Author's Note: The reason I made five hutch rabbits was after listening to a BBC radio drama of Watership Down, they renamed Haystack to Cornflower, which I don't mind at all, and I figured with two hutch rabbits caught, Laurel won't be lonely when recaptured and Boxwood can escape. Having two cats on the farm was used in the original novel, and in the Netflix series, the orange cat is named Puss by the farmer's wife when reading the subtitles on screen, so what the heck, I'll give them two cats that will pose a problem for Hazel and friends. I discovered storyboard sketches from the Watership Down miniseries where the farmer's wife is named Winnifred/Winnie. As for the two farmhands, one of them was called John in the original 1978 movie who shot Hazel, and the name Billy came from an older radio theatre drama for Watership Down as the farmer who shoots Hazel.
Enjoy!
It was late that night when every rabbit, including Kehaar and Hannah, were sleeping peacefully in their newly dug up burrows until Lily, who shared a burrow with Bigwig for obvious reasons, cocked an ear when she overheard two rabbits talking in one of the burrows. She recognized the voices belonged to Hazel and Fiver, as the two brothers were engaged in private conversation.
"I want her free, but Bigwig is right. The fear is taking all of me." Hazel was talking about Clover, and his failure to free her from that hutch of a prison.
"What are you afraid of, brother?" asked Fiver.
"It's Holly, ever since he told me about what the humans did to the old warren, I've not been able to stop thinking about it. It follows me into my dreams. What if it breaks me?"
"I'll just have to put you back together again."
Lily smiled warmly at the younger brother's solace toward his elder brother. She wished of having a sister of her own to share secrets with or comfort her when there's trouble.
After a moment of silence, Hazel suggested, "I'd feel a lot better about going back in there if you'd see something."
"No, I don't want to go beyond anymore," Fiver refused. "Just as the weight of knowing what's past is crushing you, so am I crushed, by the weight of knowing what may become."
"All right," Hazel apologized. "I'm sorry."
"If I ask you of this, you'll never ask me again..." Fiver said, his voice oddly calm. "Leave me."
All of a sudden, Lily could hear Fiver drawing in a sharp gasp and started to moan in agony. The doe grew concerned, even though she knew the visions started in Fiver's head. If only she knew what vision he predicted, it would make her feel better. She was glad his voice didn't awaken the entire warren, probably every rabbit here is a heavy sleeper.
Fiver had suddenly fallen to the ground when a familiar chill entered him, causing him to moan and gasp in agony, and ignoring his older brother's concerned words. When the runt gradually opened his eyes, he found himself in a forest; the forest of his mind. Trees all around him took on a menacing form, dark shadows lurking within the forest. No sign of any creature nor any sound, for the moment. Fiver looked around, cautiously. He discovered multiple coils of rope shooting out of the darkness to nowhere in contact. Then, the runt found himself in the path of a red car slowly ploughing its way toward him. At first, Fiver believed the car was going to run him down. Fortunately, it didn't because it passed over his small form. He looked up to see a mysterious rabbit in the back of the car, his tiny paws pressed against the window. A strange light from behind caught his attention. Fiver stared at a pile of shards, gradually revealed to be broken china vase. The fragments reform themselves into the vase and reassemble as it lifted itself up in the air, just as a harsh female voice sounded off, "What have you done now?!" Fiver couldn't tell whose voice that belonged to. Suddenly visions of Clover and the hutch rabbits approached him, running past him in slow motion. Then came a gunshot, startling Fiver so much that he tumbled over in a small ditch. His paws felt something wet and warm. He looked at his paw and his eyes widened in horror. It was blood. Tiny raindrops of blood landed on his stained paw. Fiver turned to look up at the misty grayish black sky, where an old drain pipe surrounded by thick branches hovered over his head. A rabbit lie in the drain pipe, bleeding terribly. Fiver couldn't identify who the rabbit is, but he understood at once the mystery rabbit had been shot.
