Re-post:
Yes, I finished! Totally done now. I was really surprised that this got as many reviews as it did. 4. Wow. I got an A+ and you all gave me the confidence to complete it. Thank you. You saved a middle school-er from a nervous breakdown brought on by a severe inferiority complex about her writing. I love you!!! So read it again and review. Make me cocky!
Hazel-rah and the Heavens of Frith
"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 Dandelion told the stories of the Sandleford rabbits' brushes with elil (and other unpleasantness 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 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, and 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… when they left Sandleford; when he brought them to Watership Down; when they rescued the does from the Efrafa.
Bigwig looked around the room at the rabbits in disarray... They could not have felt what he did. Certainly they couldn't have. "Except maybe Hyzenthlay," he admitted to himself. She had been Hazel's mate, and he had given her the life that she hadn't the capacity to dream of while in Efrafa. Now it occurred 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 Heavens of Frith.
"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 and when she dies your son Walnut will take over. 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, colorful 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, Hazel. He's doesn't like us rabbits very much." Said El-ahrairah.
"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 of Inle` and 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 excited about his arrival. 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 occurred 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? Such questions began to pop into his head while taking a tour of Frith's Warren. (The warren where the Owsla lived.)
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 identified them as such. 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 far enough. Hazel was in the Heavens of Frith, and these were all at the tip of his paw. Hazel wondered if this all were some spectacular dream. He eventually determined that it must be real. As he wondered how you could possibly dream in the Heavens of Frith he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Hazel went out of the ground for silfay and found a large pasture of grass in front of him where there had only been ground before. Hazel first thought to ask about this, but thought, "Why question my good fortune?" Then, as he bit into a small cowslip, he saw a rabbit running towards him.
"Hazel-rah! Hazel-rah!" called a small voice.
"Fiver? Fiver!" Hazel said surprised. "You're here? What about Holly, Buckthorn, Bluebell and Speedwell, are they here too?"
"Yes, Hazel. We've been waiting for you. We have our own set of burrows... just for us Watership Down rabbits!"
"But El-ahrairah... he gave me a burrow here... right off Frith's Warren..." Hazel said.
"Oh," Fiver said disappointed, "I guess we'll see you around then... I mean... if El-ahrairah said so..."
"Wait Fiver. I've had a few questions for El-ahrairah, I'll ask him what's up." Hazel said.
If his friends from Watership down were here he'd want to be with them, wouldn't he? When Hazel had first come with him he'd spoken of the Heavenly Owsla... What had happened to that? Why was El-ahrairah here in the first place? El-ahrairah said he would show him why he shouldn't worry about his rabbits... and he hadn't. All these things... they made no sense to Hazel.
"El-ahrairah!" Hazel called walking into the place El-ahrairah had showed him was his burrow.
"Hazel! How good of you to come visit me, what's on your mind?" El-ahrairah replied cheerfully
"I... uh... I have a few questions, but I don't want to be rude or intrusive..."
"It's no problem!"
"Okay, then... I saw a few of my friends... from Watership Down... Why am I not with them?"
"Well, Hazel. You are a chief rabbit and not just any chief rabbit... Come here, I've something to show you..." El-ahrairah said walking out a tunnel that lead from his burrow to above the ground. Hazel continued to follow the rabbit prince into the center of a town. Hazel had never seen a town before. He had heard of them in stories. They were places where humans would come with one thing and return with another... It made no sense to Hazel, and he marveled at the way that the buildings rose up like mountains from the streets. "This way Hazel," El-ahrairah called and they entered a building.
It was a rabbit's dream in that building. The walls were full of tunnels... a maze of them. They lead in every direction you could imagine and they were every color that was there when Frith had made the world. "Frith on a rainbow!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Pretty tremendous, isn't it Hazel?" El-ahrairah asked. All Hazel could do was nod. "This is where all rabbits come for what we need. The tunnels on the right take you to the best silfay locations; you should have lots of fun with that. I personally like that blue one over there. There are these beautiful mountains and a valley full of wild flowers and wonderful grass. That green one right over there is also nice, it has a beautiful abandoned human cottage with the loveliest vegetable garden that you've ever seen."
