Post 7 ; Chapters 31-35

The Black Rabbit of Inlé, as portrayed in the story

Chapter 31: The Story of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé 

Dandelion tells the story about El-ahrairah. From this story, the rabbits can determine that the story reassures them that nothing can hurt them if 'their time has not come'. In the story, El-ahrairah sacrificed his whiskers, tail, and ears in an attempt to trick the Black Rabbit, which are coincidentally the parts used by rabbits to survive. The Black Rabbit is described as being the grim reaper of rabbits; his job is to take rabbits away and make sure they die at their predetermined time. Just as Dandelion finishes up his story, Pipkin alerts the group that a fox is approaching them.

Chapter 32: Across the Iron Road

Hazel gets the group a good distance away from the fox. Surprisingly, Bigwig runs out and tries to distract the fox, and acts like he is wounded so the group can get away. Hazel gets mad because he knows they were far away and that they could have easily gotten away without anyone risking their lives. Bigwig leads the fox into a brush, where he ran into several rabbits he didn't know. They try to stop him but he knocks one of them down and gets away. The group hears a screech from a distance, presumably the fox getting the rabbit that Bigwig knocked down. Later Bigwig tells Hazel that he was practicing to fool the fox so that he wasn't worried about Efrafa. The next morning, the group crosses a railroad. Keharr tells the group that Woundwort's patrol squad will find them if they can't find a place to hide. He suggests for the group to hide in the woods because he knows that the squad patrols around the railroad. When they reach inside the woods, Keharr tells them that they are now safe. Feeling safe, the group decides to sleep. Keharr agrees to help keep watch.

The fox in the animated series version of 'Watership Down'

Chapter 33: The Great River

After the rest, the group finds a large river with a bridge. They are reluctant to cross the bridge but Fiver and his instincts reassure them that it is safe. Being reassured, the group takes a rest. Later, Blackberry and Hazel try to figure out the rest of their plan. They meet with Keharr and a few others at a boat that they found. Keharr explains what it does, and they realize that it could become a vital part of their plan. Bigwig heads back off to Efrafa to carry out the plan.

Chapter 34: General Woundwort

Back at Efrafa, part of Woundwort's past is described. He witnessed his father die from a gun, and was raised by a human, but never was able to be tamed. He escaped from his hutch and met up with a new warren of rabbits. Eventually he became the chief rabbit of that warren, and took some of his followers to Efrafa, where he developed more skills at controlling large amounts of rabbits. He eventually had to make his patrol squad because there were too many rabbits to watch for. In the mean time, he is worried about Efrafa's reputation after the group managed to escape from him. He also found out that the fox killed one of his officers. Meanwhile, Bigwig asks Captain Campion to ask Woundwort to join Efrafa as an officer.  Woundwort agrees to make him an officer, but leaves a painful mark in Bigwig's leg, indicating he is now part of Efrafa.

Captain Campion of the Efrafa warren

Chapter 35: Groping

In Efrafa, Bigwig learns how their system operates and realizes that the plan will be much harder to pull off than expected. He meets Blackavar, who was caught trying to escape once before, and is used as an example to the other rabbits what would happen to them if they tried to escape. Bigwig meets Hyzenthlay, who is aware of his plans to take does with him. She tells him that they must leave sometime in the next two days because of the shortage of officers. They agree to try and leave tomorrow night.

Questions/Comments

Trying to add more to the questions/comments section. I feel that there's not enough here to balance out the actual summary of the book. Please let me know if I should add more or if this is fine!

I'm starting to think that the story of the Black Rabbit of Inlé is foreshadowing future events in the story. It is apparently the Grim Reaper of rabbits; maybe a main character (or even more characters) will end up dying in this story? The events leading up to this critical part of the story seem to indicate to me that the group will have to fight Woundwort and his forces. They are in dangerous territory right now with Bigwig going undercover in Efrafa.

I wonder what plans the group has for the boat? I wouldn't think that rabbits would be smart to capably start up and control a boat; I don't even think I could do that! Nonetheless, it seems that this boat will come into play later on in this story. I'm curious to find out what it's for.

It was interesting to learn about Woundwort's heavy past. It seems like he had to go through a lot in his life that probably traumatized him like seeing his father get shot. His anger and grief built up inside of him, and caused hum to become controlling and violent. Seeing Woundwort's character development like this was very interesting because it shed a little light on why he is so bad.

I wonder how Bigwig will get Hyzenthlay and the other does out of the warren? Apparently they will leave during the night when there will be fewer patrols out. But I can't see Woundwort letting them escape so easily; I think that he will stop their plan easily because of his experience and awareness with handling other rabbits.

Hyzenthlay