After what seemed like forever, Fiver ceased his moaning and groaning when Hazel managed to snap him out of it. "Fiver? FIVER! It's alright. What did you see?"
"I don't know... I don't..." Fiver stammered, seemingly trying to relax. "I couldn't see clearly enough."
"Just answer me this, if we go back, will we get the does out of there?"
There was a brief pause of silence, but then Fiver responded, "Yes."
Hazel breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, Fiver. Now go and sleep." There was a movement of rustling and then Hazel's voice added in a sly tone, "It's going to be a busy night."
Lily's eyebrows lowered. Her leader was creating a secret plot, and Fiver knew something that he wouldn't confide in his brother about. If the hutch rabbits were freed, there would be a devastating consequence to their farm raid. Instincts told Lily to go help Hazel in his secret midnight plan. Casting one last glance at the dozing Bigwig, she tiptoed out of her burrow and her movement startled Hazel for a moment.
"Oh! Lily, why are you awake?" he asked.
"I'm coming with you," she replied.
"Uhhh, to where?" Hazel pretended that he had no idea of what she talked about.
"To Nuthanger Farm," Lily responded, her brows furrowed. "I'm going to help you free those does. You can't do it alone."
"I appreciate your help, Lily, but you are not coming. I can't have you doing something foolish and Bigwigish." Hazel refused, trying to sound mature and stern at her.
"Frith forbid." Then, Lily scowled with a very serious frown. "Listen Hazel, I know what you're doing and who knows what will happen when you go to the farm. You sound like the kind of rabbit who would do something foolish and Bigwigish." She watched him gawk at her, appalled. "So like it or not, I'm coming with you. To keep you out of trouble. Besides, I have grown up on a farm, so I might know some things on how to get in or out of it.
There was no use arguing with her as the doe proved her point. Hazel realized that he had no other choice but allowed Lily to join his midnight raid. "All right, you can come," he relented.
Satisfied, Lily calmly walked out of the burrow.
Once outside the warren, Hazel halted to give the doe a stern lecture, "But you need to be extremely careful. We need to be wary of cats, dogs or humans. You got it?"
Lily nodded in understanding.
After trotting down the hill, Hazel felt that perhaps given Lily's experience of living on a farm, it could be useful, just so long as nothing will go wrong. However, he disliked her accusing him of doing things foolish and Bigwigish.
No sooner had the two rabbits left Watership Down, Bigwig had woken up to find no warmth of his beloved doe's body beside him. Eyes shot open in alarm, believing something bad happened to her. Catching a whiff of her scent, it lead him out of his burrow to Hazel's and Fiver's burrow, where the runt made anxious groaning sounds in his sleep.
"Fiver, wake up!" the lion buck demanded, shaking the runt roughly to awaken him. "Where's Hazel? And where's Lily?"
Before Fiver could answer, his vision repeated as if he was in pain. "Run fast, run hard! The Black Rabbit races across the yard... a noise... blood spilling!"
Again, those words left Bigwig in a dreaded shock, but he kept his poker face on. "Does that have anything to do with Hazel and Lily?"
"I... I don't know..." Fiver sighed, "but I fear there will be danger when he-"
"HE WHAT?!" Bigwig's eyes blazed savagely as he cornered the runt back against the wall, interrogating him. "Where did he go?"
"To the farm!" blurted Fiver, thankfully not loud enough to wake up the other rabbits. "I had a vision of broken human objects... a gun... the hutch rabbits running past me... long pieces of rope come shooting out of nowhere... blood dripping from an open hole where a rabbit lies inside!"
"And you didn't say one word of this to Hazel or Lily?!" Bigwig scorned, his emotions grasping at him if either Lily or Hazel was the mystery rabbit in the hole, probably bleeding to death.
