I didn't even notice that I re-wrote cannon, but here is a re-written chapter. It begins around the time after they escape from Efrafa on the river. I'm not sure how to make it seem like Keehar is talking in broken English, so I just did this for all the vowels. ·, È, ?, “, Û, etc. And I finished watching the tv series now, so I may just continue this story now.
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Chapter 1: The First Day on the Down
The morning after the survivors the SandlÈford Warren arrived at Watership Down, they were quickly in trouble with the rival warren of Efrafa. Bigwig had tricked his way into the warren and become a trusted warrior among all those with in it, including all the prisoners, only to help Primrose and Blackavar escape from Efrafa and the group went the river using a boat that Blackberry had come across under the bridge that two guards were using as a post to keep watching for Hazel and his friends. Woundwort had barely escaped from drowning when he had jumped off the bridge after them. From that day on, he was a sworn enemy of the Watership Down warren and everyday he wishes that he would be able to kill those that betrayed himóBigwig, Primrose and Blackavar.
“Well, that was too close,” Fiver says, with a sigh of relief shortly afterwards. “I thought for sure that Woundwort was going to get us there for a second.”
“He won’t get any of us with me in charge,” Bigwig tells him confidently, standing near the back edge of the boat keeping watch for any Efrafans that may have followed them. “If they do harm any of you; I'll tear their ears off, kill them and leave them for the el“l; hopefully those cursÈd weasels.”
While they are safe from the Efrafans for now, there is still the problem of getting the boat they are on to stop near the river bank, and then finding their way home without getting chased by the el“l or Efrafan patrol. But the good thing is: the water has no rapids today. It has been moving slow for most of the time they were in hiding under the bridge and getting into the boat.
“One problem,” Blackavar said, looking across the river, which continued straight ahead. “How are we going to get the boat to stop at the river bank? Its following the flow of the river, which is straight ahead. Is there any way that we can ge the boat to turn left towards the river bank and all of us have a chance to jump to the bank before it floats away?”
“Well, if enough of us get to one side of the boat,” Hazel replied, keeping his eyes on the bank. “Maybe the weight will shift the boat to that direction long enough for us to get off of the boat. Bigwig, BlackbÈrry, Blackavar, Hawkbit and Dandelion will get on this side of the boat while the rest of you lean over the edge and paddle in the water with your arms if you can. And be careful, all of you, I doubt that any of us are skilled swimmers, just lean far enough to hit the water, and we'll just stand on the opposite side if the boat and hopefully all this weight and movement will get it to move. Go.”
“That sounds like a plan to me,” Bigwig boasted confidently, moving with the others to the right side of the boat, which quickly caused it to turn without the rabbits on the other side even having to paddle the water with their arms. Which is actually a good thing for them because only Dandelion's arms were actually long enough to get down to the water. “It's working!” Bigwig added, “we're getting closer to the shore. Just a little closer, come on. Come on.”
The small group of rabbits on the left side of the boat feel it hit against something, clearly the river bank, and when they turn to face the right side, they see their friends jumping off to the boat onto the bank, and they quickly follow before the boat moved off into the water again. Pipkin, however, was the last to get onto the bank, and when he finally did jump, he barely made it onto the land, Bigwig had grabbed him by the arms at the last second and pulled him up onto the bank as the boat floated away up river.
“Okay, that was too close,” Fiver corrected himself. “Let's get home now before anything else goes wrong.” Fiver began to run once all the others had ran off already towards Watership Down, he had been too busy watching Woundwort kicking and paddling for his life out in the middle of the river until he noticed that the others were leaving. However, that hadn't been the only reason that he had moved on, a weasel had appeared on the far bank. With the scent of rabbit picked up.
Fiver ran up beside Hazel, gasping tiredly, “There are weasels here too?” he asked nervously, always having been afraid of weasel more than any other kind of el“l. “I thought they only existed back at SandlÈford and Darkhaven?”
“Weasels can be found anywhere there is rabbits,” Hazel explained. “Always has been that way. Always will be. SandÈlford, Darkhaven, Efrafa, Redstone, they all have weasels located at them. Even the Warren of the Shiny Wires has several, but they rarely travel towards the warren, always having the fear of being caught in the snares. But that is only the younger weasels, the elder weasels aren't worried about snares.”
“But us rabbits are,” said Bigwig. “I could not tell you how many friends I have seen die in a snare or have heard about being killed by a snare, always with a iron spike. Most hunters know that rabbits can dig out wooden stakes, so they use iron spike so it can't be dug around or pulled out by another rabbit. Humans find it fun to hunt rabbits for pure pleasure and not sport. Greedy bunch of-”
“That's enough Bigwig,” Hazel cut him off, knowing what Bigwig was about to say, and he doesn't want such words said around Fiver or Pipkin. “Have you forgotten that we actually have young bucks with us? We don't need them to hear that kind of language at their age.”
