Watership Down

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Watership Down
First edition cover
Author Richard Adams
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Fantasy novel
Publisher Rex Collings
Released November 1972
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 413 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0-901720-31-3 (first edition, hardback)
Followed by Tales from Watership Down
For other uses, see Watership Down (disambiguation).

Watership Down is the title of Richard Adams's first and most successful novel: since its initial publication, it has never been out of print.[1] The novel is about a group of rabbits and is named after a hill in the north of Hampshire, England. This is also the area where Adams grew up. Initially, the story was based on a collection of tales that Adams told to his young children on trips to the countryside. The book was rejected by publishers thirteen times before finally being published in the United Kingdom by Rex Collings Ltd in 1972.

The rabbits in the story are significantly less anthropomorphized than typical fictional animals; they do not possess any technology or wear clothing, and have the physical attributes and instincts of their real-life wild counterparts. Nevertheless, they are depicted as sapient and capable of speaking to one another. Furthermore, the author has gone so far as to construct a culture for his rabbits, including a language (Lapine), proverbs, poetry and mythology. More than one chapter consists of pieces of rabbit lore.

Watership Down is often referred to as a classic example of xenofiction. Many editions also include an appendix of Lapine vocabulary. It can thus be considered not an animal fable like the works of Aesop but a genuine heroic fantasy.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

Watership Down tells the story of a group of rebellious rabbits who — against the wishes of their Chief Rabbit — escape from their threatened warren. The story follows their subsequent adventures. They find sanctuary in a warren on the down (for which the book is named), but the story continues after this.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book opens with the runt rabbit Fiver. foreseeing the destruction of the warren. He and his brother, Hazel, try to warn the Chief Rabbit but are turned away. Hazel, who knows Fiver's sixth sense well, organizes a group of dissatisfied rabbits to leave the warren, including his friend Bigwig, who is castigated by the Chief Rabbit for believing Hazel. The dissatisfied group is confronted by Holly, leader of the Owsla, the military wing of the warren, but successfully fight him off. The rabbits wander dejected, but Hazel's leadership keeps the band alive and together.

Throughout their journey the rabbits encounter dangers created by humans, by the natural world, and by their own kind. At one point they stumble upon an apparently idyllic warren of beautiful, well-fed rabbits who invite Hazel's group to stay with them. The rabbits apparently lack the wild, scrabbling life of normal rabbits, and have been able to partake in arts and poetry, although in sharp contrast to wild rabbits they have turned from the teachings of El-ahrairah, the revered mythological rabbit prince. But Fiver sees the warren for what it is - a repressed society in which the rabbits live under the unspoken understanding that they are being "free-range" harvested by the local farmer. This is a price they are prepared to pay, for they have realised that not only is he providing them with easy food and exterminating all their non-human enemies, but he has an active interest in the survival of the warren. Their Devil's Bargain is reflected in the content of their poetry, as are the straits of the overcrowded Efrafan does later in the novel.

Recent "Puffin Books" cover
Enlarge
Recent "Puffin Books" cover

Eventually the rabbits reach a haven, Watership Down itself, an area of peaceful downland where they build and establish their own warren. As they learn upon their arrival, they left their old warren just in time; Holly and another survivor, Bluebell, catch up with them and tell them of the warren's horrible destruction at the hands of man.

Yet even then they must face the problem of furthering their own society, as the group of rabbits includes no does. And soon their greatest threat is the presence and investigations of a nearby warren, Efrafa, which is run on totalitarian lines and is heavily policed by a regime led by General Woundwort. In order to continue their own warren they must persuade others to join them, but only under the terrible risk of their own destruction by Efrafa.

Eventually, the rabbits manage to infiltrate and convince several does from Efrafa, which has become too large, crowded, and stressful for them to breed any more, to join their warren. General Woundwort, angered that the warren could have been infiltrated, leads an attack against the Watership Down warren. Bigwig manages to fend off Woundwort in combat, while Hazel leads a dog into the warren to destroy Efrafa's forces.

By the end of the book, Watership Down and Efrafa (under new leadership) have become friendly and build a new neighbouring warren together.

