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Watership Down
Watership down Cover
Author Richard Adams
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Life is quiet in the Sandleford warren. There is plenty of grass, plenty of space, plenty of sunshine. Things may be best for the warren police, the Owsla, but every rabbit can be content and safe.

Hazel lives with his brother on the outskirts: Fiver, his brother, is a bit of an odd fellow, for a rabbit. He gets small fits occassionally, but he knows things that he shouldn't know, and he is never wrong. So what's a rabbit to do when Fiver starts getting the shakes and saying that the whole warren is going to be destroyed? Hazel tries to bring a warning to the Threarrah, the leader of the warren; life has been to quiet for too long, though. The Threarrah will not listen. There is only one choice left: leaving the warren, and as soon as can be.

Hazel and Fiver employ the help of one of the Owsla, Bigwig, to find rabbits willing to leave. Only a few of the less well-off would be willing, but they must save as many as they can. They meet at fu-Inlé, the middle of the night. Only a handful choose to leave. When they are finally ready to set of, the Owsla try to stop them; they escape, but they cannot return to the Sandleford warren.

And so this handful of rabbits set out on a great adventure. None of them knows where they must travel to in order to find a safe haven. Fiver's dream of a high safe place draws Hazel to journey farther, leaving behind anything familiar. This is the classic tale of new beginnings, of the hardship and heart of life. This is the tale of the warren of Watership Down.

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