Has he not a rogue's face?... Has a damn'd Tyburn-face, without the benefit ofthe clergy.
Congreve, Love for LoveRabbits (says Mr. Lockley) are like human beings in many ways. One of theseis certainly their staunch ability to withstand disaster and to let the stream oftheir life carry them along, past reaches of terror and loss. They have a certainquality which it would not be accurate to describe as callousness or indifference.
It is, rather, a blessedly circumscribed imagination and an intuitive feeling thatLife is Now. A foraging wild creature, intent above all upon survival, is as strongas the grass. Collectively, rabbits rest secure upon Frith's promise to El-ahrairah.
Hardly a full day had elapsed since Holly had come crawling in delirium to thefoot of Watership Down. Yet already he was near recovery, while the more light-hearted Bluebell seemed even less the worse for the dreadful catastrophe that hehad survived. Hazel and his companions had suffered extremes of grief andhorror during the telling of Holly's tale. Pipkin had cried and trembled piteouslyat the death of Scabious, and Acorn and Speedwell had been seized withconvulsive choking as Bluebell told of the poisonous gas that murderedunderground. Yet, as with primitive humans, the very strength and vividness oftheir sympathy brought with it a true release. Their feelings were not false orassumed. While the story was being told, they heard it without any of the reserveor detachment that the kindest of civilized humans retains as he reads hisnewspaper. To themselves, they seemed to struggle in the poisoned runs and toblaze with rage for poor Pimpernel in the ditch. This was their way of honoringthe dead. The story over, the demands of their own hard, rough lives began to re-assert themselves in their hearts, in their nerves, their blood and appetites.
Would that the dead were not dead! But there is grass that must be eaten, pelletsthat must be chewed, hraka that must be passed, holes that must be dug, sleepthat must be slept. Odysseus brings not one man to shore with him. Yet he sleepssound beside Calypso and when he wakes thinks only of Penelope.
Even before Holly had finished his story, Hazel had fallen to sniffing at hiswounded ear. He had not previously been able to get a good look at it, but nowthat he did, he realized that terror and fatigue had probably not been theprincipal causes of Holly's collapse. He was badly wounded -- worse thanBuckthorn. He must have lost a lot of blood. His ear was in ribbons and there wasany amount of dirt in it. Hazel felt annoyed with Dandelion. As several of therabbits began to silflay, attracted by the mild June night and the full moon, heasked Blackberry to wait. Silver, who had been about to leave by the other run,returned and joined them.
"Dandelion and the other two seem to have cheered you up, all right," saidHazel to Holly. "It's a pity they didn't clean you up as well. That dirt's dangerous.""Well, you see--" began Bluebell, who had remained beside Holly.
"Don't make a joke," said Hazel. "You seem to think--""I wasn't going to," said Bluebell. "I was only going to say that I wanted toclean the captain's ear, but it's too tender to be touched.""He's quite right," said Holly. "I'm afraid I made them neglect it, but do as youthink best, Hazel, I'm feeling much better now."Hazel began on the ear himself. The blood had caked black and the task neededpatience. After a while the long, jagged wounds bled again as they slowly becameclean. Silver took over. Holly, bearing it as well as he could, growled and scuffled,and Silver cast about for something to occupy his attention.
"Hazel," he asked, "what was this idea you had -- about the mouse? You saidyou'd explain it later. How about trying it out on us now?""Well," said Hazel, "the idea is simply that in our situation we can't afford towaste anything that might do us good. We're in a strange place we don't knowmuch about and we need friends. Now, elil can't do us good, obviously, but thereare many creatures that aren't elil -- birds, mice, yonil and so on. Rabbits don'tusually have much to do with them, but their enemies are our enemies, for themost part. I think we ought to do all we can to make these creatures friendly. Itmight turn out to be well worth the trouble.""I can't say I fancy the idea myself," said Silver, wiping Holly's blood out of hisnose. "These small animals are more to be despised than relied upon, I reckon.
What good can they do us? They can't dig for us, they can't get food for us, theycan't fight for us. They'd say they were friendly, no doubt, as long as we werehelping them; but that's where it would stop. I heard that mouse tonight -- 'Youwant 'im, 'e come.' You bet he will, as long as there's any grub or warmth going,but surely we're not going to have the warren overrun with mice and -- and stagbeetles, are we?""No, I didn't mean quite that," said Hazel. "I'm not suggesting we should goabout looking for field mice and inviting them to join us. They wouldn't thank usfor that, anyway. But that mouse tonight -- we saved his life--""You saved his life," said Blackberry.
"Well, his life was saved. He'll remember that.""But how's it going to help us?" asked Bluebell.
"To start with, he can tell us what he knows about the place--""What mice know. Not what rabbits need to know.""Well, I admit a mouse might or might not come in handy," said Hazel. "ButI'm sure a bird would, if we could only do enough for it. We can't fly, but some ofthem know the country for a long way round. They know a lot about the weather,too. All I'm saying is this. If anyone finds an animal or bird, that isn't an enemy,in need of help, for goodness' sake don't miss the opportunity. That would be likeleaving carrots to rot in the ground.""What do you think?" said Silver to Blackberry.