In the final chapter "some years later", Hazel is now an older rabbit, even his own past and that of the warren has become entangled myth and fable and those in it cannot clearly say which is which. He is tired. A strange rabbit visits him, and he recognises the visitor eventually, as El-ahrairah. He is invited to join El-ahrairah's Owsla, and shedding his mortal remains, runs with new unbounded energy in the wake of his lord.

[edit] Characters in "Watership Down"

Most of the rabbits in the book have a distinct personality.

The original group that leaves the Sandleford warren, all bucks, consists of the following. (The names are the forms that most commonly appear in the book. These are mostly nicknames: where they have an original "Lapine" name, it is given in parentheses along with its meaning in that language.)

[edit] Hazel's rabbits

  • Hazel, the leader, eventually Hazel-rah, the Chief Rabbit. Quiet, but has a talent for bringing out the best in his subordinates. Unlike most chief rabbits, Hazel is not particularly large or strong but rather wins the other rabbits' devotion by making quick, intelligent decisions. Sometimes the leadership can get to his head though.
  • Fiver (Hrairoo, "Little Thousand"; hrair is any uncountable large number, and since rabbits can only count to four, the fifth kitten in a litter is the thousandth), Hazel's little brother. Small and weak but also the seer of the group. He has prophetic dreams and can sense all sorts of danger.
  • Dandelion, the storyteller (an extremely important job in Lapine society) and fastest rabbit of the group.
  • Blackberry, the thinker and problem-solver. Blackberry is able to understand complicated concepts, such as boats, that the other rabbits cannot even conceive.
  • Bigwig (known in Lapine as Thlayli, meaning "Fur-head"), the best fighter and the strongest rabbit of the group. A member of the Owsla (elite) of Sandleford warren. Receives his name from the unique thickening of the fur around his ears.
  • Silver, with silver fur. The main fighter besides Bigwig, and also a member of the Sandleford Owsla. He is also the nephew of the Threarah, Sandleford's Chief Rabbit.
  • Buckthorn, also a fighter, and known for being stolid and dependable.
  • Pipkin (Hlao, "Depression in grass" affectionately Hlao-roo), small and weak but also very loyal to Hazel.
  • Speedwell, Acorn, Hawkbit, who are foot soldiers and followers rather than officers. Hawkbit is described by Hazel as being "a rather slow, stupid rabbit."

They are later joined by:

  • Strawberry, from Cowslip's warren.
  • Holly, former Captain of the Sandleford Owsla and a master fighter and tracker. Like Bigwig, a born second-in-command.
  • Bluebell, the jokester, a rabbit of the Sandleford warren who ends up following after and protecting Holly on his journey to Watership Down. Makes jokes when things get bad, so they don't seem as significant.
  • Three hutch rabbits: one buck, Boxwood, and two does, Haystack and Clover. (Another buck, Laurel, is left behind).
  • Blackavar, Efrafan rebel and prisoner. This former Efraran was rejected from their Owsla despite his expert tracking skills. Tried to escape but they tear up his ears and parade him around Efrafa.
  • Ten Efrafan does leave their birthplace. But only eight survived. Most notable among the surviving does are Hyzenthlay ("Shine-dew-fur," Fur shining like dew), who is the ringleader of the rebellious does in Efrafa and has some of the abilities of a seer; Thethuthinnang (Movement of Leaves); and Vilthuril, who becomes Fiver's mate and the mother of his kittens, including one who by the end of the book has started to show prophetic abilities of his own.
  • Groundsel, Thistle, and three other Efrafan bucks who surrender and join the warren following Efrafa's failed attack. Groundsel later becomes the first Chief Rabbit of the new warren between Efrafa and Watership Down.

[edit] Non-rabbit allies

  • Kehaar, a migratory black-headed gull whose injured wing forces him to take refuge on Watership Down. He later befriends the rabbits and helps in many unexpected circumstances. He is an especial friend to Bigwig. Kehaar possesses a strange accent of his own, wherein "B" is altered to "P", "W" to "V", "J" to "Y", "TT" to "DD", and sometimes "I" to "EE". He cannot pronounce the name "Dandelion" and so refers to the rabbit of that name as "Meester Dando". In addition, Kehaar is somewhat gregarious and coarse-mouthed, talking often but with somewhat ungrammatical sentences and the use of the expression "Damn".
  • The unnamed mouse whom Hazel saves from a kestrel. He returns the favor by warning the warren of the Efrafans coming to attack them.

