Authors: Richard Adams
When Bigwig had slipped away, Hazel said to Silver, "Have you any idea how far the Wide Patrols go out? Are we inside their range yet?"
"I don't know, but I'd guess that we are," said Silver. "As I understand it, the range is up to the patrol. Under a pushing sort of captain, a patrol may go out a long way, I believe."
"I see," said Hazel. "Well, I don't want to meet a patrol if it can possibly be helped, and if we do, not one of them must get back to Efrafa. That's one reason why I brought so many of us. But by way of avoiding them, I'm going to try to make use of this wood. Perhaps they don't fancy it any more than Holly did."
"But surely it doesn't run the way we want to go?" said Silver.
"We're not going to Efrafa, though," said Hazel. "We're going to find somewhere to hide, as near to it as we can safely get. Any ideas?"
"Only that it's terribly dangerous, Hazel-rah," said Silver. "You
can't
get near Efrafa safely and I don't know how you can begin to look for somewhere to hide. And then the patrol--if there is one--they'll be cunning brutes. They might very well spot us and not show themselves at all--simply go and report."
"Well, here comes Bigwig back again," said Hazel. "Is it all right, Bigwig? Good--let's get them into the wood and go down the length of it a little way. Then we must slip out on the other side and make sure that Kehaar finds us. He's coming to look for us this afternoon and at all costs we mustn't miss him."
Less than half a mile to the west, they came upon a spinney adjoining the southern edge of Caesar's Belt. To the west again was a shallow, dry downland combe, perhaps four hundred yards across and overgrown with weeds and rough, yellowing summer tussocks. There, well before sunset, Kehaar, flying westward down the Belt, spotted the rabbits lying up, all among the nettles and goose grass. He sailed down and alighted near Hazel and Fiver.
"How's Holly?" asked Hazel.
" 'E sad," said Kehaar. " 'E say you no come back." Then he added, "Mees Clover, she ready for mudder."
"That's good," said Hazel. "Is anyone doing anything about it?"
"Ya, ya, ees all to fight."
"Oh, well, I suppose it'll sort itself out."
"Vat you do now, Meester 'Azel?"
"This is where you start helping, Kehaar. We need a place to hide, as near the big warren as we can safely get--somewhere where those other rabbits won't find us. If you know the country well enough, perhaps you can suggest something."
"Meester 'Azel, 'ow close you vant?"
"Well, no further away than Nuthanger Farm is from the Honeycomb. In fact, that's really about the limit."
"Ees only von t'ing, Meester 'Azel. You go udder side river, den dey not find you."
"Over the river? You mean we swim across?"
"Na, na, rabbit no sveem dis river. Ees peeg, ees deep, go queek. But ees pridge, den udder side plenty place for hide. Ees close to varren, like you say."
"And you think that's the best we can do?"
"Ees plenty trees und ees river. Udder rabbits no find you."
"What do you think?" said Hazel to Fiver.
"It sounds better than I'd hoped for," said Fiver. "I hate to say it, but I think we ought to go straight there as fast as we can, even if it makes everyone exhausted. We're in danger all the time we're on the down, but once we get off it we can rest."
"Well, I suppose we'd better go on by night, if they'll do it--we've done it before--but they must feed and rest first. Start fu Inlé? There'll be a moon."
"Oh, how I've come to loathe those words 'start' and 'fu Inlé,' " said Blackberry.
However, the evening feed was peaceful and cool and after a time everyone felt refreshed. As the sun was sinking, Hazel brought them all together, under close cover, to chew pellets and rest. Although he did his best to appear confident and cheerful, he could feel that they were on edge, and after parrying one or two questions about the plan, he began to wonder how he could distract their thoughts and get them to relax until they were ready to set off again. He remembered the time, on the first night of his leadership, when they had been forced to rest in the wood above the Enborne. At least it was good to see that no one was exhausted now: they were as tough a bunch of hlessil as ever raided a garden. Not a blade of grass to choose between them, thought Hazel: Pipkin and Fiver looked as fresh as Silver and Bigwig. Still, a little entertainment would be all to the good and raise their spirits. He was just going to speak up when Acorn saved him the trouble.
"Will you tell us a story, Dandelion?" he asked.
"Yes! Yes!" said several others. "Come on! Make it a stunner while you're at it!"
"All right," said Dandelion. "How about 'El-ahrairah and the Fox in the Water'?"
"Let's have 'The Hole in the Sky,' " said Hawkbit.
"No, not that," said Bigwig suddenly. He had spoken very little all the evening and everyone looked round. "If you're going to tell a story, there's only one I want," he went on. " 'El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé.' "
"Perhaps not that one," said Hazel.
Bigwig rounded on him, snarling. "If there's going to be a story, don't you think I've got as good a right as anyone to choose it?" he asked.
Hazel did not reply and after a pause, during which no one else spoke, Dandelion, with a rather subdued manner, began.
31.
The Story of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé
The power of the night, the press of the storm,
The post of the foe;
Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form,
Yet, the strong man must go.
Robert Browning,
Prospice
"Sooner or later, everything leaks out and animals get to hear what others think about them. Some say that it was Hufsa who told King Darzin the truth about the trick with the lettuces. Others say that Yona the hedgehog went gossiping in the copses. But, however it was, King Darzin got to know that he had been made a fool when he delivered his lettuces to the marshes of Kelfazin. He did not call his soliders out to fight--not yet. But he made up his mind that he would find an opportunity to get his own back on El-ahrairah. El-ahrairah knew this and he warned all his people to be careful, especially when they went about alone.
