Watership Down, by Richard Adams (pub. 1972)
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Caution: potential spoilers.

The book was originally published three years before I was born. I've always wanted to read it, but I didn't get to it until 2016. (It's the kind of thing I would assume most people probably first read when they were kids, though some parts of the story are awfully dark, so I don't really see it as a children's book, despite listing it in my children's literature section.) In 1978, it was adapted into a British animated film. In 1996, Richard Adams published a sequel, a collection of short stories called "Tales from Watership Down," which I'd like to read sometime. In 1999-2001, there was a British animated TV series, which I've certainly never seen (and I don't know whether I'd have any interest in it). And in 2017, there will be a British/Irish/American animated miniseries, which I probably would like to see.

Anyway, the book is about rabbits. Some might call them "anthropomorphized," in the sense that the characters definitely have intelligence, and a language of their own, and their own sort of civilization. (We see a few of their words scattered throughout the book, usually with either footnotes or an explanation somewhere in the text itself, but there's also a handy glossary at the back of the book.) But they're still just rabbits, physically; I mean, they're not walking upright, they don't have humanlike features, or wear clothes, or use tools, or anything. They live like actual rabbits, though they do have humanlike personalities, and motivations beyond mere instinct (though they're believable rabbit motivations, rather than human ones). They even have their own sort of mythology, which I think is quite good. I mean, if you could imagine rabbits coming up with stories about how the world and all the creatures in it were made, they very well might be something like the mythology the author has created for them. Although, while the rabbits occasionally tell mythical stories throughout the book, they're not so much stories of gods, as of folk heroes. Their god, Frith (the sun), created the world and may play a part in some stories, but mainly the stories are about El-ahrairah (whom the author likens to Robin Hood or John Henry, or more aptly, Br'er Rabbit). I guess El-ahrairah was supposedly one of the first rabbits in the world, practically the progenitor of the entire species (though the stories don't say much about his wives). More importantly, he's a cunning trickster, which supposedly most rabbits aspire to be. But something I find interesting about these folk tales, is that some of them include things that could only exist in modern times. So perhaps he's immortal, but also I suspect modern rabbits, since they typically only live a few years, can't even conceive of a world much different than the one they live in. My assumption is that if they think of things like motor vehicles as part of the world as they know it (even if they're just "man things"), it would make sense for them to think humans had always used such things, and incorporate them into stories about rabbits like El-ahrairah, who presumably had lived long before those things existed. Anyway, I find it interesting to think about things like that. But that's not really important; the folk tales that rabbits tell are plenty interesting even without overthinking them.

Oh, and each chapter begins with a brief epigraph, which is a literary technique that rarely if ever means anything to me, when it's used in things I'm reading (or watching; I stopped bothering to read Grimm's epigraphs fairly early on). I'm afraid I usually don't manage to see any connection between epigraphs and the content of chapters (or episodes). And the actual story is much more interesting to me than the quotations, anyway (whether they're relevant or not).

Part I: The Journey
The story begins at a warren in Sandleford, England. There's a rabbit named Fiver, who seems to have the power of precognition, and he warns his friend Hazel of impending danger. Together, they warn the warren's Chief Rabbit, but he ignores them. So, Hazel and Fiver gather a number of rabbits and convince them to leave with the two of them, to seek a new home. I don't think all the rabbits who go with them are specifically mentioned by name in the book, but more are named than I feel the need to mention here. The most important of them is Bigwig, a strong rabbit who was a member of the warren's Owsla (which is a sort of inner circle of the most important rabbits, the strongest and/or most clever members of a warren). But several other rabbits will also be of importance throughout the book, in ways I probably won't specify. Anyway, they eventually find their way to a warren of rabbits who do things differently than they're used to, and it seems very strange to them. Fiver is quite nervous about it, but Hazel doesn't want to listen... until they discover a dark secret about the warren, and barely manage to escape. One member of that warren, a rabbit named Strawberry, joins them as they continue to search for a new home.