[edit] Enemies

  • General Woundwort, a tyrannical Chief Rabbit and founder of Efrafa. Woundwort is obsessed with control, which he believes to be the only successful means of safety. He is also impatient and bloodthirsty, desiring no outcome to occur but the one he has set himself to accomplish. Eventually, he is killed or driven away by a dog; later generations associate him with the Black Rabbit-- the symbol of death-- and use him to warn disobedient youngsters against mischief.
  • Vervain, Woundwort's lieutenant and commander of his Owslafa.
  • Campion, a Captain of Owsla; a superb tracker and leader of Woundwort's Wide Patrols.
  • Cowslip, a member of a warren of rabbits (known later by Hazel's group as the Tharn Warren, or Warren of the Snares) who are 'harvested' for food by a human.
  • Silverweed, a rabbit of the Warren of the Snares. He was a poet, and told the Sandleford rabbits a song when they arrived at the warren. He terrified Fiver, "I can smell him from here. He terrifies me."
  • Snowdrop, a Council member at Efrafa. An elderly rabbit, Snowdrop is referred to as 'old Snowdrop'. He appears to have been a close advisor of Woundwort and much of the warren's success was down to Snowdrop's ideas.
  • Various elil (predators) who are the enemies of all rabbits. Elil are termed 'the Thousand' or 'U embleer hrair,' the stinking (as in a fox) thousand.

Woundwort, vervain, campion, cowslip and most of the other male characters' names are all types of native flowering plants found in England, where Watership Down is set.

[edit] Characters in rabbit lore

  • El-ahrairah (literally Elil-hrair-rah, the "prince with a thousand enemies") is the folk hero at the center of most of the rabbits' stories. As time passes the adventures of real living rabbits are transformed into fantastical tales of El-ahrairah. (El-ahrairah and his stories do resemble Odysseus and his travels to some extent.)
  • Rabscuttle, El-ahrairah's best friend and companion in adventure.
  • The Black Rabbit of Inlé, the rabbit grim reaper. A servant of Frith who ensures that all rabbits die at their appointed time. Inlé is the moon.
  • Frith, literally "the sun", is a god-figure who created the world and promised that rabbits would always be allowed to thrive.
  • Prince Rainbow, a demigod-figure resembling a cat who communicates between El-ahrairah and Frith. He is always trying to beat El-ahrairah at his own devious games.

[edit] Major themes

The religious subtleties in the book may either parody or parallel Western religious concepts. Similarities between the Lapine folk hero El-ahrairah and the Trickster of folk mythology are apparent. The exaggeration of the heroic feats of El-ahrairah and the progressive attribution of new feats to his symbolic character, the recognition of the Sun as the god Frith in the absence of a scientific explanation of nature, and the attribution of random accidents to divine providence (such as the train death of the Efrafans on the railroad track) are notable in light of the cultural development of folk religion. Feminist literary critics have attacked the book for its central (male) characters' "sexist" obsession with obtaining does to reproduce. However, this seems to miss the point that although the rabbit characters' thoughts, feelings and interactions have been "humanized" for the benefit of the reader, this is not the case with their instincts; the most important of which is their long-term survival.

And we have no does - not one - and no does means no kittens, and in a few years, no warren. (Hazel-rah to his rabbits, p195 of Penguin edition).

Spoilers end here.

[edit] The Private Life of the Rabbit

Adams wrote in a USA Watership Down edition that his take on wild rabbit behaviour was much influenced by The Private Life of the Rabbit by British naturalist R. M. Lockley, although he (Adams) had already written the story in its essentials when he discovered Lockley's work. The book, first published in 1965, detailed a three-year study of wild rabbits in the United Kingdom. Lockley observed behaviours used by Adams in his books, including warrens run by Chief Rabbits who fought other rabbits off; bachelors who are integrated into warren life; and mothers who dissolve unwanted embryos prior to an inconvenient birth. After being out of print for many years, The Private Life of the Rabbit was reissued in the USA by Buccaneer Books in 2006.

