Watership Down

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The real Watership Down, near the Hampshire village of Kingsclere, in 1975

Watership Down is a novel written by Richard Adams. It tells the story of rabbits and their adventures concerning their warren at a hill in the north of Hampshire, England known as Watership Down.

In this fantasy novel, rabbits of human intelligence are shown in their natural environment. They have a culture, a language, proverbs, poetry and mythology.

It was published in the United Kingdom by Rex Collings Ltd in 1972 and it has never since been out of print.^[1]

[change] Story

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Fiver, a rabbit with a "sixth sense", living at Sandleford Warren, envisions his home being destroyed by a land developer. He convinces his brother, Hazel to talk to the Chief Rabbit, Threarah about evacuating from the Warren, however, the Chief Rabbit has no intention of leaving. Hazel, Fiver, and nine other rabbits then set off in search of a new home (at the time, merely off of the basis of Fiver's insistence that a utopia awaits them somewhere far away). They travel through forests, fields, over rivers, and roads filled with hrududu's (cars) before exhaustion and unrest force them to stop at a hill occupied by a warren headed by a rabbit named Cowslip. After much debate, the rabbits tentatively agree to stay at Cowslips warren. The warren however, unnerves them (especially Fiver) due to their strange customs. They soon find out that the cultural decay that the rabbits are experiencing is due to the fact that they are merely being fed and taken care of by a farmer so that he kill them off, one by one, for his own purposes. After leaving Cowslip's warren (in which, Bigwig, a former Sandleford rabbit, is almost killed), they travel tirelessly until they arrive at the site of Watership Down, a high hill that is far from man and blessed with good food and safety.

After a day or two at their utopian land that Fiver had previously promised them, Hazel, now the unofficial Chief Rabbit of Watership Down Warren, realizes that there are no does among them, and so they cannot reproduce or dig efficiently (does are always the primary diggers of burrows in a warren). Soon after, Hazel, to the initial shock of his companions, rescues a great gull named Kehaar, who has been injured by a run in with a cat. After nursing Kehaar back to health, he agrees to help the rabbits for the time being (since he has missed mating season at "Big Water" [the Atlantic ocean]) in return for their kindness toward him. After being asked by Hazel to perform a reconnoitering of the area, Kehaar locates Efrafa, a large warren to the South of their position. After hearing, to his pleasure that Efrafa is large and overcrowded, he sends an embassy of four rabbits to Efrafa to ask if they could bring back some does to their warren. However, to the Watership rabbits' shock, they discover that Efrafa is a near dictatorship, headed by the malevolent General Woundwort. Efrafa, being a large warren with still too many rabbits, is tightly controlled by the General and his massive military. Each rabbit is told when are where they are allowed to eat, sleep, etc. Any attempt to expand the burrow is painfully slow, since Efrafa must be concealed from every threat. Nothing happens without the Generals consent, including departure from the warren. The four rabbits barely escape with their lives, after playing a trick on an Efrafan Captain, and can hardly make it back to Watership. At the same time that the embassy is undergoing their dealings with Efrafa, Hazel leads a small party to investigate Kehaar's report that there is a farm with a few hutch rabbits, including does. After multiple dangerous raids, the Watership rabbits break a few hutch rabbits out of the farm, but Hazel is shot in the process. However, thanks to another one of Fiver's visions, Hazel is found and returned to health after being on the brink of death. Now returned from Efrafa and having reported on the state of Efrafa, the barely recovered Hazel decides to stage a break out from Efrafa (a daunting proposal). The entire party of Watership rabbits travel painstakingly and tediously (to avoid detection by Efrafan wide patrols) to the outskirts of Efrafa. Under the guise of a wandering loner, Thlayli (Bigwig) infiltrates Efrafa as an officer of their Owsla (a warren's Owsla is somewhat like it's military/police force). Secretly, however, Thlayli is utilizing a growing unrest and resistance movement in warren to help with the break out. He meets does Hyzenthlay and Thethunninnang who tell him that, if he has a working plan, they will attempt the escape with him. After narrowly avoiding a conflict with General Woundwort, Bigwig and the does break out of Efrafa in the midst of a great storm and with the invaluable communication and military benefits provided by Kehaar. Of course this break out does not go unnoticed, and soon the General himself and his small entourage catch up the fugitives, including Blackavar, a rabbit who had previously tried to escape Efrafa and was punished for doing so. The party escapes only because Kehaar attacks Woundwort. Nevertheless, Woundwort runs down the rabbits near a stream. The rabbits however, escape on a small boat. After disembarking the boat (with many problems) they slowly make their way back to Watership, after experiencing two casualties (both does).

The rabbits rejoice at their success, but it is to be short lived, for General Woundwort and a small strike team have stealthily approached the warren, only detected because a befreinded mouse warns them. The General then attacks the warren in the night as the Watership Rabbits head to their deepest burrows, blocking off the tunnels in an attempt to hold off the Efrafans. While in a burrow, Fiver becomes possessed with unworldly wisdom and thoughts that embody themselves in a frightening form. He is presumed dead. Meanwhile, Hazel, presumably because he has a little bit of "Fiver blood" has a vision of how to stop the Efrafans. After instructing Thylayli to remain where he is with other rabbits to fight off any attempt they could, he takes Blackberry and Dandelion out of the burrow. Hazels plan is to use the dog at the nearby Nuthanger farm to defeat the Efrafans. Meanwhile Bigwig is locked in stalemated combat with the frightful General Woundwort. Hazels plan succeeds, though he is wounded in the process. Woundwort disappears, not killed, but never to be seen again. Captain Campion and the remainder of his force limp back to Efrafa, where Campion becomes head. In the aftermath, Hazel lives a long life as Chief Rabbit of Watership, while his warren prospers peacefully.