"Is that what you brought me here to see?" Hazel asked
"No, I'll take you there now… I'll have Rabscuttle give you the grand tour later. He spends much more time here than I." El-ahrairah said scampering up an indigo burrow. Hazel followed. First they made a right, then a left, then they went up then to the right again. Hazel found himself crawling through color spectrums of tunnels. He would never remember the path if he had to do this again. He also noticed that after a certain point El- ahrairah had punched in a code that had opened a door. "Only us chief rabbits are allowed past there. You push the red button then the green then the yellow. Finally after about an hour they reached the top of the building.
It was a bare place. It was not nearly as colorful as the building's interior. The only thing out of the ordinary that Hazel noticed was a light blue chute that a rabbit could never slide down through. "El-ahrairah, I think it'd be some task to get down from here. That chute may have worked for me when I was a kitten, but certainly not now.
"That's not for sliding, Hazel. That's for looking. Walk over there Hazel. Look into that chute. What do you see?"
Hazel did as he was told and glanced down the chute. He was surprised when he saw his warren. He could see everyone; they were out at silfay. He looked to the right and saw Hyzenthlay and Blackberry down by Nuthanger Farm. They were collecting bits of sheep's wool. He watched them carry it back to the winter burrows. They stuffed it into them. Hazel noticed that the entire burrows had been lined in the wool.
"We lost too many to the cold last winter." Blackberry said, "Won't happen again."
Hazel was elated. Even without him his warren continued to be innovative in ways to protect themselves from all things deadly. He looked up at El- ahrairah. "This is a great thing!" he said, "I'd like to have one in my burrow."
"How about one in your head?" El-ahrairah asked. "It's my gift to you Hazel. Any time you feel the need to look at your rabbits it'll be in your head. You'll learn to call upon it."
Hazel could already sense it. He tried to call upon it once and found it was very easy. "My lord? Thank you! And… uh… for conversations sake… what do you see when you look into this?" he asked
"Why all the rabbits on earth of course!"
"And, uh… sir… Well, there's always been a legend… Among my rabbits, anyhow, that you visit earthly warrens. That you have eternal youth… Are these true? I mean you are here in the Heavens of Frith…"
"Yes, Hazel. There is truth to that. I am the only rabbit that can leave the Heavens of Frith. I visit the earth often, and I typically leave things to Rabscuttle. Rabscuttle is the finest head of the Owsla that there ever was, but heading the Owsla and heading a warren, those are two different things. He's not very good at being Chief Rabbit, I'm afraid. He's a bit too gruff… Like your Bigwig. You can be gruff with the Owsla, not with the Does. As a result I don't travel to earth very much. I'd like to. The leaders who don't visit their descendents end up in The Land of Yesterday, you know. I just haven't found any other rabbit I can trust with the job."
"That's a shame," Hazel said.
"Hazel, I don't give everyone a tour of the heavens like I have given to you. In fact I hardly ever bring my rabbits to the heavens personally. Every creature comes here when they die. Think of how many rabbits the world has in it. Hazel, have you found it kind of odd how everyone knows your name?"
"Yes… I do find it weird."
"I've been telling them about you since you were born. I've been watching you, Hazel. You have all the good characteristics of a leader. Everyone knows you because everyone knows that you are the one who I've recruited."
"Me? Recruited for what?" Hazel asked, shocked.
"You will be chief rabbit when I'm not around, I'd like to go to earth more. I'd like to visit your warren and many others. I beg of you please take the job. I offer most chief rabbits a chance to stay with their warren or join the Owsla, but I'm afraid I can't do that here, Hazel. I know you love your rabbits more than anything, you can see them whenever you like. Hyzenthlay can stay in your burrow when she comes. I'd like to set off now; I'll send her up. It's her time… Well that all is if you're okay with it. They all trust you. The Owsla and Rabscuttle have been preparing for you to come since you left Sandleford. Are you ready, Hazel?"
"Yes, my Lord." Hazel said as they set out down the tunnels and through the town for Frith's Warren.
So that is how it was. Hazel took El-ahrairah's job as chief rabbit as he visited the warrens on earth. Hyzenthlay had come to help Hazel when El- ahrairah had sent her up. She hadn't left Hazel's side. Hazel and Rabscuttle became very close. In fact, Hazel had become close with all of the Owsla. He was as close with them as he had been with his and Bigwig's own Owsla. Bigwig got slightly jealous of Rabscuttle for this, but after a while they became good friends and Bigwig started to look up to him. When El-ahrairah would come back to the Heavens of Frith, Hazel and Hyzenthlay would go stay in the fabulous burrow that had been dug for them a while back by the rabbits that they loved so much- the rabbits of Watership Down.
