Richard Adams Use Of Ethos In Rabbit Culture

“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed" (Adams 43). In the creation of the secondary world of the novel, Richard Adams utilizes mythos to enrich the rabbit culture. Through these stories, the rabbits learn how to make up for their shortcomings by taking advantage of their assets. The series of myths in the novel discuss the rabbits’ reliance on trickery, emphasis on selflessness, and views on mortality and enhances the novel by providing a set of underlying morals that aids in understand rabbit behavior.

The stories of El-ahrairah reveal trickery as a central theme in rabbit culture and a necessity for survival.

For example, in the story of the King’s Lettuce, El-ahrairah deceive King Darzin when he sets “to work to disguise himself” as a doctor sent to discover the issues concerning Darzin’s lettuce (110). By tricking King Darzin, El-ahrairah is able to get his people out of Kelfazin and display the advantages associated with trickery to all of the rabbits listening to the story. This shows that in order to get out of trouble, the first method rabbits should turn to is trickery. In the Story of the Trial of El-ahrairah, Hufsa is sent to spy on El-ahrairah because of his tendency to trick and steal. El-ahrairah is able to deceive him by recruiting other animals to perform unusual actions, causing Hufsa to give a nearly unbelievable account to the jury of animals. By doing this, El-ahrairah saves his own life and is thus able to escape danger through use of wit. In this way, Adams depicts deception as an innate rabbit virtue that gets them both into and out of

trouble.
Perhaps the most blatant use of trickery occurs in the story of Rowsby Woof, when El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle decide to “chance Rowsby Woof for once” just to procure more desirable food, even though it is “dangerous, because the man had a gun” (403-404). The success of this risky mission clearly displays the positives in using trickery to the rabbits, and the cause of the mission displays how the rabbits use trickery for its own sake. Even though El-ahrairah did not desperately need to conduct the raid, he did it to amuse himself and to enjoy better food. In these ways, rabbit culture adopts its emphasis of trickery through the use of mythos in which trickery always pays off.
As supported by the mythos in the novel, rabbits rely on selflessness to overcome their obstacles.

Through the stories of El-ahrairah, selflessness is portrayed as being an admirable trait in a chief rabbit. Rabbits are relatively weak creatures, and they need to utilize the strengths of each member of the group in order to thrive. For example, he risks his life (along with Rabscuttle’s) by conducting a raid on King Darzin’s garden, a very dangerous garden in the second world of the novel. His motivation to save his people is meant to be conveyed to the rabbits listening to the story. It is through his selflessness that his people are saved, thus making it evident that the wellbeing of the warren depends on the selflessness of the chief

