. Hazel orders the rabbits to find food for him, then convinces the bird to shelter in their burrows until he heals.

Bigwig takes an interest in Kehaar and listens to his stories. The gulls live and fly in large flocks; Kehaar got ambushed by a cat, escaped, and now nurses a torn wing muscle. The bird describes a place where the earth ends, and the water goes on and on. When he heals, he’ll continue his migration.

Hazel fears they’ve wasted their time helping a bird who’ll never return. He explains to the others that the warren needs does, or it will die, and a grateful bird might scout for warrens with plenty of does. Bigwig thinks he can convince the bird to help. The others redouble their efforts to feed the gull.

One day, Kehaar tells Hazel he’s heard from Bigwig about the problem finding mothers. It’s too late for him to sire chicks this year, so instead he’ll help them search for does. Hazel compliments Kehaar on his fine idea.

One day, Kehaar flies off. Days go by. Hazel wonders if Kehaar will return, but Fiver assures him that he will. Fiver later intones, “The gifts of El-ahrairah. Trickery; great danger; and blessing for the warren” (249). Hazel asks what he means, but Fiver can’t remember saying it.

Kehaar returns and reports a few rabbits that live in a box on a farm and a large warren toward the noontime sun filled with potential mothers. The rabbits discuss their options and decide to send a delegation to the big warren and ask its Chief to reduce overcrowding by donating some does.

Holly, Buckthorn, Silver, and Strawberry head south. Kehaar watches from above.

Kehaar corrects Holly’s path and tells Hazel they’ll be at the big warren in two days. Before dawn, with everything going well, Hazel feels up for some mischief. He recruits Pipkin, and they drop down toward the nearby farm where the rabbits live in a box. At a road, a rat gives them directions, and they continue to a small hill topped with a farmhouse, barn, and cow shed. Hazel sniffs the air and smells tobacco, cow dung, cat, dog, and rabbit.

They cross the yard to a shed, where Hazel finds a small rabbit hutch. Four rabbits, two bucks and two does, live inside. He tells them of the good life to be had out in the open and invites them to join him. They’re fascinated but unsure and clearly have no idea what life in the wild is like. Hazel promises to return with more rabbits and liberate them.

Pipkin reports a cat, so Hazel and Pipkin try to sneak away, but a cat charges after them. They dart away and escape. 

Between rain delays, grazing, and sleeping, Hazel and Pipkin take all day to return to their new home. Hazel promptly goes to his burrow and sleeps. When he wakes, Fiver asks where he’s been; he explains about the rabbit hutch. Fiver scolds him for being a “silly show-off” (270).

In the morning, Hazel describes his adventure and recruits Bigwig, Dandelion, and Speedwell for a return jaunt. They set out late in the afternoon and arrive at the farm, where, in a gesture to Fiver’s worries, Hazel watches as the rest enter the yard. A cat confronts them, but the rabbits fight it off. Bigwig suffers deep scratches on one leg.

They continue to the hutch. After some false starts, Blackberry figures out how to open its door. The four hutch rabbits emerge, and Bigwig’s group leads them outside. Two cats begin to circle, and two hutch rabbits, Laurel and Haystack, freeze in place. The others escape.

Hazel greets them and orders the two hutch rabbits, Boxwood and the doe Clover, escorted to Watership Down. He and Dandelion re-enter the yard to retrieve Laurel and Haystack. Men drive up and, noticing loose rabbits, try to collect them. Hazel herds Dandelion and Haystack under the barn. The men capture Laurel. Hazel’s group gets away.

The men pursue; Hazel distracts them by bounding across the road while Haystack and Dandelion escape. A man fires at Hazel and hits his leg; Hazel drags himself to a drainage hole and hides inside.

The rest make it back to Watership Down. Sometime later, Holly’s team returns. All are wounded or sick. They’ve brought no does.

Dreaming, Fiver chases after a limping rabbit. He comes to the sign that terrified him. It lies on the ground while a man prepares to put it up. He plans to hang Hazel on the sign. Fiver sees a deep hole and calls down it. Something moves in it, but the man hits Fiver on the head. He wakes: Dirt has fallen from the roof onto his head.

Fiver asks Blackberry to come with him to save Hazel. Blackberry thinks the men took him, but Fiver insists Hazel is still out there. Fiver leads them hurriedly toward the farm. Blackberry shows him where Hazel disappeared, and Fiver quickly finds the drain where Hazel lies: “He’s alive.”

The rabbits struggle to comprehend their losses. Holly’s expedition failed, Hazel-rah apparently is dead, and the does retrieved from the farm are too stressed to mate.

Holly says his team hiked south until they were stopped by rabbits who took them to the big warren, Efrafa, a place carefully hidden from men. At birth, every baby is scarred with a bite that puts it into one of several Mark groups, each controlled by a Mark Captain. These groups take turns going above ground. If a man approaches, those feeding retreat underground. A Council rules the warren; the rabbits do what they’re told, or else.

Holly learned that the warren is so safe that it’s overcrowded and has too many females, but the Council forbids any to leave. The visitors were brought before General Woundwort, a fierce giant of a rabbit who assigned them to a Mark, where they followed the rules and kept to themselves. When sent outdoors to feed, they were closely guarded.

On a rainy night, pretending to be a runner for the Council, Holly dashed up to the Mark captain and ordered him to report inside at once. The bluff worked, and the team slipped away. Two sentries resisted them and injured Buckthorn, but the escapees prevailed. The Owsla chased them; they were saved when they crossed a railroad track, and a train roared past, blocking the pursuers. They found their way back to Watership, exhausted and injured but alive.

Holly takes a liking to the new doe Clover and shows her how to feed in the open. Blackberry arrives and reports that Hazel is alive. Hazel has a bad leg wound and is sliced up on one side. It takes all night to escort him to the base of their hill, where he’s too tired to go any further. Bigwig goes down to help Fiver and stays with them all night.

In the morning, Kehaar visits and, with his beak, removes the “liddle black stones” from Hazel’s gunshot wounds (321). Hazel stays there for three days. He tells Fiver that none of them would be alive if not for him and that Fiver’s access to information beyond that of daily life has proven its worth time and again.

Hazel asks Holly about the two new does. Holly thinks they’re too stressed to have litters any time soon, and their domestication will weaken them in winter. Hazel says the real solution is to raid Efrafa. Holly says he might as well try to raid the moon, but Hazel says it can be done through trickery. He commissions Blackberry to figure it out.

Hazel returns to the warren, where the rabbits sniff him, touch him, and some even roughhouse with him, as if testing to see that he’s still their capable leader. He talks to nearly everyone, and the consensus is that Efrafa was horrible to Holly, that only two does will cause fights, and that more are needed.

In the Honeycomb, Hazel announces a second trip to Efrafa, where they’ll try to trick them into releasing several does. Blackberry says Kehaar has improved the plan nearly to perfection. The plan is secret, so any rabbit caught can’t be tortured for details. Holly protests: No plan can keep them from being killed. Fiver, though, says he has no uneasiness about the venture. The rabbits discuss it; several decide to go.

Kehaar needs to fly to the “peeg vater” (“big water”). He’ll return in the fall and stay during winter. First, though, he’ll participate in their ruse against Efrafa as long as they get to it quickly. Hazel tells the warren the expedition leaves at dawn.