10: Chapter 13. Hospitality  

 

10.1 Housekeeping  

 

Slip up of last episode: I referred once to being a "fact of WD" rather than a fan. Jeremy Downing from Ohio has been going through his collection of editions of WD in search of the lost paragraph. I will be feeding back with the results once I have crunched the information. No sermon this week. I'm sorry if I laid on the politics a bit thick last week, but I felt it necessary to emphasise the complete contrast between the ways I will analyse the two dangerous warrens in WD.  

 

10.2 Chapter 13. Hospitality  

 

Opening quote from Tennyson's 'The Lotus Eaters' about a land you never want to leave. 

 

As the group follow Cowslip they have their first sight of his Warren. The holes are all large and plain to see. The rabbits that greet them are 'sleek and unusually large'. They greet Hazel with a dancing motion of the head and front legs that the group finds bizarre.  

 

They tell the group that Cowslip is in the 'Great Burrow'. Hazel is so curious to see it he forgets to decide properly who should go in what order. Suddenly he finds himself in a huge underground open space, exposed on three sides. There are more rabbits than his group has in the burrow. Adam's describes how his senses are able to tell so much about the space in the dark. 

 

Hazel is unsure how to introduce his group. He speaks plainly, as the last of his group arrive, commenting what a large warren this must be. This seems to strike the wrong note. The two groups mingle and get to know each other. But Fiver keeps himself apart from proceedings. 

 

Hazel finds himself between a couple. He asks the buck if Cowslip is Chief Rabbit. The buck responds by asking Hazel if he is Chief of his group. Hazel's response only, arguably, makes sense if the lost paragraph at the end of Chapter 11 is included, as he seems worried how Bigwig and Silver will react. 

 

The buck tells Hazel that they don't need to worry about the things a Chief is meant to worry about, such a dealing with Elil or supervising digging. Elil stay away from this Warren. A homba (fox) that came near the previous winter had been shot by the "man who comes through the fields"  

 

As for digging, there is no need. The buck says no one has dug there in his lifetime. A lot of Burrows are lying empty. The buck ends by saying that Hazel's group will be happy living there. But he doesn't sound very happy.  

 

Hazel tries asking where the man...but he is interrupted by the buck introducing himself as Strawberry and his partner as Nildro-hain. She is the first female rabbit to be named in WD, though she still has yet to speak. Her good looks are commented upon by Hazel, but she is not given a voice.  

 

One day I will do an episode on sexism in WD. However it is worth noting the convention of does in WD only being known by their names in Lapine.  

 

They begin a tour of the Warren, ending up in a pit. One curved wall is formed from bricks, laid by humans. Strawberry says this is the outer wall of an old well.  

 

Another wall is flat. Hazel notices stones have been pushed into the surface of this wall at regular intervals. He asks what they are for. Strawberry explains that this is a "shape" and that it is meant to be El-ahrairah. This makes absolutely no sense to Hazel, for whom the very concept is meaningless.  

 

Hazel starts to ask where are...but is interrupted again by Strawberry. Hazel realises that any question that includes the word "where" is interrupted. He puts this to the test by deliberately asking another such question. Strawberry immediately shouts into a burrow to ask if the occupant is going to join them in the Great Burrow.  

As they move on, after no response, Hazel checks the soil at the entrance of this burrow. It is very obviously unoccupied. 10.3 Next episode Next time, Hazel's group learn more about this strange Warren, which Fiver doesn't want to stay in at all. Even at night. Vocab: Homba : Fox 

Nildro : Song? Hain : Blackbird?