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

Watership Down is notable as an ensemble story, with multiple protagonists who each serve a useful function under quietly competent leadership. Although Adams has always stated that the book was intended to be a children's story, many fans see the book as a political allegory attacking fascism and appeasement as Animal Farm attacked Stalinism. This opinion is supported by a plot involving visits to two other warrens whose political philosophies are depicted as antagonistic and repugnant. One of these is known only as Cowslip's Warren: the rabbits there grow fat on food left out for them by a local farmer, yet it is common knowledge (but never openly said) that the farmer has wire traps set out to catch the rabbits; these rabbits accept the risk of sudden death for the benefit of an easy life. The other is Efrafa, ruled with a merciless iron fist by the powerful and insane General Woundwort who becomes the story's principal antagonist.

Myxomatosis (or in Lapine terminology, "The white blindness"), a terrible and highly infectious rabbit disease, is referred to early in the book. It was a threat that could have destroyed the Sandleford warren if not for the tough but reasonable leadership of the chief rabbit, who cast out any rabbits showing signs of sickness. The original impetus for General Woundwort keeping the Efrafan warren under tight control is to guard it against the dreaded illness. However, his strict measures went over the top and the Efrafan rabbits found themselves living under a military dictatorship where they cannot even leave the burrows without presence of guards. The underlying message (as it is often interpreted) is that societies overrun with fear are more susceptible to accepting leadership that purports to offer safety in place of liberty.

Adams has gone so far as to state that the personalities of the two principal hero rabbits, Hazel and Bigwig, are based on fellow officers he knew while a paratrooper during World War II.

The overall storyline resembles that told in Homer's Odyssey; for example, the events in Cowslip's Warren can be compared to the Lotus Eaters episode (Book IX) in The Odyssey. Comparisons have also been made to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Watership Down has become a modern classic and won the Carnegie Medal in 1972.

  • In 2003, Watership Down came 42nd in a public vote for the 100 greatest books of all time taken by the BBC.[2]

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1978 the book was adapted as an acclaimed animated film, directed by Martin Rosen. The violence portrayed led many reviewers to caution that the film is not for very young children. The film generally follows the plot of the book with a few omissions. In the movie version, does are seen leaving the Sandleford warren with Hazel and the others. However, only bucks leave in the novel. The character of Violet, a doe attacked by a hawk in the film, seems to have been created just for the shock of a death within in the party. In 1999, an animated television series, Watership Down, was also coproduced by Martin Rosen. Interestingly, the animated series detailed General Woundwort's terrible upbringing, which twisted his outlook; the movie presented the General simply as an antagonist. Also, while the film used adult voices, the animated series has "child" voices for some characters.

(A picture book of the animated film was also produced, comprising multiple stills from the film linked with a combination of narration and extracts from the script. This seems to be extremely rare.)