rabbit.
This selflessness is most apparent through the story of The Black Rabbit of Inlé. At the beginning of the story, it is said that El-ahrairah “had been risking his life again and again to bring down a few mouthfuls of grass for a doe and her family whose father had been killed the day before” (279). Although it may seem counterintuitive for a chief rabbit to risk his life for a relatively petty cause, this sort of generosity is a keystone in rabbit society. As the story progresses, so does El-ahrairah’s selflessness. When King Darzin traps his people, El-ahrairah decides to first entreat the help of Lord Frith, stating that he would do anything to save my [his] people” (280). When Frith declines his request, El-ahrairah selflessly requests the help of the Black Rabbit of Inlé, the rabbit personification of death, to save his people. In essence, El-ahrairah decides that meeting death is worth saving his people. After failing several times to win the support of the Black Rabbit, El-ahrairah resigns to self-sacrifice by plunging “ into the nearest hole faster than a raindrop into the ground” in order to catch the white blindness and infect King Darzin’s army (288). This is the ultimate demonstration of El-ahrairah’s self-abnegation, and he is rewarded when the Black Rabbit decides to save his people anyway. In this way, Adams uses the myth to display how rabbit culture relies on self-sacrifice and how selflessness is the only path to survival.
The mythos in the novel depict the rabbits’ views on immortality and the afterlife, which is central to their culture. The rabbits use stories of immortal beings to explain the world around them, attributing their creation to an almighty being called Frith, whom they use to make sense of their position in life and their assets. When El-ahrairah is blessed by Lord Frith, “his back legs grew long and powerful and he thumped the hillside” (43). This phenomenon instills pride in the rabbits and aids them in making sense of their powerful legs. This also establishes the rabbits’ tendency to run away and hide from their enemies. Since rabbits are weak and have many predators, they also need a way to sustain hope for survival. Lord Frith provides them with this hope by promising El-ahrairah that his “people shall never be destroyed” (43). This statement comforts the rabbits, providing them with a feeling that a powerful being is watching out for them. Similarly, the rabbits use mythos to attempt to understand death as well. The story of the Black Rabbit of Inlé describes The Black Rabbit, the rabbits’ personification of death, as “fear and everlasting darkness… he is that cold, bad dream from which we can only entreat Lord Frith to save us” (280). In coordination with Lord Frith, the Black Rabbit summons the rabbits to die, thus making him a feared figure. In order to come to terms with death, the rabbit tales portray the Black Rabbit as an all-powerful being whose will is law. When rabbits are killed by elil, “their foolishness comes from the Black Rabbit, for it is by his will that they do not smell the dog or see the gun” (280). This assures the rabbits that they will only die when they are called, and when they are called, there is no way to evade death. Fortunately for the rabbits, the Black Rabbit “serves Lord Frith,” who assures them that their species will not die out (280). In this way, the rabbits are prompted to pray to Frith if they want to elude death and suffering.
The mythological tales in the novel provide the audience with a set of underlying morals that explain rabbit behavior. In the story of the King’s Lettuce, El-ahrairah acts as a selfless negotiator for his warren. He notices his people are suffering in Kelfazin and addresses his people’s needs to Prince Rainbow. Similarly, when the Watership Down warren discovers Efrafan officers hiding around the down, Hazel attempts to negotiate with General Woundwart. Hazel demonstrates his selfishness by allowing the dog from Nuthanger Farm to chase after him in order to save his warren. Also, El-ahrairah demonstrates his trust in his fellow rabbits by trusting Rabscuttle to perform the difficult mission of going undercover into King Darzin’s garden. This demonstrates the trust that chief rabbits have in their fellow rabbits, and the ability of the chief rabbit to step back and allow another rabbit to perform a job he/she is better suited for. Similarly, Hazel trusts his fellow rabbits in the creation of the new warren. For example, he trusts Strawberry to head the construction of the honeycomb, and this turns “out to be something of a triumph for Strawberry” (156). In this way, Hazel’s ability to trust his followers parallels the stories of El-ahrairah. Moreover, Rabscuttle is the example of a perfect Owsla officer (follower in general). He is loyal and obedient to El-ahrairah and sneaks into King Darzin’s garden as he is told. This explains the emphasis on loyalty for the rabbits in the novel. Just like Rabscuttle, Bigwig listens to Hazel when he is given the dangerous task of entering Efrafa. In Efrafa, Captain Campion is obedient to General Woundwart and was one of the only rabbits “for whom Woundwort felt a genuine respect” (320). This obedience and loyalty was even admired by Bigwig, who “could feel only what a pity it was that the two of them should be enemies” (367). This affinity for Captain Campion is due to the fact that Campion fits the attributes of a loyal rabbit that is well regarded in the stories of El-ahrairah. Lastly, Rabscuttle demonstrated trickery by deceiving the animals in King Darzin’s garden into thinking he was one of them. This not only promotes rabbit dishonesty, but also promotes going incognito to accomplish a task. Bigwig demonstrated the same traits by tricking the people of Efrafa into thinking he was on their side. In this way, the rabbits in the novel drew on the knowledge acquired from the myths of El-ahrairah to overcome their obstacles.