51: Chapter 49. Hazel Comes Home

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This episode is scripted by John Ruths and Newell Fisher.

The pre-chapter quote is military in nature and is surely about the First World War.  But it can really apply to any armed conflict. It's clear that the two folks that the poem is about have survived their war.  To have been "lucky devils" not everyone made it.

It's clearly a reference to Hazel and Bigwig.  They 'made it' and no one in the warren had come as close to death as they each had.

A "fusil" is an old flintlock rifle.  So, typically, a fusilier is a rifleman and riflemen are infantrymen, even to this day.

The chapter opens with some general comments about Woundwort...pun intended.  We'll never know if Wouldwort 'made it' or not.  The dog certainly got more resistance than he'd likely bargained for.

Reading this passage closely, I have also realised that I missed another death in Episode 29, on death in WD, as the dog kills another Efrafan, beside the sentry it killed straight away and, presumably, Woundwort.  Before it leaves the Down it finds an Efrafan who was injured by glass on the way to WD and kills him.

You could surmise that Woundwort either made it or was wounded (almost a pun!) badly enough to have died somewhere a distance away.

When Woundwort is no longer there to lead, the Efrafans basically fall apart.

Most of the Efrafans manage to get away.  This effort is led by Campion who seems to be the 'Holly of Efrafa.'  He's the only reason why any of the Efrafans made it back and the going was not easy.  Rabbits basically disappear unaccounted for on the way back to Efrafa.  Unsurprisingly, this includes the dreaded Vervain.  All in all, only seven or eight rabbits make it back; a bit under one-third of the number that left Efrafa.

Some stay at WD and they immediately, and smartly, surrender.

Having successfully made it back to the warren after leading the farm dog there, Blackberry and Dandelion tell their version of events and let everyone else know what happened at Nuthanger Farm.  Being very loyal to Hazel, Pipkin wants to immediately head towards the farm and Fiver goes with him.  They soon see Hazel.  Naturally, Fiver stays with him while Pipkin goes back to WD to spread the happy news.

Hazel makes it back and immediately starts to gather information in order to size things up.  Once again, we see that Hazel possesses a kind of prudence that is a part of the way he leads.  He goes to see a very wounded Bigwig.  While Bigwig is hurt very badly, he does show enough humor to imitate Kehaar while asking if Woundwort "is finish".  Richard Adams is letting us know that he'll be okay.

Bigwig gets up and moves into the now "devastated Honeycomb" and aren't those words hard to bear?  The warren succeeded brilliantly and has not only survived but defeated Efrafa.  But even winning has its price.  It serves as a kind of 'great hall' for this warren.  So, it naturally stings a bit to hear about it being effectively destroyed as a sheltered large underground space.

The image used for this episode is supposed to reflect that devastation.

Hazel and Bigwig continue to talk and the latter gets caught up on the result of the second and final 'raid' on Nuthanger Farm.  He also learns how Hazel got back.  Hyzenthlay is nearby, hears this, and is suddenly reminded that she saw this in a very Fiver-like vision while she was still an Efrafan.

At the time a rabbit in a hrududu made no sense to her. Now it does.

We're very near the end of this book now.  Just a chapter and the epilogue away from the end.  Any closure that takes place can simply be enjoyed by the reader.

It's also somewhat bittersweet as the end of the story is just around the next bend in the run.