26: Chapter 28. At the Foot of the Hill 

26.1: Burrowkeeping 

Rebecca Porter is proving a very effective correcter of detail. Her latest refers to my skepticism about Blackberry definitely being the rabbit with black tipped ears, which I completely missed, from Chapter 3:  

“…Blackberry, the rabbit with tipped ears who’d been startled by Fiver the evening before…” 

26.2 Kehaar and Black Headed gulls briefly revisited 

Last week me and my wife travelled to Wiltshire to visit relatives. During the journey we stopped at a motorway service area that is close to Watership Down. There I clearly saw a black-headed gull with its head moulted white. Conclusion: The 1978 film got his appearance almost entirely wrong. 

26.3  Chapter 28. At the Foot of the Hill 

This chapter follows on immediately from Holly's account of Efrafa in the previous chapter.  

Bigwig spots Blackberry, returning to the Down, who brings the news that Hazel is alive. It has taken them all evening to get Hazel to the ditch at the foot of the hill. Hazel couldn't go on any further, thus giving this chapter its title. 

Bigwig immediately says he is going to see Hazel. Bigwig finds Fiver feeding by the ditch and they both spend the night crouched by Hazel. 

The next morning Bigwig sees Kehaar nearby, who asks if they have taken out the "liddle black stones" from Hazel's wound. Kehaar's sense of smell and beak does its magic. Doctor Kehaar prescribes 2 or 3 days ditch-rest. He may well have just saved Hazel's life. Hazel stays at the foot of the hill for 3 days, with nurse Fiver licking his wounds and monitoring his recovery. 

Their conversations there are what decide the course of the rest of the book. When Hazel says that none of them would be there if it weren't for him, Fiver talks of "another country" where we go when we dream, and when we die. Many rabbits think it is a pleasant place to be in, but Fiver disagrees. This is a far more classical view of the Underworld than the Judeo-Christian-Islamic idea of Heaven. When Hazel mentions Silverweed, the poet from the warren of the snares, Fiver responds by saying that the terrifying thing about him was that he knew he belonged in that other place. That the "ones in that country" got Silverweed. And that they don't give away their secrets for nothing. 

The arrival of Holly and Blackberry ends this conversation. When he told of the messenger of Frith saving them, Fiver, for all his mysticism, was sure there was a natural explanation. Their discussion about the does makes it clear that, aside from the females being referred to as little more than livestock, in this world of talking rabbits there is no romance, even though rabbits do form enduring pairs. The warren clearly needs more. 

Hazel says that he now knows what they need to do. But he can't yet see how to do it. They have to go back to Efrafa and get some does out. 

Holly, unsurprisingly, thinks this plan is very ill-advised. Hazel agrees that it cannot be done by fighting. So they will have to use a trick. He outlines the three things this trick must acheive: 

 

1) Get does out of Efrafa...obviously 

2) Evade the pursuit of the Efrafan Owsla 

3) Make the raiding party impossible to find. Beyond the reach of even a Wide Patrol 

Devising this trick will be the job of Blackberry. Blackberry says he thinks he can see how to achieve the first goal, but not the other two yet. He wants to talk to Fiver about it. 

Holly is not happy. He thinks Hazel is making a bad mistake that could get them all killed. He is very nearly correct about this. But Fiver responds. He agrees it ought to feel that way. But it somehow...doesn't. The scene is being rapidly set for the most exciting, and frightening, events of the book. 

26.4 Next Episode 

Thank you, once again, to John Ruths for his notes and to Rebecca Porter for her scrutiny. This is all very helpful. 

Vocab: 

Inlé: (additional definition to the one in episode 4) The Underworld or afterlife