Review of Tales From Watership Down by Richard Adams

Welcome back to the beautiful and unique world of the rabbits of Watership Down. In this book of short stories Richard Adams not only gives us a glimpse into the lives of our favorite rabbits after the defeat of General Woundwort but allows us to learn some of the great folk stories well known to all rabbits.

Here’s the Introduction from the book:

The tales in this book have been divided into three parts. First come five traditional stories, which all rabbits know, about the hero El-ahrairah (“The Prince with a Thousand Enemies”) and some of his deeds and adventures. Two of these, “The Fox in the Water” and “The Hole in the Sky,” are glancingly mentioned by Dandelion and Hawkbit toward the end of Chapter 30 of Watership Down, and Bigwig, during his fight with General Woundwort (Chapter 47), hears behind him Bluebell telling “The Fox in the Water” to the does. At the end of Part I have been included two tales, “The Rabbit’s Ghost Story” and “Speedwell’s Story.” The later seemed worth including as representative of the kind of nonsense tales which rabbits enjoy.

Part II contains four of the many stories which are told of the adventures of El-ahrairah and his stalwart, Rabscuttle, in the course of their long journey home from their terrible encounter with the Black Rabbit of Inlé.

In Part III are further tales of Hazel and his rabbits, which took place during the winter, spring and early summer following the defeat of General Woundwort.

My Review:

Watership Down is one of my all-time favorite books. I was extremely pleased to find this gem tucked away in my local library. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting my rabbit friends and hearing their folk tales. Keep in mind this is truly a companion piece to the original novel and will have deeper meaning for the lovers of the rabbits of Watership Down.