Hi! this is my first fic... and it's not really a fic, it's a homework assignment, but oh well!
Please give it your time, it's not very long, and I spent quite a while on it.
I read watership down for school and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much I bought the
sequal. It was my assignment to add an extra chapter to the book, so I have.
It follows the epilogue and I think it's pretty good, but I'd like a second... or third if I'm
lucky... opinion. I'm not sure if everything fits in perfectly, but I think I did a fairly nice job.
Please! some constructive critism would be very very helpful.
And tolerate the spelling, in notepad there's not very much you can do about it.
Enjoy! (and if you don't enjoy tell me why!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm a bit wiped, I think I should take a quick rest." Hazel had said earlier that
blustery March morning at silfay. No one thought
very much of it, Hazel was an old rabbit. He needed his sleep, nothing more. They never
thought Hazel to be mortal, certainly not the younger generations. The way that Dandilion
told the stories of the Sandleford rabbits' brushes with elil (and other unpleasentness within
their own species) Hazel was made an El-ahrairah like figure.
So a few hours later when Ivy, Hazel's oldest son, came into the honeycomb
tharn with the message "Hazel-rah... he's died." There was an uproar in the burrow. The
kittens stopped playing bob-stones, the does were silent, the bucks were mortified. Everyone
cried to Frith. But you couldn't feel the pain of loss unless you were there. Not there in that
room, but there when Hazel had showed his heroism. There when they left Sandleford. There
when he brought them to Watership Down. There when they rescued the does from the Efrafa.
Bigwig looked around the room at the rabbits in dissaray... They could not have
felt what he did. Certainly not. "Except maybe Hyzenthlay," he thought. She had been Hazel's
mate, (A/N I wasn't sure of this, but in the sequal "tales from watership down" it appeared to be
that way) and he had given her the life that she hadn't the capacity to dream of while in Efrafa. Now
it occured to her that she was the one and only chief rabbit. She didn't think that she could do
it, but she saw the teary eyes of the kittens looking to her for hope and she knew that Hazel
would have believed in her..
Not all of the rabbits from the older generation were still alive. Holly had died a few
months ago, as had Buckthorn, Bluebell and Speedwell. It had only been five weeks since Fiver's
passing. That winter had been hard on all of them.
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The whole warren was crying, and Hazel heard as he headed for the heavenly
Owsla.
"I thought you said that they'd be alright." he said to El-ahrairah sounding worried.
"They will be alright, Hazel, if you'd simply follow me I'll show you." El-ahrairah
replied kindly.
"I feel like I'm betraying them. leaving like this... can't I go back, my lord?"
"Hazel, every creature Frith created eventually has to leave the world." El-ahrairah
said wisely.
"Why, wouldn't it be wonderful if rabbits ran free of elil... That they were so many?"
"It's not that simple, Hazel. Elil die too, you know, so a world with more rabbits would
also be a world of more elil. We wouldn't all fit."
"But couldn't I prepare them for my departure? Let them know I was dying so that
they could plan out the aftermath? Who will take over after me?"
"I know that you worry about them, but you don't need to. Hyzenthlay will do a fine
job in running the warren, but she hasn't much life in her either. Your son Walnut will take
over after her and everything will be okay. Every great chief-rabbit goes through this. Even I did.
And as long as we have chiefs who care as much as you, rabbits will continue to multiply and
fill the earth." This finally satisfied Hazel and they went onward.
After about three hours of pleasant journeying the two rabbits reached the
heavens of Frith. "This is Prince Rainbow," El-ahrairah whispered to Hazel motioning toward the
tall, colourful creature before them.
"You're Hazel?" asked Prince Rainbow sounding rather snooty "Funny, I pictured
you a bit larger."
"You'd better watch out for that one there, Hazel. He's got it in for us rabbits." said
El-arairah.
"I know. Do you not think that we hear the stories of your great adventures? I know
of you and your clever plots. I know of King Darzin, The Black rabbit & Prince Rainbow." Hazel
said.
El-ahrairah grinned, as much as any rabbit truly can grin and said "Well, Hazel,
I'm sure you'll be very happy to meet Rabscuttle then."
A rabbit a good deal larger than El-ahrairah and himself came out from behind a
cloud. "So you must be Hazel!" he said sounding very happy. Hazel couldn't figure out for the life
of him why everyone was so excted about his arival. Hazel had simply been the leader of his
warren. He hadn't been the best fighter, the cleverest, or the one with the sixth sense for elil.
Hazel had simply been trusted.
The funny thing that had never occured to Hazel about this whole experience was
that El-ahrairah was in the heavens of Frith. He was supposed to travel from warren to warren
on earth... How could this be? That hit him after taking a tour of "The Great Warren"
Hazel thought it might be rather rude to ask El-ahrairah questions, "He obviously knows what
he's doing," Hazel reasoned, "besides, I'm finding it very nice here." Hazel lay back in the
burrow El-ahrairah had told him was his. It was very comfortable.
All his questions melted
away as he marveled at how wonderful his surroundings truly were. All natural colors
could be seen in one glance if you knew where to look. All wonderful tastes could be
tasted in one bite if you knew them to be real. All glorious smells could be taken in by one
whiff if you found them in relaxation. All beautiful sounds could be heard if you
were listening, but hushed if you weren't. All the feelings of softness surrounded you if you
reached out your paw. Hazel was in the heavens of frith, and these were all at the tip of his
paw.
He drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will Hazel ever ask his questions?
should I quit this and do the art project?
I thought that this was fairly charming, but I'm only in middle school, what do I know?
review, tell me, is this an A worthy addition to Watership Down? (for one so young and
un-knowingable?)