“I'm sorry Hazel,” he apologized. “But I have always hated humans for what they have done to my friends. I've seen them caught in snares, their heads crushed in by bear traps, their head shot off by hunters with shotguns meant to hunt birds with, and torn to bits by foxes, stoats and weasels. I hate all kinds of el“l for what they have done to many old friends of mine. Humans, stoats, foxes, weasels, dogs, cats, I hate them all with a passion. CursÈd things don't deserve to live as far as I am concerned. They do nothing but kill for sport like humans do. Why do you think that Woundwort is the way he is? He said that he saw his dad and siblings shot by a human, his mother, Laurel, was shot by the same human, but escaped. A weasel had picked up the scent of blood from her gunshot wound and cornered them by a fire. She gave her life for him and was torn to pieces before Woundwort's eyes. Honestly I don't feel sorry for that worthless excuse of a rabbit. He deserved to lose his family.”
“But if he hadn't lost his family, he wouldn't be the way he is now,” Hazel replied. “And Efrafa wouldn't be a warren full of enslaved rabbits and it would be more like our warren, despite it being small. The death of his parents and siblings is why Woundwort is the ruthless general that he is today. Do you not understand? If you lost your parents that way, would you be the way you are? Look at Pipkin, I had to raise him when his mother and father were killed by a weasel and he become good because he had somebody there to care for him. Fiver and I also lost are mother to the same weasel and our father blamed her death on us, and left us. We don't know what become of him or our other siblings. They are probably dead with the rest of SandÈlford after it was torn up by man.”
“I have lost family to weasels,” Bigwig growled offensively. “I saw my mother torn to shreds before my eyes when we were cornered in our nest when I was only in my first season, so do not go giving me all that about being curtious to some one just because they lost a relative to an el“l or snare? You and Fiver have, I have, Pipkin has, and why do you think Hawkbit is the way he is? He lost his sisters to the same weasel that killed Pipkin's parents. We have all suffered loss to el“l, and I don't want to hear another word about losing family to el“l in the future, am I understood?”
“Oh for Frith’s sake,” Hawkbit groaned with anger. “Can we go even one day without arguing? Your cursÈd debates are giving me the worst headaches. Look, some of us had gotten over the deaths of relatives because of that weasel until you Bigwig mentioned their deaths. Unlike any of us, you are too boneheaded to let deaths of those you know go. You are so boneheaded! Why can't you be more like BlackbÈrry? Do you see her talking about death and loss of friends all the time? No. Are any of us war captains like you? No. We are all carefree until we had to leave SandÈlford behind and loose three-fourths of our friends to man. Drop it! I have had enough of this. You're annoyed? You're not the one that gets a headachÈ every time you and Hazel get into an argument. I would rather go back to talk to that weasel than listen to your pointless arguments one more second!”
“Hawbit is right,” Dandelion butted in. “Why do you two always fight and argue and quarrel over past events? You all lost your realitves when you were in your first season, if that. Why can't any of you have let it go by now? Bigwig, I know you are the leader since we left SandÈlford, but, Hawkbit is right, you have become more and more boneheaded ever since we left the warren.”
Hannah, feeling like all the rabbits had forgotten she was even there, said hoping that she can stop her friends from fighting anymore, “That’s enough, all of you. Let's get to Watership Down before Efrafa or any el“l find us. It has already gotten dark with all the arguing you two have done. Blackavar and Primrose are half a sleep, Fiver is close to that also, Hawkbit has a head ache, I should have been a sleep quite some time ago, the same with Keehar. Pipkin is very young and he needs to sleep more than all of us. How about we all remain quiet until we reach Watership Down, where we can all work together to dig a warren in the morning? I realize that BlackbÈrry is the only doe here, but she can teach you bucks and myself to dig. With all of us we'll have a warren dug before n“ghtfall tomorrow. Then maybe we can search around the High Hills for more does. Maybe at the farm, if I recall there was a kennel with rabbits in it. If we could possibly get them out, we could convince them to move on to Watership Down with us. Then we would have more defences if Efrafa was to ever attack again and more diggers too. I was born, raised and I grew up on that farm, there are several does in there.”
“H·nn·h right,” Keehar said, speaking with broken english that is barely audible. “WÈ ·re ·ll fr“Ènds. NÛnÈ Ûf ?s shÛ?ld bÈ f“ght“ng l“kÈ th“s. W·tersh“p DÛwn “s j?st ·t the th·t tÛp Ûf th·t hill. L“kÈ H·nn·h s·“d, wÈ h·vÈ tÛ rÈ·ch thÈrÈ bÈforÈ n“ghtfall, ·nd c·n rÈst Û?t “n thÈ opÈn fÛr ÛnÈ n“ght bÈforÈ ·ll Ûf yÛ? d“g · w·rrÈn for us.”
“Exactly,” Blackavar agreed, he had already began to stand up, after he had yawned of course and woke up Primrose. “If we ran as fast as we did when we were trying to get to the boat; we'll be there in no time. So why aren't we going by now? Let’s go.”