THE END
R&R
Yes, I finished! Totally done now. I was really surprised that this got as many reviews as it did. 4. Wow. I got an A+ and you all gave me the confidence to complete it. Thank you. You saved a middle school-er from a nervous breakdown brought on by a severe inferiority complex about her writing. I love you!!! So read it again and review. Make me cocky!
Hazel-rah and the Heavens of Frith
"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 Dandelion told the stories of the Sandleford rabbits' brushes with elil (and other unpleasantness 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 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, and 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… when they left Sandleford; when he brought them to Watership Down; when they rescued the does from the Efrafa.
Bigwig looked around the room at the rabbits in disarray... They could not have felt what he did. Certainly they couldn't have. "Except maybe Hyzenthlay," he admitted to himself. She had been Hazel's mate, and he had given her the life that she hadn't the capacity to dream of while in Efrafa. Now it occurred 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 Heavens of Frith.
"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 and when she dies your son Walnut will take over. 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, colorful 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, Hazel. He's doesn't like us rabbits very much." Said El-ahrairah.
"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 of Inle` and 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 excited about his arrival. 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 occurred 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? Such questions began to pop into his head while taking a tour of Frith's Warren. (The warren where the Owsla lived.)
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 identified them as such. 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 far enough. Hazel was in the Heavens of Frith, and these were all at the tip of his paw. Hazel wondered if this all were some spectacular dream. He eventually determined that it must be real. As he wondered how you could possibly dream in the Heavens of Frith he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Hazel went out of the ground for silfay and found a large pasture of grass in front of him where there had only been ground before. Hazel first thought to ask about this, but thought, "Why question my good fortune?" Then, as he bit into a small cowslip, he saw a rabbit running towards him.
"Hazel-rah! Hazel-rah!" called a small voice.
"Fiver? Fiver!" Hazel said surprised. "You're here? What about Holly, Buckthorn, Bluebell and Speedwell, are they here too?"
"Yes, Hazel. We've been waiting for you. We have our own set of burrows... just for us Watership Down rabbits!"
"But El-ahrairah... he gave me a burrow here... right off Frith's Warren..." Hazel said.
"Oh," Fiver said disappointed, "I guess we'll see you around then... I mean... if El-ahrairah said so..."
"Wait Fiver. I've had a few questions for El-ahrairah, I'll ask him what's up." Hazel said.
If his friends from Watership down were here he'd want to be with them, wouldn't he? When Hazel had first come with him he'd spoken of the Heavenly Owsla... What had happened to that? Why was El-ahrairah here in the first place? El-ahrairah said he would show him why he shouldn't worry about his rabbits... and he hadn't. All these things... they made no sense to Hazel.
"El-ahrairah!" Hazel called walking into the place El-ahrairah had showed him was his burrow.
"Hazel! How good of you to come visit me, what's on your mind?" El-ahrairah replied cheerfully
"I... uh... I have a few questions, but I don't want to be rude or intrusive..."
"It's no problem!"
"Okay, then... I saw a few of my friends... from Watership Down... Why am I not with them?"
"Well, Hazel. You are a chief rabbit and not just any chief rabbit... Come here, I've something to show you..." El-ahrairah said walking out a tunnel that lead from his burrow to above the ground. Hazel continued to follow the rabbit prince into the center of a town. Hazel had never seen a town before. He had heard of them in stories. They were places where humans would come with one thing and return with another... It made no sense to Hazel, and he marveled at the way that the buildings rose up like mountains from the streets. "This way Hazel," El-ahrairah called and they entered a building.
It was a rabbit's dream in that building. The walls were full of tunnels... a maze of them. They lead in every direction you could imagine and they were every color that was there when Frith had made the world. "Frith on a rainbow!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Pretty tremendous, isn't it Hazel?" El-ahrairah asked. All Hazel could do was nod. "This is where all rabbits come for what we need. The tunnels on the right take you to the best silfay locations; you should have lots of fun with that. I personally like that blue one over there. There are these beautiful mountains and a valley full of wild flowers and wonderful grass. That green one right over there is also nice, it has a beautiful abandoned human cottage with the loveliest vegetable garden that you've ever seen."
