Watership Down

Near sunset, two rabbits leave their warren, move down the hill, cross a ditch, and enter a field, where they feed. One, named Hazel, seems confident; his brother, Fiver, looks about nervously, senses something out of place, and convinces Hazel to go with him down to the brook.

Fiver has a knack for locating cowslips, which are hard to find in late May. He finds some, and they start in on the delicacy when Toadflax and a fellow member of the warren’s Owsla leadership push them aside and finish the little yellow flowers. Fiver and Hazel move on, but Hazel resents the treatment. He promises, when he’s two and a member of the Owsla, to treat others with more respect.

They cross to another field. Rising from it is a sign erected recently by humans. Fiver shivers and says this is the source of his fear: “The field’s full of blood” (9). Hazel, who usually respects Fiver’s alertness to danger, sees none. Fiver whimpers that it’s coming soon.

The sign announces the impending construction of homes on the property.