Part II: On Watership Down
The rabbits eventually find a hill several miles from Sandleford. (The name of the hill, in reality, is Watership Down, though the rabbits themselves don't call it that.) After they begin digging burrows to create their new warren, they start to call it "the Honeycomb." They're later joined by two rabbits from the Sandleford warren: Holly (captain of the Owsla), and Bluebell. The two relate the story of how their home warren was destroyed and they were the only survivors, which proves Fiver was right all along. Meanwhile, Hazel comes up with the idea of befriending animals other than rabbits. The first one is a mouse, but the most important one is a seagull named Kehaar. Anyway, after awhile, the rabbits realize they're going to need to get some does to join their new warren (as all the rabbits there now are bucks), otherwise there would be no new generations to keep the warren going. (The book is rather problematic in its treatment of females as existing solely to be mothers, though I do think at least one of the does we eventually meet is more important than that. I also feel I should mention that the accents of Kehaar and the mouse seemed potentially problematic to me, like they could be caricatures of foreign accents.) Hazel asks Kehaar to search for other rabbits who might join their warren. Kehaar tells him about a nearby farm that has a few rabbits in a hutch, as well as a large warren some ways off. While Holly leads an expedition to the other warren, Hazel implements his own plan to liberate the farm rabbits. Later, Holly returns with news of the other warren, which is called Efrafa, and is under the strict dictatorship of a Chief Rabbit called General Woundwort, and his Owsla. After finding Efrafa, Holly and his companions had barely managed to escape. Despite the dire warnings, Hazel (who by now had come to be seen as the Chief Rabbit of the Watership Down warren) decides they'll have to mount a more serious effort to infiltrate Efrafa and break out as many does as they can.

Part III: Efrafa
Hazel leads a group of rabbits to a location near Efrafa (but hopefully well-hidden from the Efrafan patrols). But they can't just attack Efrafa; that would be suicide. Instead, they come up with a plan that involves Bigwig becoming a member of the Efrafan Owsla, and secretly contacting some does in that warren. Meanwhile, Kehaar acts as a messenger between Bigwig and Hazel. The main doe that Bigwig meets is Hyzenthlay, who helps recruit other does to join him when the time comes to break out. (She also has a premonitory ability, like Fiver.) Aside from the does, Bigwig also decides to bring a buck named Blackavar with them, since he had become a very badly-treated prisoner after his own earlier escape attempt. Anyway, we get an idea of what life is like for most of the rabbits in Efrafa, and it's not pleasant. Eventually the time for the breakout comes, and it's very dramatic. I don't want to spoil any details, but I will say I liked the way a rainstorm played a role in adding to the drama of it all. (Plus, the buildup to the storm seemed to me to be nicely symbolic of the buildup to the escape, and that's coming from someone who doesn't always like symbolism in the stories I read.)

Part IV: Hazel-rah
("Rah" is a suffix applied to the names of chief rabbits.) After Hazel's rabbits return to the Honeycomb with the does and Blackavar, Kehaar leaves them, to migrate to the sea. (But he promises to return someday.) Later, the mouse Hazel had previously befriended mentions having seen some other rabbits nearby, so Hazel sends out scouts to investigate. They discover a party led by General Woundwort, preparing a surprise attack on their warren with the intention of retrieving the does (and of killing as many bucks as they can, especially Bigwig, whom Woundwort assumes is this warren's Chief Rabbit). The advance warning gives Hazel's rabbits time to come up with plans for defending the Honeycomb, as well as a very dangerous offensive gambit that I don't want to spoil. So... there's more drama, more excitement, more suspense... but ultimately a happy ending. And an epilogue that is absolutely perfect. (It's also interesting that we get a clear sense that some of the folk tales about El-ahrairah could really have a basis in the deeds of rabbits like Hazel. The fact that their generations are so short makes it easy to see how it wouldn't take long for real rabbits to be forgotten even while they pass into legend.) Anyway, the book is a really great adventure story (which would be even greater if the does weren't basically just MacGuffins).

Oh yeah, I also wanted to say that "silflay hraka" is my new favorite curse.