"I think it's a good idea, but real opportunities of the kind Hazel has in mindaren't likely to come very often.""I think that's about right," said Holly, wincing as Silver resumed licking. "Theidea's all right as far as it goes, but it won't come to a great deal in practice.""I'm ready to give it a try," said Silver. "I reckon it'll be worth it, just to seeBigwig telling bedtime stories to a mole.""El-ahrairah did it once," said Bluebell, "and it worked. Do you remember?""No," said Hazel, "I don't know that story. Let's have it.""Let's silflay first," said Holly. "This ear's had all I can stand for the timebeing.""Well, at least it's clean now," said Hazel. "But I'm afraid it'll never be as goodas the other, you know. You'll have a ragged ear.""Never mind," said Holly. "I'm still one of the lucky ones."The full moon, well risen in a cloudless eastern sky, covered the high solitudewith its light. We are not conscious of daylight as that which displaces darkness.
Daylight, even when the sun is clear of clouds, seems to us simply the naturalcondition of the earth and air. When we think of the downs, we think of thedowns in daylight, as we think of a rabbit with its fur on. Stubbs may haveenvisaged the skeleton inside the horse, but most of us do not: and we do notusually envisage the downs without daylight, even though the light is not a part ofthe down itself as the hide is part of the horse itself. We take daylight for granted.
But moonlight is another matter. It is inconstant. The full moon wanes andreturns again. Clouds may obscure it to an extent to which they cannot obscuredaylight. Water is necessary to us, but a waterfall is not. Where it is to be found itis something extra, a beautiful ornament. We need daylight and to that extent it isutilitarian, but moonlight we do not need. When it comes, it serves no necessity.
It transforms. It falls upon the banks and the grass, separating one long bladefrom another; turning a drift of brown, frosted leaves from a single heap toinnumerable flashing fragments; or glimmering lengthways along wet twigs asthough light itself were ductile. Its long beams pour, white and sharp, betweenthe trunks of trees, their clarity fading as they recede into the powdery, mistydistance of beech woods at night. In moonlight, two acres of coarse bent grass,undulant and ankle deep, tumbled and rough as a horse's mane, appear like a bayof waves, all shadowy troughs and hollows. The growth is so thick and mattedthat even the wind does not move it, but it is the moonlight that seems to conferstillness upon it. We do not take moonlight for granted. It is like snow, or like thedew on a July morning. It does not reveal but changes what it covers. And its lowintensity -- so much lower than that of daylight -- makes us conscious that it issomething added to the down, to give it, for only a little time, a singular andmarvelous quality that we should admire while we can, for soon it will be goneagain.
As the rabbits came up by the hole inside the beech wood, a swift gust of windpassed through the leaves, checkering and dappling the ground beneath, stealingand giving light under the branches. They listened, but beyond the rustle of theleaves there came from the open down outside no sound except the monotonoustremolo of a grasshopper warbler, far off in the grass.
"What a moon!" said Silver. "Let's enjoy it while it's here."As they went over the bank they met Speedwell and Hawkbit returning.
"Oh, Hazel," said Hawkbit, "we've been talking to another mouse. He'd heardabout the kestrel this evening and was very friendly. He told us about a place justthe other side of the wood where the grass has been cut short -- something to dowith horses, he said. 'You like a nice a grass? 'E very fine grass.' So we went there.
It's first-rate."The gallop turned out to be a good forty yards wide, mown to less than sixinches. Hazel, with a delightful sense of having been proved right by events, set towork on a patch of clover. They all munched for some time in silence.
"You're a clever chap, Hazel," said Holly at last "You and your mouse. Mindyou, we'd have found the place ourselves sooner or later, but not as soon as this."Hazel could have pressed his chin glands for satisfaction, but he repliedmerely, "We shan't need to go down the hill so much, after all." Then he added,"But, Holly, you smell of blood, you know. It may be dangerous, even here. Let'sgo back to the wood. It's such a beautiful night that we can sit near the holes tochew pellets and Bluebell can tell us his story."They found Strawberry and Buckthorn on the bank; and when everyone wascomfortably chewing, with ears laid flat, Bluebell began.
-<*>-"Dandelion was telling me last night about Cowslip's warren and how he toldthe story of the King's Lettuce. That's what put me in mind of this tale, evenbefore Hazel explained his idea. I used to hear it from my grandfather and healways said that it happened after El-ahrairah had got his people out of themarshes of Kelfazin. They went to the meadows of Fenlo and there they dug theirholes. But Prince Rainbow had his eye on El-ahrairah; and he was determined tosee that he didn't get up to any more of his tricks.
"Now one evening, when El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle were sitting on a sunnybank, Prince Rainbow came through the meadows and with him was a rabbit thatEl-ahrairah had never seen before.
