34: Chapter 34. General Woundwort 

Scripted by John Ruths and Newell Fisher

The opening quotation is by the Prussian military tactician Carl von Clausewitz. It refers to the importance of a strong leader in any military enterprise. Because that is exactly what Efrafa is really. For the first time, we join General Woundwort in the present. We learn, almost straight away, about how hard Woundwort's life has been. Having seen his mother killed by a weasel in front of him, his rescue by the schoolmaster results in his almost killing his cat, when it tries tormenting him. Soon Woundwort escapes from the hutch he is kept in, survives on his own in the wild with no apparent problems, then forces his way into a warren, taking it over and killing the former Chief Rabbit and another rival. He departs the warren that he took over and already recognizes that he needs a bigger, better place to grow his powerbase. Wouldwort basically founded Efrafa with pretty minimal experience. He turns out to be a leader to be both feared and looked up to. He believes in the strength of numbers, forcing those attempting to leave to come back, which is seemingly unusual in the world of rabbits. He is intelligent, cunning, determined, and recognises talent. He exploits all of these things and selects rabbits for the Council based on what they can do for the warren. And he's also created a tiered social system where the best rabbits will likely be motivated for some upward mobility. Good ideas continue to surface and this is how Wide Patrols come into being. You could say that loyalty and fear are his main two methods. But where loyalty ends, fear will also do the job. Really, Woundwort's and the Council's initial ideas worked well and helped lead them to where they are now. But Efrafa is now overcrowded, as a result of his obsession with strength in numbers. Individual freedoms are traded for security, as happens in human societies all the time. This does nothing good for morale among the rank and file, and especially the does, who don't really get the social benefits that the Owsla, Council, and Owslafa, or Council Police, benefit from. Additionally, the Owsla are not, now, enjoying their normal prestige and there is a shortage of rabbits who might fill in. This is primarily because the tiered social system of Efrafa is also breaking down. Lack of freedom tends not to produce people with initiative. Yet this is exactly the trait that is needed for new recruits capable of getting into the Owsla. To make things even worse, the getaway of the WD Party, and the recent death of an Owsla Captain, due to Bigwig's actions with a fox, have made things worse. Woundwort knows that there is a large band of rabbits out there but beyond the Iron Road. So, our heroes are now a big issue for Woundwort and he has very limited information on them. He's not used to this. And then a stranger arrives, who we know to be Bigwig. Interestingly, I think that, in all his dealings with Efrafa, he is referred to as Thlayli, his name in Lapine. To rabbits in the story, this distinction would not exist, but it is an interesting subtlety for the reader. We are now well into the chapter, and we ended the last one with Bigwig heading out, so his re-introduction to the reader in this way is nicely done. During this chapter we are told none of Bigwig's internal monologue, Only Woundwort's. Bigwig is allowed to remain a mystery for just this one chapter. The Efrafans are somewhat, almost comically, taken aback. Here comes this sizable buck with a few battle scars who WANTS to join Efrafa. Bigwig almost has the Efrafans over a barrel. Of course they're going to take him! What they don't know yet is that Thlayli is here to work from the inside and take away as many does as he can. He's not only a spy, but a spy on a mission! The chapter ends with Bigwig having just received his scratch to join him to the Near Hind Mark within the warren.

31: Chapter 31. The Story of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé The opening quotation, from the poem 'Prospice' by Robert Browning, is on the theme of almost looking forward to death as a way of facing it. The story opens with the fairly predictable premise of King Darzin learning of how he was fooled into giving away his lettuces by El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle. There is an escalation, starting with the capture of Rabscuttle by Darzin. The rescue of Rabscuttle provokes Darzin into all out war against El-ahrairah's people. Their attack on the burrows is easily repelled. So the conflict quickly settles into a siege. Eventually the siege drives El-ahrairah to such despair that he cries to Frith that he would drive a bargain with anyone just to save them. Even Death itself. El-ahrairah decides to go to the Black Rabbit and offer him his life in exchange for those of his people. He decides to take Rabscuttle with him as a Messenger. Their journey to the realm of the Black Rabbit is explained in mystical terms, has no one can know how it was undertaken. Eventually they came to a "high place" with no grass. At last they reach a burrow tunnelled into the rock itself. They are about to enter this tunnel, when they realise that what they thought was part of the rock is actually the Black Rabbit of Inlè. The Black Rabbit asks them what they are doing there, as they are alive. When El-ahrairah explains that he has come to trade his life for those of his people, the Black Rabbit replies that there are no bargains to be had with him. The Black Rabbit makes it clear that they are his guests and offers to "entertain" them. First El-ahrairah dices with death, or at least the rabbit equivalent, in a game of Bobstones. Of course, he loses. And the price of that loss is for the Owsla take away his tail and whiskers painfully. The next day they go to see the Black Rabbit again as if nothing has happened. He repeats that they are free to go at anytime. He says that if they are going to stay then they should both tell a story. Of course this becomes a competition, with El-ahrairah proposing the same stakes as before. Only this time he will pay with his ears. This time he is mutilated while in a deep sleep, and when he wakes his ears are gone. A weeping Rabscuttle begs for them to leave, but El-ahrairah again refuses, telling him to fetch two dock leaves switch to replace his ears. El-ahrairah realises that the Black Rabbits Owsla can only hurt him with his consent and has no power to make him leave. He comes across a place guarded by Owsla who try to turn him away with fear. They point out in particular nearby burrow in which is kept the "white-blindness", or myxomatosis. Without giving himself time to think, El-ahrairah jumps into that Burrow in an attempt to catch the disease, so he can take it back and infect King Darzin's troops. He begins to make his way out of the Warren and is met by the Black Rabbit who delivers the final blow by pointing out that the White Blindness is transmitted by fleas that live in rabbit's ears, which El-ahrairah no longer has. El-ahrairah is finally defeated and knows it. The Black Rabbit acknowledges the courage of El-ahrairah, as well as the fact that he is a nuisance, and sends his terrible Owsla to frighten away the troops of King Darzin. We are told that the journey of El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle back to their own Warren takes three months, yet the Warren that El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle arrive back at is larger than they remember. All the rabbits who fought King Darzin's troops are old and the young rabbits of the Warren know little of the fighting that took place and care even less. In fact some of them view it with contempt. El-ahrairah is joined by Lord Frith himself.Frith gives El-ahrairah a new tail, whiskers and ears lit by a little starlight. Just as Frith is about to reward Rabscuttle as well, the story is interrupted by Pipkin, who has spotted a fox.