"I never want to go beyond anymore! The weight of knowing what's past is crushing him, so I am crushed as well, by the weight of knowing what may become!" Fiver exclaimed, as he repeated what he told his older brother. "And I don't know if the bleeding rabbit in the hole is either Hazel or... wait a second, Lily is gone?"
"Ugh! Just like all your visions, clear as mud!" Bigwig grunted, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Why did Hazel do it? What leader risks his life and others for nothing?"
"Not for nothing, but for Clover."
It was now Bigwig realized the reason for Hazel's reckless actions: his love for Clover. He's risking everything to free Clover and the does to ensure everyone's futures, especially his own future with Clover. Bigwig would have criticized Hazel's actions, but he thought back to his own selfish actions in the name of love when it comes to Lily. He risked everything to protect her, but he behaved like a possessive and jealous monster trying to keep her for himself. Luckily, Bigwig had seen the light when the mist lifted at Cowslip's warren. She risked everything to save his life in the name of love, and he was forever grateful to her.
"We must go after them," suggested Fiver.
"You're right." Bigwig nodded, his eyes gleamed in determination.
Arriving at Nuthanger farm, Hazel and Lily snuck past the open gate and entered the yard. No cats, so far. The two dogs snored in their kennels. Finding the shed where Hazel found the hutch rabbits, the two rabbits were stunned to find the cage, where the does were contained, gone.
"What the f-" Hazel came close to a curse.
"Watch your language!" Lily scolded.
Climbing inside an empty hutch box, Hazel and Lily found the door open and started sniffing the floor to find Clover's scent or the others. There was no scent. Looking around, the two rabbits discovered the cage containing the hutch rabbits has been moved into a greenhouse inside the house. Leaving the shed, both rabbits peeked in through the glass of the greenhouse. Their suspicions were correct; Clover and the does were inside their hutch. Tiptoeing past where the sleeping dogs lay, Lily gestured him to follow her to the small doggie door, creeping inside that brought them to a kitchen.
Inside the house, Lily is aware of her surroundings of where to go and figuring out where to find the greenhouse, whilst Hazel remained deeply wary. Five sets of shoes were set in place by the door beneath several coats or jackets. The humans who live in the house are known in the human world as the Cane family; the head farmer called Tom, his wife whom was called Winnifred, their only child is known by all as Lucy, and the two farmhands called John and Billy were outside finishing their remainder of the day's work before retiring for the night.
A strange music played on a nearby television in the living room, where Winnifred sat in a comfy chair to doze. In the kitchen, Lily carefully backed away from a knife that stuck on the cutting board on top of the refrigerator which stood dangerously close the ledge, and Hazel gasped in horror at the picture of a dead, skinned rabbit hanging upside down.
"That is so disturbing." Lily pitied the little girl and grew disgusted at the parents for portraying such a photo when they have a child who keeps hutch rabbits, it's as if they're reminding her how they don't care about how she felt about her pets.
The farmer's wife snored loudly on the chair, having fallen asleep watching a black and white drama on the television. Puss and Tabitha were sound asleep in a basket by the warm fireplace, large enough to fit two of them as they snuggled together side by side. Keeping silent as ever, Hazel and Lily crept passed the cats to reach the greenhouse, but a slight bit of noise by the creaking floor woke up the surprised cats, who at first couldn't see anything around them.
Entering the greenhouse, Hazel ecstatically rushed toward the cage where Clover, who had slept until she woke up at the presence of familiar rabbits. Lily's tail wagged happily upon catching Clover's scent. The rest of the rabbits inside the box woke up to their arrival.
"Well, you just keep coming back, don't you?" Clover smiled.
"Well I suppose I must like you a little bit," Hazel replied, affectionately placing his nose at the cage wires to touch Clover's nose.
"Hello, Clover," Lily greeted, excitedly. "It's so good to see you again."
"Lily, I'm so glad you came back!" exclaimed Clover, her tail wagging excitedly.
Hazel interrupted as he wanted to cut to the chase. "I take it then you're in here because of what we did to the door."