"Now late one afternoon in February, Rabscuttle led some of the rabbits out to a rubbish heap on the edge of a garden, some way away from the warren. The evening came on cold and misty, and well before twilight a fog came down thick. They set off for home, but they got lost; and then they had trouble with an owl and became confused over their direction. Anyway, Rabscuttle got separated from the others, and after wandering about for some time, he strayed into the guards' quarters outside King Darzin's city; and they caught him and took him up to the King.
"King Darzin saw his chance to spite El-ahrairah. He put Rabscuttle into a special prison hole and every day he was brought out and made to work, sometimes in the frost, digging and tunneling. But El-ahrairah swore he would get him out somehow. And so he did, for he and two of his does spent four days digging a tunnel from the wood into the back of the bank where Rabscuttle had been set to work. And in the end this tunnel came near to the hole in the bank down which Rabscuttle had been sent. He was supposed to be digging to turn the hole into a storeroom and the guards were watching outside while he worked. But El-ahrairah reached him, for he could hear him scratching in the dark; and they all slipped away down the tunnel and escaped through the wood.
"When the news reached King Darzin, he became very angry indeed, and he determined that this time he would start a war and finish El-ahrairah once and for all. His soldiers set out in the night and went to the meadows of Fenlo; but they couldn't get down the rabbit holes. Some tried, to be sure, but they soon came out again, because they met El-ahrairah and the other rabbits. They were not used to fighting in narrow places in the dark and they got bitten and scratched until they were glad to come out tail-first.
"But they didn't go away: they sat outside and waited. Whenever any of the rabbits tried to silflay they found their enemies ready to jump on them. King Darzin and his soldiers couldn't watch all the holes--there were too many--but they were quick enough to dash off wherever they saw a rabbit show his nose. Very soon El-ahrairah's people found that it was all they could do to snatch a mouthful or two of grass--just enough to keep alive--before they had to bolt underground again. El-ahrairah tried every trick he could think of, but he couldn't be rid of King Darzin or get his own people away. The rabbits began to become thin and miserable underground and some of them fell ill.
"At last El-ahrairah felt quite desperate and one night, when he had been risking his life again and again to bring down a few mouthfuls of grass for a doe and her family whose father had been killed the day before, he called out, 'Lord Frith! I would do anything to save my people! I would drive a bargain with a stoat or a fox--yes, or with the Black Rabbit of Inlé!'
"Now, as soon as he had said this, El-ahrairah realized in his heart that if there was one creature anywhere who might have the will and certainly had the power to destroy his enemies, it was the Black Rabbit of Inlé. For he was a rabbit, and yet more powerful than King Darzin a thousand times over. But the thought made El-ahrairah sweat and shudder, so that he had to crouch down where he was in the run. After a time he went to his own burrow and began to think of what he had said and what it meant.
"Now, as you all know, the Black Rabbit of Inlé is fear and everlasting darkness. He is a rabbit, but he is that cold, bad dream from which we can only entreat Lord Frith to save us today and tomorrow. When the snare is set in the gap, the Black Rabbit knows where the peg is driven; and when the weasel dances, the Black Rabbit is not far off. You all know how some rabbits seem just to throw their lives away between two jokes and a theft: but the truth is that their foolishness comes from the Black Rabbit, for it is by his will that they do not smell the dog or see the gun. The Black Rabbit brings sickness, too. Or again, he will come in the night and call a rabbit by name: and then that rabbit must go out to him, even though he may be young and strong to save himself from any other danger. He goes with the Black Rabbit and leaves no trace behind. Some say that the Black Rabbit hates us and wants our destruction. But the truth is--or so they taught me--that he, too, serves Lord Frith and does no more than his appointed task--to bring about what must be. We come into the world and we have to go: but we do not go merely to serve the turn of one enemy or another. If that were so, we would all be destroyed in a day. We go by the will of the Black Rabbit of Inlé and only by his will. And though that will seems hard and bitter to us all, yet in his way he is our protector, for he knows Frith's promise to the rabbits and he will avenge any rabbit who may chance to be destroyed without the consent of himself. Anyone who has seen a gamekeeper's gibbet knows what the Black Rabbit can bring down on elil who think they will do what they will.
"El-ahrairah spent the night alone in his burrow and his thoughts were terrible. As far as he knew, no rabbit had ever tried to do what he had in mind. But the more he thought about it--as well as he could for hunger and fear and the trance that comes upon rabbits face to face with death--the more it seemed to him that there was at least a chance of success. He would seek out the Black Rabbit and offer him his own life in return for the safety of his people. But if, when he offered his life, he did not mean the offer to be accepted, it would be better not to go near the Black Rabbit at all. The Black Rabbit might not accept his life: yet still, perhaps, he might get a chance to try something else. Only, there could be no cheating the Black Rabbit. If his people's safety were to be had, by whatever means, the price would be his life. So unless he failed, he would not return. He would therefore need a companion to bring back whatever it was that was going to overthrow King Darzin and save the warren.
"In the morning, El-ahrairah went to find Rabscuttle and they talked far into the day. Then he called his Owsla together and told them what he meant to do.
"Later that evening, in the last of the twilight, the rabbits came out and attacked King Darzin's soldiers. They fought very bravely and some of them were killed. The enemy thought they were trying to break out of the warren and did everything they could to surround them and force them back into their holes. But the truth was that all the fighting was simply to distract King Darzin's attention and keep his soldiers busy. As darkness set in, El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle slipped out from the other end of the warren and made off down the ditch, while the Owsla fell back and King Darzin's soldiers jeered at them down the holes. As for King Darzin, he sent a message to say that he was ready to talk to El-ahrairah about terms of surrender.