Post 9 ; Chapters 39-42

The boat passing under one of the bridges

Chapter 39: The Bridges

The boat floats down the river, and the rabbits are unknowing where they will end up next. However, they are still happy to get away from Woundwort and Efrafa. Keharr shows up and warns the group that their boat won't fit under a bridge they are approaching. They just barely manage to squeeze under the bridge, but one of the does gets injured. Soon after they approach another bridge. To avoid what happened before, Keharr suggests the rabbits jump off the boat and swim under the bridge. Hazel, Pipkin and Blackavar jump off into the river and swim to the land. They reach the land and tell the others it's okay to jump. They all eventually get off the boat and onto dry land. They find a well-hidden wooded area and sleep for the night.

Chapter 40: The Way Back

The next morning, the doe who was injured from the bridge dies. Keharr announces that there's nothing left he can do for the rabbits, so he says his farewells and flies away. Blackavar proves to be very useful, as he knows the area around their setting after being part of Efrafa for so long. He eventually leads them to a place called Caesar's Belt. Fiver feels uneasy again about their surroundings, and Blackavar agrees; he says that they are in fox territory. Bigwig starts to get a negative opinion on Blackavar because he feels that he is somewhat of a showoff. Nonetheless, the group digs holes to sleep in and rest for the next several days. On the second day, a fox snatches a doe who was feeding. Bigwig apologizes to Blackavar, realizing that he was right about the foxes nearby. The group heads on back to Honeycomb, where they are ambushed by four rabbits led by Campion, who has found them. Campion claims to have a patrol group nearby that will report them to Woundwort, but the group doesn't believe him. They call the bluff, and Campion lets them pass. They eventually reach Honeycomb again, greeted by Strawberry and Buckthorn. The patrol sees the warren and goes back to report the news.

Efrafa patrol spotting the Honeycomb warren

Chapter 41: The Story of Rowsby Wolf and the Fairy Wogdog

The group reunites in Honeycomb, with the count being 16 bucks and 10 does. Dandelion tells them a story about El-ahrairah, who played a trick on a dog, Rowsby Woof, to get more food. This story explains more how the rabbits have to use smartness and trickery to defend themselves from Woundwort in the future.

Chapter 42: News at Sunset

After Dandelion's story, the mouse that Hazel saved brings some news. He says that there are a group of rabbits who may be friends of Hazel. Holly and Blackavar check, and find out that they are from Efrafa, and meet with Campion. Hazel tells the group to fill up the holes so the other rabbits would have to dig to get them out. In the meantime, Hazel tries to talk to Woundwort to find out if they could agree to some sort of peace treaty between the two sides.

Hazel negotiating with Woundwort and his patrols for peace

Questions/Comments

I wonder why Keharr didn't warn the rabbits to jump off the boat before the first bridge. Surely he could have known if the bridge was too low for them to fit; maybe he realized his mistake after the doe got injured from the bridge.

Why did Keharr leave so suddenly? He said that he doesn't have anything else to do to help the rabbits, but I can't help but think that he could been helpful if Woundwort or his patrols attacked the group again. I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of Keharr in this story.

It was weird to see Campion and his guards let the group pass without fighting. I would think that they would have liked to prevent the group from getting any farther away from Efrafa. Maybe Woundwort has his own secret plan of his own for the group.

I will state that Hazel is easily the bravest rabbit out of the group. Bigwig may have gone undercover in Efrafa, but going up solo to Woundwort and try to negotiate a peace treaty is pretty ballsy. If I were a member of the group I would tell Hazel to stay far away from Woundwort and be prepared to fight in the bear future.

That's all for this week; chapters 43-50 will be posted on Tuesday-Thursday. Almost done with this project; it has been hard work, but sort of fun as well!