"The woman pushed pieces of metal pegs in to hold it in place," Clover explained. "If you can get them out and we push it from inside, I think it will give."
Working together, Hazel and Lily removed the metal nails from the pegs easily.
"It's out." Hazel nodded.
"On the count of three, you does push the door open," Lily ordered.
"After three... one... two... three!" Clover gave command to the four does in the hutch.
The does pushed against the door with all of their strength, and the door gives way just a bit, though the noise could have alerted the humans or the cats, but no one came into the greenhouse.
"Come on, Clover. It's time," Hazel urged.
Hesitating for a moment, Clover crawled out of the hutch door and approached the two wild rabbits.
"We need to move quickly," Hazel cautioned. "The human and the cats are in the room with a fire."
"Mostly, it's called a living room and the small fire is called a fireplace," Lily corrected, although Hazel stared at her confused.
The does came out of the cage shortly afterword, although they started to sniff and explore their surroundings.
"So, we're free now?" asked Clover, hopefully.
"Not quite, we have to get outside to the fields. This isn't freedom yet." Hazel stopped, noticing the hutch rabbits sniffing at the random objects in the greenhouse. "What the Frith are you doing? Laurel, try and concentrate!"
Suddenly, the does had gone tharn. There was only one explanation for it. Puss and Tabitha had shown up upon entering the greenhouse. They hissed and growled at the intruders, threateningly. And neither one of them didn't care when threatening the hutch rabbits included. Hazel and Lily stood protectively in front of the does.
Without hesitating, Puss pounced on Hazel, forcing him on his back, but the cunning rabbit used his back legs to kick her off. The cat lunged, but he missed when Hazel leapt aside. Hazel panted, the shock of the sudden ambush wearing off. Lily was about to make sure if he was alright, until Tabitha pounced and pinned the helpless Hazel to the floor. She hissed at the other does to stay back or she will kill him.
"Can you run?" Tabitha taunted, cruelly. "I think not... I think not." Her hiss combined to a sadistic chuckle.
"RAAAAAAWRRR!" a familiar battle cry erupted, catching the ferocious feline off guard. Just then, Bigwig appeared as he tackled the cat, knocking her right off the chief rabbit and shoving her against the wall. Fiver came in, soon after. Puss had come forward, angered at more intruders in his and Tabitha's territory. Bigwig snarled a warning to make him back off, like a rat does when feeling threatened.
"Bigwig!" Lily exclaimed, both she and Hazel relieved to see the lion buck and the young runt had arrived in time to rescue them.
"It's good to see you," added Hazel.
"Ah, well I can't let you have all the fun now, can I?" Bigwig stated, then he turned to the cats as Tabitha got back up on her feet and Puss stood beside her, scorning at the large rabbit, "You're not so tough when backed into a corner, are you?"
But Puss had a sneaky idea, so he used his feline agility to climb on a tall pile of boxes to reach a drawer, then he leaped on to the shelf full of splendid horse trophies and ribbons from past contests and to where a valuable china vase wobbled dangerously close to the edge.
"Oh no!" Fiver gasped in realization.
"Oh yes." Puss sneered, and when he spoke for the first time, his voice sounded a bit raspier and menacing, much worse than Tabitha.
"Everyone run, quick!" Bigwig ordered, urging every rabbit in the green house to make a run for it.
Tabitha did not chase after them, quick to deduce what her mate was up to as she leered evilly at the runaways, fully aware there is no escape for them. Smirking, the sly Puss uses his bottom to knock the vase off the shelf and the vase smashes to the floor into pieces. The broken shards from his vision, it was just like in Fiver's vision. It had come true, as Fiver deduced too late. The crash was loud enough to awaken the farmer's wife close by.
"Fiver, come on! What on earth are you doing?" Hazel shouted, snapping his little brother out of it in time.