[edit] Cultural references

  • The role-playing game Bunnies and Burrows is unofficially based on Watership Down.
  • Watership Down has been credited by George Lucas for providing inspiration in creating a "fictional universe" in Star Wars.
  • The ABC Television show Lost references Watership Down on two occasions. The fictional character Sawyer is reading the book in the episode "White Rabbit" when Shannon approaches him. The book is also referenced in the episode "Confidence Man". In the beginning of the episode Kate is walking along the beach when she sees the book and picks it up. She doesn't notice Sawyer swimming and when he sees her pick it up he comments: "Hell of a book. It's about bunnies."
  • The Director's Cut version of Donnie Darko includes references to and clips from the Watership Down movie.
  • On The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert keeps a copy on a bookshelf labeled "non-fiction".
  • In Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, when Gromit turns on the van's radio in one scene, the song "Bright Eyes" from the Watership Down movie is heard.
  • In the Stephen King novel The Stand, one of the main characters, Stu Redman, has read Watership Down and uses the book's concept of "going tharn", or freezing in catatonic panic, to describe how another character makes him feel as Stu tries to escape the Vermont plague facility holding him captive. Later, Stu says that another character, Harold Lauder reminds him of Silver, or Silverweed. In addition, the soldier that initiates the chain of events in the book is named Campion.
  • In the revised version of King's novel The Gunslinger, some rabbits are described as being at silflay, which is lapine-language for grazing. Also, in The Wasteland, Eddie mentions that the name "Shardik" makes him think of rabbits, alluding to this and another of Adams' books.
  • National Lampoon published a satirical paraody of the book entitled "Watergate Down" in 1974, in which the rabbits were replaced by rats with names similar to those of Nixon administration officials. ("A rat is an animal with the morals of a Democrat and the ethics of a Republican.")
  • Gundam model kits named after Hazel, Hazel-rah, and Hrududu have been released by Bandai. Mobile weapons named Kehaar and Bigwig also appear in novels, although none exist in kit form. All of these mobile suit designs exist in The Flag of Titans, a side story of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
  • Alternative metal act Atomship originally formed under the name Watership Down.
  • Big Brother fanshow Big Brother's Little Brother featured in 2006 a rabbit shaped topiary in which a camera was fitted. In every show Dermot O' Leary showed highlights from this camera, preluded by himself and the audience members raising cigarette lighters and singing Bright Eyes.
  • Gerry Beckley of the 1970s supergroup America penned a theme song for the "Watership Down" animated film. The song was not used for the film, but the group included it on their 1976 album "Hideaway." According to Beckley, singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, who loved the book, helped Beckley with the song offering critiques and suggestions.

[edit] Trivia

Adams' father makes a cameo appearance (as "Doctor Adams") near the end of the book, in the chapter Dea Ex Machina.

[edit] Sequel

One sequel, Tales from Watership Down, has been published. It takes place after the events in Watership Down, but does not continue the main plotline. Instead, it is a collection of short stories taking place after Watership Down and involving some of the same characters.

[edit] Editions

There have been over 300 editions of Watership Down in English - these are just a few of the ones known.

[edit] UK editions

[edit] US editions

[edit] Translations

  • Chinese: 魔幻的瓦特西普高原 (Fantastic Watership Down)
  • Czech: Daleká cesta za domovem (The Long Way Home)
  • Danish: Kaninbjerget (The Rabbit Mountain)
  • Dutch: Waterschapsheuvel (Watership Hill)
  • Finnish: Ruohometsän kansa (Folk of the Grass Forest)
  • French: Les Garennes de Watership Down (The Warrens of Watership Down)
  • German: Unten am Fluss (Down by the River)
  • Hebrew: גבעת ווטרשיפ (Watership Hill)
  • Hungarian: Gesztenye, a honalapító (Hazel, the Founding Father)
  • Italian: La collina dei conigli (The Rabbits' Hill)
  • Japanese: ウォーターシップ・ダウンのうさぎたち (Watership Down no Usagi-tachi, "The Rabbits of Watership Down")
  • Korean: 워터십 다운의 토끼 (Woteosip Daunui Tokki, "Rabbits of Watership Down") and 워터십 다운의 열한 마리 토끼 (Woteosip Daunui Yeolhan Mari Tokki, "Eleven Rabbits of Watership Down")
  • Norwegian: Flukten til Watership (The Escape to Watership)
  • Polish: Wodnikowe wzgorze (Aquarius Hill)
  • Portuguese: Era uma vez em Watership Down (Once Upon a Time in Watership Down)
  • Brazilian Portuguese: A Longa Jornada (The Long Journey)
  • Serbian: Брежуљак Вотершип/Brežuljak Voteršip (Watership Mound or Watership Ridge)
  • Slovenian: Vodovnikova vesina (Watership Down)
  • Spanish: La Colina de Watership (Watership Hill)
  • Swedish: Den långa flykten (The Long Escape)

[edit] External links

Richard Adams' Watership DownEdit
Novels: Watership Down - Tales from Watership Down
Adaptations: Feature film - TV series
Characters: Bigwig - Blackavar - Blackberry - Campion - Cowslip - Dandelion - Fiver - General Woundwort - Hazel - Kehaar - Vervain - Minor characters
Mythical/story creatures: El-ahrairah
Locations: Efrafa - River Enborne - Railway line - Redstone - River Test - Watership Down
Other: Chief Rabbit - Concepts in Watership Down - Lapine - Owsla
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