Watership Down Characters: Hazel

Hazel is a leader among rabbits. He is described as being “still below full weight” and with a “shrewd, buoyant air”. He is not one of the “Owsla”, the top rank of clever and strong rabbits in a warren, but he is not a bullied, harassed rabbit because of this. He can take care of himself and is a very good leader.

Hazel is protective of those under his care. His brother Fiver is small, underweight and often bullied, and Hazel keeps older, stronger and meaner rabbits away from him. He is capable too, and noble in that he is willing to stay by the smaller rabbits. When they are journeying, they come to a river. It is swelled and rushing, but on the side they’re on is a dog who is hunting. The older rabbits can swim the flood, but Fiver and Pipkin are too small and tired out to. Bigwig, an impatient, tough rabbit, says that those who can should cross the stream and whoever can’t can just come later or not at all. Hazel says that he isn’t leaving Fiver and Pipkin, and if one of the other rabbits hadn’t found a large piece of wood for a raft, Hazel would have stayed and been killed by the dog along with Pipkin and Fiver before abandoning them.

Hazel is essential to the plot. One might call him the “star”. He is the one who takes care of everyone and keeps them going until they reach Watership Down. Without him, the plot would feel empty, as though something important were missing. But like everyone else, he has his weak points. Because he is secretly a little upset at not being chosen to “ambassador” to Efrafa, a nearby warren, he leads a disastrous raid on a nearby farm to rescue four rabbits who have lived there all their lives and are well taken care of, but lack the important instincts necessary to live in the wild. This raid results in three rabbits joining their warren, one being captured again and put back in the hutch, and Hazel being shot with a gun in his leg (causing in him being slightly lame there for the rest of his life).

I admire Hazel for his bravery, fortitude and nobility. When everyone else is tired and wants to stop traveling and stay where they are, he is the one who keeps them going. When Bigwig is caught in a snare and believed dead, he is the one who tries to get them away before a man comes. When the other rabbits begin to doubt Fiver’s visions and start turning against him, he is the one who restores them to sense. “A Chief Rabbit must be El-ahrairah [the rabbit hero; literally Elil-Hrair-Rah, enemies-thousand-prince: Prince with a Thousand Enemies] to his people and teach them cunning.” He is a true leader and one of the best personalities I have ever met.

The Die-Hard Naturalists

A beautiful field of sunflowers... a dismal grey sky... a Starbucks... and three girls sitting on a red-and-white "Caution" fence with nature notebooks.

Today, as the sky was horribly colorless, we went out for a little color and found a field of sunflowers. We sketched them in the rain, Mariel, Cornflower and I having quite a time. (I am not so sure about Mother Auma. She patiently sat on a rock and sketched, not without enthusiasm.)

Then we had to go, as drizzles turned to drops and drops turned to large disfiguring splatters on our notebook pages. We couldn't leave without taking a little beauty with us, and Mother Auma lent her car keys to cut the tough stems of the flowers. We rushed for the car and finished the coloring inside.

And, with it so wet and the Starbucks so near, we went and got some hot chocolate.

Flowers sure are beautiful, especially with all this rain. By Sunday, Hurricane Ike will have worked his way far enough inland to where we are. That will make the flowers even bigger and more lovely, like this one from our yard.

Bird List Update #1: Mourning Dove

My mom thought it would also be a good idea if I kept a record of the birds I saw this year. This morning during Bible, I glanced out the window, and there was a mourning dove hopping up on the neighbor's roof. I thought it was a pigeon at first. Pigeons are a kind of dove, Mom says. We all watched it for awhile, and it hopped around and dug for seeds and walked up the roof and then went down the roof again, and then flew away. This is the first mourning dove we have ever seen in our yard at this house. I liked its little pink feet.

The scientific name for Mourning Dove is zenaida macroura.


(Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the photo.)

Flower List Update #1: Partridge Pea

My mom thought it would be a good idea for me to keep track of the flowers I see this year. We found a caterpillar feeding on a yellow plant, identified as partridge pea. The scientific name of this plant is cassia fasciculata.

Mariel took charge of the caterpillar and named it Spunky. We found out it is a yellow sulphur butterfly, and have been watching it eagerly to see if it will turn into a butterfly. He briefly escaped last night and caused a lot of panic, until he was found on the table next to his jar, possibly asleep.

Thinking...