From inside the living room, Winnifred woke up and shouted, "PUSS! What have you done now?" She correctly assumed her cat was responsible for breaking something as usual, until she found unwanted visitors rushing past her feet, taking the hutch rabbits with them. "OH! OH, MY GOD! LUCY, GET IN HERE! YOUR RABBITS HAVE GONE OUT AGAIN!"
The group of rabbits raced through the kitchen to reach the doggie door, only their path was blocked by the two farmhands entering the house the second loud noises and shouting reached their ears, at first assumed an intruder broke in. Instead, the farmhands grew surprised by what they discovered.
"Mrs. Cane, where did these wild rabbits come from?" questioned John.
"Lucy's rabbits have gone out! Let's get 'em quick!" added Billy.
Before either one of the men could reach down and grab the escapees, the rabbits took off. Luckily, Clover knew a different way out beside the doggie door. "This way!" she ordered, directing the rabbits to run into the hallway.
"Come here, you!" Winnifred had reached down and caught Cornflower by the scruff of her back, as the poor rabbit dangled helplessly in her grasp, which is not the right way to hold a rabbit. "Oh, I got you!"
Hazel glanced over her shoulder, shocked at losing one of the does to the humans. He knew that he didn't stand a chance of going back to save Cornflower because he couldn't fight a human. As for Lily, she feared for Cornflower but she understood the human child will never harm her hutch rabbits, but hoped these older humans don't even think of trying to harm the hutch rabbits.
While the rabbits bounded through hallway, Clover shouted, "Up here, quickly!" as she lead them to the staircase, just as the distant voices of humans began calling for the little girl to come help catch her escaping hutch rabbits, whilst the farmer's wife just complained about her broken vase.
Tabitha and Puss caught up to them as the gray tabby nearly caught Fiver through the bars of the staircase, but she missed as the rabbits hopped up the staircase and passed the bedrooms. Clover found Lucy's empty bedroom with an open window and jumped on the bed, heading for the window.
Lily briefly noticed the child's room was filled with not only stuff for little girls, but most of her toys happened to be stuffed bunnies. "Quite the rabbit lover, isn't she?" she chuckled.
"Less talk, more running!" Bigwig urged, as he kept a close eye on the snarling cats, making sure the rabbits made it to the window, but the rabbits screeched to a halt. The window lead to the roof of the greenhouse. There was no way to go.
"Everybody, jump!" Lily yelled, as she ushered the rabbits to go forward.
The rabbits leapt for the roof, but Puss pounced on Bigwig, engaging the lion buck in mortal combat. Tabitha leapt onto the bed, then pounced forward to catch the escapees, her claws unsheathed.
"Eat this, you beast!" Lily used her mouth to grab one of the toy bunnies and threw it in Tabitha's face like a dog tosses a rag doll, the impact knocked the cat off the bed and Lily rejoined her friends.
On the greenhouse rooftop, the rabbits started to slide down the slippery glass roof toward the edge. Down below, the two dogs woke up and growled viciously as they tried to catch Clover, who fell off the edge and grasped her claws to the ledge, hanging dangerously over two sets of teeth waiting to chomp her. Like the cats, neither of the dogs cared when attempting to harm their human owner's hutch rabbits.
"CLOVER!" Hazel cried in horror, immediately sliding down the glass roof to reach Clover and pulled her back up to safety.
There was a screech and an agitated cry when Bigwig was shoved on top of the roof, with Puss still trying to dig his claws and teeth in the rabbit's throat. Both adversaries came sliding down the roof and were about to come tumbling over the edge, where the two dogs continued to jump and snap their jaws at the rabbits stuck on top.
"Bigwig!" Lily called out to him, concerned.
However, Bigwig managed to use his strong hind legs to kick Puss off and hurling over the ledge, but in the process he accidently kicked the cat right into Fiver, who managed to land on the top of one of the dogs' roof kennels. The cat landed on his feet on the solid earth, but the dogs turned their attention on him, barking violently. Frightened, Puss fled the scene to avoid the dogs, though still tied to the kennels.
