"We prosper.
"Raise your noses to the scent of the morning dew on the breeze; the sweet smell of the grass baking in the heat of Frith's warm glow. Turn your ears to the sounds of the world, children of El'ahrairah. Press your paws into the soft earth and feel the life of the world flowing through you. Open your beating hearts to the beating of the hearts of your brethren.
"We are rabbits. Today, we celebrate our lives, and remember the lives of those who have stopped running; the lives of those who have stopped running along the path that lead us to this day.
"In the runs, we lost them; to the teeth and claws of General Woundwort, the Black Rabbit's own gatekeeper. Woundwort, whose memory still haunts us like a wraith straight out of Inlé. In the fields, we lost them. To the homba, who roam over the grass on padded feet, throats forever aching with an insatiable thirst for our blood, teeth that glisten sharply and reflect the light of a rabbit's eyes. In the woods, we lost them; to madly running dogs and lendri with blood-red lips, to hungrily rushing water and the echoing, deafening silence of paralyzing fear that stole the air from our lungs.
"In the safety of a care-worn burrow, we lost them; to the unspeakable horror that crashed down upon us like breaking thunder. The men with guns and the cloying scent that turned the very air to poison. The terrible beast of blind fear that chased us with claws extended to catch at the fur of our tails; the beast who's snapping teeth we escaped in the dark of night with a sigh and a whisper and the hushed ramblings of a rabbit wiser than his years.
"And in the memory of our comrades – our brethren in blood and in spirit – who stopped running before we reached the safety of a warm burrow, we prosper. We live on, defying the very Thousand that growl and hiss and scratch and tear and claw and snap at us every chance they get. We live on. Our kits, embodiments of our flesh and our blood and our cunning spirit live on beside us, blessedly free of the turmoil and dissent that gave birth to this warren. We populate the world with our kin as El'ahrairah wished us to; we impress upon the universe our undying image of determination, never to be snuffed out or forgotten by those who would destroy us. By those who would take our place.
"We fought. Tooth and claw we fought; for the very soil we sit upon today, soaked with the lifeblood of our comrades and our foes is our reward. This soil, so much more than that, is ours. We will defend it, as we have in the past, with our very lives. This warren will live on, even when the brave souls who fought with me every moment it took to reach this place are gone. Even after I myself have stopped running.
"Today, we live. It has been four seasons since we braced ourselves for the inevitable, crushing impact of the General Woundwort's army, since we set our teeth and our claws and leapt forth to defend this warren. In the warm spring, we abandon our vigil for a moment to remember our quiet greatness, our determined persistence to live on in spite of The Thousand, in spite of a world set against us. We are rabbits. We prosper."
A/N: So this is another piece I wrote as an English assignment. If it wasn't apparent before, this is Hazel giving a speech at Watership Down the spring following the Efrafan attack on the warren. I know this is a bit too… eloquent? for Hazel; I was thinking maybe Dandelion and Blackberry helped him figure out how to word what he wanted to say. Constructive criticism is, as always, appreciated. ^^;
~Gypsy