"Is that what you brought me here to see?" Hazel asked
"No, I'll take you there now… I'll have Rabscuttle give you the grand tour later. He spends much more time here than I." El-ahrairah said scampering up an indigo burrow. Hazel followed. First they made a right, then a left, then they went up then to the right again. Hazel found himself crawling through color spectrums of tunnels. He would never remember the path if he had to do this again. He also noticed that after a certain point El- ahrairah had punched in a code that had opened a door. "Only us chief rabbits are allowed past there. You push the red button then the green then the yellow. Finally after about an hour they reached the top of the building.
It was a bare place. It was not nearly as colorful as the building's interior. The only thing out of the ordinary that Hazel noticed was a light blue chute that a rabbit could never slide down through. "El-ahrairah, I think it'd be some task to get down from here. That chute may have worked for me when I was a kitten, but certainly not now.
"That's not for sliding, Hazel. That's for looking. Walk over there Hazel. Look into that chute. What do you see?"
Hazel did as he was told and glanced down the chute. He was surprised when he saw his warren. He could see everyone; they were out at silfay. He looked to the right and saw Hyzenthlay and Blackberry down by Nuthanger Farm. They were collecting bits of sheep's wool. He watched them carry it back to the winter burrows. They stuffed it into them. Hazel noticed that the entire burrows had been lined in the wool.
"We lost too many to the cold last winter." Blackberry said, "Won't happen again."
Hazel was elated. Even without him his warren continued to be innovative in ways to protect themselves from all things deadly. He looked up at El- ahrairah. "This is a great thing!" he said, "I'd like to have one in my burrow."
"How about one in your head?" El-ahrairah asked. "It's my gift to you Hazel. Any time you feel the need to look at your rabbits it'll be in your head. You'll learn to call upon it."
Hazel could already sense it. He tried to call upon it once and found it was very easy. "My lord? Thank you! And… uh… for conversations sake… what do you see when you look into this?" he asked
"Why all the rabbits on earth of course!"
"And, uh… sir… Well, there's always been a legend… Among my rabbits, anyhow, that you visit earthly warrens. That you have eternal youth… Are these true? I mean you are here in the Heavens of Frith…"
"Yes, Hazel. There is truth to that. I am the only rabbit that can leave the Heavens of Frith. I visit the earth often, and I typically leave things to Rabscuttle. Rabscuttle is the finest head of the Owsla that there ever was, but heading the Owsla and heading a warren, those are two different things. He's not very good at being Chief Rabbit, I'm afraid. He's a bit too gruff… Like your Bigwig. You can be gruff with the Owsla, not with the Does. As a result I don't travel to earth very much. I'd like to. The leaders who don't visit their descendents end up in The Land of Yesterday, you know. I just haven't found any other rabbit I can trust with the job."
"That's a shame," Hazel said.
"Hazel, I don't give everyone a tour of the heavens like I have given to you. In fact I hardly ever bring my rabbits to the heavens personally. Every creature comes here when they die. Think of how many rabbits the world has in it. Hazel, have you found it kind of odd how everyone knows your name?"
"Yes… I do find it weird."
"I've been telling them about you since you were born. I've been watching you, Hazel. You have all the good characteristics of a leader. Everyone knows you because everyone knows that you are the one who I've recruited."
"Me? Recruited for what?" Hazel asked, shocked.
"You will be chief rabbit when I'm not around, I'd like to go to earth more. I'd like to visit your warren and many others. I beg of you please take the job. I offer most chief rabbits a chance to stay with their warren or join the Owsla, but I'm afraid I can't do that here, Hazel. I know you love your rabbits more than anything, you can see them whenever you like. Hyzenthlay can stay in your burrow when she comes. I'd like to set off now; I'll send her up. It's her time… Well that all is if you're okay with it. They all trust you. The Owsla and Rabscuttle have been preparing for you to come since you left Sandleford. Are you ready, Hazel?"
"Yes, my Lord." Hazel said as they set out down the tunnels and through the town for Frith's Warren.
So that is how it was. Hazel took El-ahrairah's job as chief rabbit as he visited the warrens on earth. Hyzenthlay had come to help Hazel when El- ahrairah had sent her up. She hadn't left Hazel's side. Hazel and Rabscuttle became very close. In fact, Hazel had become close with all of the Owsla. He was as close with them as he had been with his and Bigwig's own Owsla. Bigwig got slightly jealous of Rabscuttle for this, but after a while they became good friends and Bigwig started to look up to him. When El-ahrairah would come back to the Heavens of Frith, Hazel and Hyzenthlay would go stay in the fabulous burrow that had been dug for them a while back by the rabbits that they loved so much- the rabbits of Watership Down.
THE END
R&R