"Not so clever now, are you? You embleer pfeffa!" Bigwig cursed, mocking the scared-y cat before turning to the other rabbits. "Everyone scatter, quick!"
The rabbits leapt off the glass roof's ledge to reach the kennel rooftops, then jumped to the ground, making a run for it while the two dogs tried to snatch them. They barely missed the dogs' sharp teeth as they dashed across the farm yard, passing the open gate and out on the dirt road. Just then, the farmer's car drove up in attempt to stop them. Laurel suddenly goes tharn in front of the headlights, rooting her to the spot.
"Don't look into the light!" Hazel tried to snap her out of it.
And then, Winnifred came out of nowhere and reached down to grab Laurel. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed, picking her up and held the rabbit tightly to her bosom. As Tom Cane stepped out of the car and brandishing his shotgun, she warned, "Just make sure you don't shoot any of our Lucy's!"
"If they get shot, they get shot," Tom Cane scoffed, heartlessly. "They've been a blooming nuisance." He began shooting at the runaway rabbits, not caring one bit if he shoots the rest of Lucy's escaped rabbits and the gunshot briefly started his wife.
His words made Lily almost freeze in mortified shock. How could the farmer be so cruel to his own child's pet rabbits? How could Lucy live with such uncaring and unloving parents? She blocked out Bigwig's cries for her to keep running as he forcibly shoved her out of the spot where the bullet hit the gravel behind her. The rifle's shot brought her back to reality, tearing across the road to reach the field as they rushed farther in the distance, but another booming shot separated the rabbits from each other, terrifying them.
"Get into the ditches! Come on, now! Hide!" Hazel shouted.
Lily's ears pricked at the sound of the farmer's thick boots moving as he catches up to them as he continued shooting at the runaway rabbits. In the midst of the chaos, Hazel and Clover separated from their group. Hazel hid among the shadow of the bushes, watching the angry farmer searching for him to pass by. Suddenly, Tom Cane discovered the trembling Clover hiding in a bush. She couldn't duck low enough in such a poor hiding spot. Despite the darkness, he couldn't see if she was Lucy's rabbit or a wild rabbit, still not the least concerned whether he shot one of the escaped hutch rabbits. He loaded his gun and raised it in attempt to shoot her.
"CLOVER!" Hazel's voice screams in the darkness, horrified to see the danger his beloved doe was in, rushing out of his hiding spot and throws himself against the farmer's boot to distract him. The impact made the farmer's shot go off into the air, allowing Clover to escape out to the fields.
"What the hell was that?!" Tom Cane exclaimed in surprise, then he aimed his gun at the culprit who struck his boot. "Right, you little...!"
BANG!
Seconds after the gunshot goes off, Hazel squeals in agony when a painful blast tore at his lower hip. The impact of the shot forced him tumbling downward into the bottom of a ditch close to a drain pipe. Hearing the gunshot and the pained squeal, the rabbits had frozen on the spot, but Bigwig forcibly urged them to move in. Tom Cane approached the ditch, shining his torch, or rather flashlight, to scan the area and make sure he got his target.
From a distance in front of the car, Winnifred warned her husband, "Better not have shoot one of Lucy's."
"It was a wild one," huffed Tom Cane.
Hazel laid motionless in the ditch, the pain burning in his hind leg. He could hear the farmer approaching and the chief rabbit knew he had to get away as soon as possible. Hazel can barely move as the pain grew stronger. Then, he spotted the drain pipe up ahead. It was the perfect hiding spot. The flashlight's beams moved closer, searching for the injured wild rabbit. Hazel's pulse raced faster, as he knew the farmer was almost upon him. He had to move fast.
Tom Cane found the small trail of blood, then shined his torch's light down in the ditch. There was no wild rabbit, though. Satisfied, he sneered, "Blood... I told you I shot it."
