Watership Down

by Richard Adams

What am I lying here for? . . . We are lying here as though we had a chance of enjoying a quiet time. . . . Am I waiting until I become a little older?

Why should he think me cruel Or that he is betrayed? I’d have him love the thing that was Before the world was made. W.B. Yeats, A Woman Young and Old

Frith made all the animals and birds, but when he first made them they were all the same. The sparrow and the kestrel were friends and they both ate seeds and flies. And the fox and the rabbit were friends and they both ate grass. And there was plenty of grass and plenty of flies, because the world was new and Frith shone down bright and warm all day.

The car appeared, flashing green and white, and raced down toward Bigwig. For an instant it filled the whole world with noise and fear. Then it was gone and Bigwig’s fur was blowing in the whack of wind that followed it down the hedges. He jumped back up the bank among the staring rabbits. “See? They don’t hurt you,” said Bigwig. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think they’re alive at all. But I must admit I can’t altogether make it out.”

I want them to go on because they can see it’s the only thing to do. There are too few of us for giving orders and biting people.