Near the end of July, my thoughts inexplicably turn to the approaching school year.

We don't start school until September, so there is no reason why my mind has to start a month early...except maybe for the fact that I like to have a schedule. One that goes the whole day.

Or maybe it's because Fall is my favorite season. Calm, tranquil and a lot cooler than hot summer sun. Leaves that are supposed to turn red and orange turning brown, long sleeves, and the schedule. Why does my mind keep coming back to that schedule?

I like to have the whole day on paper. Anywhere from "get up-go to bed" to "visit so-and-so, go to IKEA, clean house, do schoolwork, and go to the pool".

Oh dear.

In Fall the pool closes.

So maybe we couldn't do that particular thing. Go to the park instead.

Which brings up yet another rabbit trail. In Fall when it cools off considerably, Mr. Honey and Mother Auma take Cornflower and Mariel and I on Bike Rides and Nature Walks and Trips to the Park and the Zoo and the...World of Outside. My favorite place.

To go on another trail that is clearly a rabbit one...

My rabbit, Thumper, can stay outside for the whole day when it gets to be nice and cool and only gets up to 70 degrees outside in the middle of the day.

And church meetings! Almost as good as singing schools except you have to stay in your nice clothes all day. There are kids you've never met and people you knew a long time ago and friends you just made a month or two ago at Harmony Plains. Makes for some very good Indian bands, Castles with Invaders (usually boy-invaders against princesses and lady warriors (Ray and I, and whoever wants to be a warrior with us)), Cowboys (and Cowgirls), and any kind of pretend game you can get 20 kids to play all at once. I really enjoy church meetings.

I REALLY enjoy Fall. Just Fall.

Copperhead!

A few weeks ago, school was just not going well. Mother Auma spontaneously decided it was time for a very quiet nature walk. We wandered about the subdivision, not saying a word. Mother Auma was walking hand in hand with Cornflower just ahead of Mariel and I. As we walked past an overgrown yard with a drooping tree and a culvert leading to the creek, something stuck out.

It was not a stick.

Mariel and I froze. I wanted to scream but all I could get out was "mom". Mariel screamed - a short, gasping, awful sort of yelp. Mother Auma and Cornflower turned and saw a slender, menacing, triangular-headed brown snake.

It stared at us in defiance. We stared in horrified fascination at it. After several minutes of this standoff, it turned and slithered back into the yard. Nothing was there to show what had just taken place.

We continued our walk, shaken by the snake's sudden appearance. We discovered a picnic area and brought our schoolwork there. But that has really nothing to do with the snake.

Later Mother Auma and I looked up the snake. Goggy had told us it was some sort of poisonous pit viper - and we had seen a baby stroller on the front porch. We found out it was a Southern Copperhead.

Animal Control couldn't help - they didn't have a division for our area.

The Homeowners' Association was even less help. "We'll send a letter telling him to mow his lawn."

Mother Auma was furious. "Don't you think they should tell him there's a poisonous snake in his yard?!?!?" she demanded when telling us.

She took Cornflower for moral support and went to the house in her big tall hiking boots, intending to leave a printout of the info we found on the snake. The neighbor man was just coming to get something out of his car. Mother Auma brightened. These are the neighbors; they can give the people this information! She walked up to him. "Do you know these people next door to you?"

"Kind of."

"Well, could you tell them we saw a copperhead in their yard?"

"Are you sure it was a copperhead? I'm a herpetologist."

(For those of us who don't know what that is, a herpetologist is a snake specialist. Just think, right next door!)

He said to leave the papers in their mailbox, as the people were at work.

Thus ended our part in the "Epic of the Copperhead". We were all very happy it was over, too, although I had nightmares about it for a few days afterwards.

Musical Rabbit

Yesterday morning my little sister Mariel was busily practicing her violin. It was a beautiful day, so my rabbit was in the back yard and the windows were open.

As strains of music were wafted by the late morning wind through the window and reached Thumper's long, sensitive ears, she sat up, trying to sniff the music. Suddenly, she jumped sideways with a funny twist. Her ears shot up in the air. She ran around the back yard, twisting and leaping with her ears high and her eyes wide until she reminded me of Wilbur in Charlotte's Web where he is being radiant.

Not to mention that when I was outside, playing my harmonica, Thumper suddenly ran around and around my feet, stopping when I stopped and racing around my feet when I played. Racing around someone is a bunny way of showing love...