--Julee
Please give it your time, it's not very long, and I spent quite a while on it.
I read watership down for school and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much I bought the
sequal. It was my assignment to add an extra chapter to the book, so I have.
It follows the epilogue and I think it's pretty good, but I'd like a second... or third if I'm
lucky... opinion. I'm not sure if everything fits in perfectly, but I think I did a fairly nice job.
Please! some constructive critism would be very very helpful.
And tolerate the spelling, in notepad there's not very much you can do about it.
Enjoy! (and if you don't enjoy tell me why!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm a bit wiped, I think I should take a quick rest." Hazel had said earlier that
blustery March morning at silfay. No one thought
very much of it, Hazel was an old rabbit. He needed his sleep, nothing more. They never
thought Hazel to be mortal, certainly not the younger generations. The way that Dandilion
told the stories of the Sandleford rabbits' brushes with elil (and other unpleasentness within
their own species) Hazel was made an El-ahrairah like figure.
So a few hours later when Ivy, Hazel's oldest son, came into the honeycomb
tharn with the message "Hazel-rah... he's died." There was an uproar in the burrow. The
kittens stopped playing bob-stones, the does were silent, the bucks were mortified. Everyone
cried to Frith. But you couldn't feel the pain of loss unless you were there. Not there in that
room, but there when Hazel had showed his heroism. There when they left Sandleford. There
when he brought them to Watership Down. There when they rescued the does from the Efrafa.
Bigwig looked around the room at the rabbits in dissaray... They could not have
felt what he did. Certainly not. "Except maybe Hyzenthlay," he thought. She had been Hazel's
mate, (A/N I wasn't sure of this, but in the sequal "tales from watership down" it appeared to be
that way) and he had given her the life that she hadn't the capacity to dream of while in Efrafa. Now
it occured to her that she was the one and only chief rabbit. She didn't think that she could do
it, but she saw the teary eyes of the kittens looking to her for hope and she knew that Hazel
would have believed in her..
Not all of the rabbits from the older generation were still alive. Holly had died a few
months ago, as had Buckthorn, Bluebell and Speedwell. It had only been five weeks since Fiver's
passing. That winter had been hard on all of them.
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The whole warren was crying, and Hazel heard as he headed for the heavenly
Owsla.
"I thought you said that they'd be alright." he said to El-ahrairah sounding worried.
"They will be alright, Hazel, if you'd simply follow me I'll show you." El-ahrairah
replied kindly.
"I feel like I'm betraying them. leaving like this... can't I go back, my lord?"
"Hazel, every creature Frith created eventually has to leave the world." El-ahrairah
said wisely.
"Why, wouldn't it be wonderful if rabbits ran free of elil... That they were so many?"
"It's not that simple, Hazel. Elil die too, you know, so a world with more rabbits would
also be a world of more elil. We wouldn't all fit."
"But couldn't I prepare them for my departure? Let them know I was dying so that
they could plan out the aftermath? Who will take over after me?"
"I know that you worry about them, but you don't need to. Hyzenthlay will do a fine
job in running the warren, but she hasn't much life in her either. Your son Walnut will take
over after her and everything will be okay. Every great chief-rabbit goes through this. Even I did.
And as long as we have chiefs who care as much as you, rabbits will continue to multiply and
fill the earth." This finally satisfied Hazel and they went onward.
After about three hours of pleasant journeying the two rabbits reached the
heavens of Frith. "This is Prince Rainbow," El-ahrairah whispered to Hazel motioning toward the
tall, colourful creature before them.
"You're Hazel?" asked Prince Rainbow sounding rather snooty "Funny, I pictured
you a bit larger."
"You'd better watch out for that one there, Hazel. He's got it in for us rabbits." said
El-arairah.
"I know. Do you not think that we hear the stories of your great adventures? I know
of you and your clever plots. I know of King Darzin, The Black rabbit & Prince Rainbow." Hazel
said.
El-ahrairah grinned, as much as any rabbit truly can grin and said "Well, Hazel,
I'm sure you'll be very happy to meet Rabscuttle then."
A rabbit a good deal larger than El-ahrairah and himself came out from behind a
cloud. "So you must be Hazel!" he said sounding very happy. Hazel couldn't figure out for the life
of him why everyone was so excted about his arival. Hazel had simply been the leader of his
warren. He hadn't been the best fighter, the cleverest, or the one with the sixth sense for elil.
Hazel had simply been trusted.
The funny thing that had never occured to Hazel about this whole experience was
that El-ahrairah was in the heavens of Frith. He was supposed to travel from warren to warren
on earth... How could this be? That hit him after taking a tour of "The Great Warren"
Hazel thought it might be rather rude to ask El-ahrairah questions, "He obviously knows what
he's doing," Hazel reasoned, "besides, I'm finding it very nice here." Hazel lay back in the
burrow El-ahrairah had told him was his. It was very comfortable.
All his questions melted
away as he marveled at how wonderful his surroundings truly were. All natural colors
could be seen in one glance if you knew where to look. All wonderful tastes could be
tasted in one bite if you knew them to be real. All glorious smells could be taken in by one
whiff if you found them in relaxation. All beautiful sounds could be heard if you
were listening, but hushed if you weren't. All the feelings of softness surrounded you if you
reached out your paw. Hazel was in the heavens of frith, and these were all at the tip of his
paw.
He drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will Hazel ever ask his questions?
should I quit this and do the art project?
I thought that this was fairly charming, but I'm only in middle school, what do I know?
review, tell me, is this an A worthy addition to Watership Down? (for one so young and
un-knowingable?)
--Julee