"Come on, now. It's late," Winnifred called, tired from all the craziness that happened tonight. "If he's out there, you'll find him in the morning."
While the farmer and his wife returned to the house with the recaptured Laurel, the three escaped hutch does remained in the field with a terribly worried Lily looking after them high up on the hillock. Bigwig and Fiver kept searching high and low in the hillock for Hazel, but there was no sign of him.
"We've searched everywhere," Bigwig reported. "There's no sign of him."
"Let's go back," Clover suggested, eagerly. "He might still be alive."
"No, not in the dark. Not tonight." Bigwig refused, before he gave Clover a stern lecture. "Tonight, we go back to the down. Hazel chanced his life to free you and we're not throwing that away by having you wander around in the shadow of a farmer's gun. You understand?" Then, he turned his attention to Lily. Infuriated with her involvement and putting her own life in danger, the lion buck's green eyes glowered right through her scared blue ones. "This is the last time you ever set foot in that farm! Just because you grew up in one, don't think you can just prance right in there and expect a welcoming committee by a Man's gun!"
"Bigwig, I was just-" Lily never had the chance to explain.
Bigwig's voice was dangerously low and cold. "You are never leaving the high hills again, EVER!" Those words were twice as harsher than the events of tonight's raid, making the timid doe bow her head ashamed.
"It's my fault." Fiver admitted, on the verge of tears as everyone looked at him. "I saw it... I saw it in my vision... I should've seen it was Hazel bleeding, but I didn't know."
Clover approached the heartbroken Fiver to console him comfortingly, "The only one at fault tonight was the farmer, Fiver." Although tonight's dangerous escapade had convinced Clover of Hazel's distrust against humanity as a result of the farmer's cruelty. "Hazel was right. There are humans who will never understand the ways of our lives, who will never stop until our kind is destroyed big time."
Lily shook her head in disappointed defeat. After a lifetime of living with Henry and his family all her life, she failed to see the truth at how some humans are cruel and care nothing for wildlife or nature.
Holly's story of Sandleford's destruction.
Cowslip surrendering his people to the hand of humans for sickening reasons.
Losing Hazel to a wicked farmer was enough proof for her to open her eyes.
"No... you were all right," Lily admitted somberly, catching everyone's surprised attention while she reflected on the nature of evil on earth. "There's a terrible evil in the world, and it comes from Men. All other elil just do what they do to live on the earth to get food, but Men will never rest until they've spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals."
Deep inside the drain pipe, Hazel found himself staring at his own unconscious body with horror and confusion. Had he died? Was he to go to heaven? He wanted to panic, until he heard a soft female's voice speaking to him.
"Hazel..."
To his astonishment, a black doe entered the drain pipe where Hazel's body lay. Hazel noticed the black doe to be very beautiful, her black fur shining like the water's surface in the moonlight and she had dark red eyes that sparkled like rubies but cast no light. Hazel didn't know whether to be afraid or feel calm with a strange doe standing in the same drain pipe with him.
"Who are you?" he asked.
As the black doe spoke, her voice felt like falling water echoing in the dark, "I go by many names and many forms, but your people know me as the Black Rabbit of Inle."
"Am I..." Hazel stuttered, gazing at the black doe with unsure fear, "...am I to walk with you now?"
"All walk with me, Hazel. It is, but for a brief moment, called life that you leave my side."
"I'm afraid."
"Oh, there's no more to fear in death than in the changing of the seasons. If you keep this in your heart, Hazel, you will become a truly great leader of rabbits - one worthy of joining my Owsla." And with those words spoken, the Black Rabbit of Inle gave him one last smile before she departed.
No sooner had the supernatural rabbit vanished, Hazel regained consciousness. His head shot up, searching for the Black Rabbit of Inle but she had vanished. He was glad to be back in his own body, but he was terribly wounded after the farmer shot him.