"'Good evening, El-ahrairah,' said Prince Rainbow. 'This is a greatimprovement on the marshes of Kelfazin. I see all your does are busy diggingholes along the bank. Have they dug a hole for you?'
"'Yes,' said El-ahrairah. 'This hole here belongs to Rabscuttle and myself. Weliked the look of this bank as soon as we saw it.'
"'A very nice bank,' said Prince Rainbow. 'But I am afraid I have to tell you, El-ahrairah, that I have strict orders from Lord Frith himself not to allow you toshare a hole with Rabscuttle.'
"'Not share a hole with Rabscuttle?' said El-ahrairah. 'Why ever not?'
"'El-ahrairah,' said Prince Rainbow, 'we know you and your tricks: andRabscuttle is nearly as slippery as you are. Both of you in one hole would bealtogether too much of a good thing. You would be stealing the clouds out of thesky before the moon had changed twice. No -- Rabscuttle must go and look afterthe holes at the other end of the warren. Let me introduce you. This is Hufsa. Iwant you to be his friend and look after him.'
"'Where does he come from?' asked El-ahrairah. 'I certainly haven't seen himbefore.'
"'He comes from another country,' said Prince Rainbow, 'but he is no differentfrom any other rabbit. I hope you will help him to settle down here. And while heis getting to know the place, I'm sure you will be glad to let him share your hole.'
"El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle felt desperately annoyed that they were not to beallowed to live together in their hole. But it was one of El-ahrairah's rules never tolet anyone see when he was angry and, besides, he felt sorry for Hufsa because hesupposed that he was feeling lonely and awkward, being far away from his ownpeople. So he welcomed him and promised to help him settle down. Hufsa wasperfectly friendly and seemed anxious to please everyone; and Rabscuttle moveddown to the other end of the warren.
"After a time, however, El-ahrairah began to find that something was alwaysgoing wrong with his plans. One night, in the spring, when he had taken some ofhis people to a cornfield to eat the green shoots, they found a man with a gunwalking about in the moonlight and were lucky to get away without trouble.
Another time, after El-ahrairah had reconnoitered the way to a cabbage gardenand scratched a hole under the fence, he arrived the next morning to find itblocked with wire, and he began to suspect that his plans were leaking out topeople who were not intended to learn them.
"One day he determined to set a trap for Hufsa, to find out whether it was hewho was at the bottom of the trouble. He showed him a path across the fields andtold him that it led to a lonely barn full of swedes and turnips: and he went on tosay that he and Rabscuttle meant to go there the next morning. In fact El-ahrairah had no such plans and took care not to say anything about the path orthe barn to anyone else. But next day, when he went cautiously along the path, hefound a wire set in the grass.
"This made El-ahrairah really angry, for any of his people might have beensnared and killed. Of course he did not suppose that Hufsa was setting wireshimself, or even that he had known that a wire was going to be set. But evidentlyHufsa was in touch with somebody who did not stick at setting a wire. In the end,El-ahrairah decided that probably Prince Rainbow was passing on Hufsa'sinformation to a farmer or a gamekeeper and not bothering himself about whathapppened as a result. His rabbits' lives were in danger because of Hufsa -- to saynothing of all the lettuces and cabbages they were missing. After this, El-ahrairahtried not to tell Hufsa anything at all. But it was difficult to prevent him fromhearing things because, as you all know, rabbits are very good at keeping secretsfrom other animals, but no good at keeping secrets from each other. Warren lifedoesn't make for secrecy. He considered killing Hufsa. But he knew that if he did,Prince Rainbow would come and they would end in more trouble. He feltdecidedly uneasy even about keeping things from Hufsa, because he thought thatif Hufsa realized that they knew he was a spy, he would tell Prince Rainbow andPrince Rainbow would probably take him away and think of something worse.
"El-ahrairah thought and thought. He was still thinking the next evening,when Prince Rainbow paid one of his visits to the warren.
"'You are quite a reformed character these days, El-ahrairah,' said PrinceRainbow. 'If you are not careful, people will begin to trust you. Since I waspassing by, I thought I would just stop to thank you for your kindness in lookingafter Hufsa. He seems quite at home with you.'
"'Yes, he does, doesn't he?' said El-ahrairah. 'We grow in beauty side by side;we fill one hole with glee. But I always say to my people, "Put not your trust inprinces, nor in any--"'
"'Well, El-ahrairah,' said Prince Rainbow, interrupting him, 'I am sure I cantrust you. And to prove it, I have decided that I will grow a nice crop of carrots inthe field behind the hill. It is an excellent bit of ground and I am sure they will dowell. Especially as no one would dream of stealing them. In fact, you can comeand watch me plant them, if you like.'
"'I will,' said El-ahrairah. 'That will be delightful.'
"El-ahrairah, Rabscuttle, Hufsa and several other rabbits accompanied PrinceRainbow to the field behind the hill; and they helped him to sow............