From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of concepts in Watership Down, a novel by Richard Adams.
- Bob-stones – a very simple game popular amongst rabbits. One rabbit will cover a group of pebbles with his paw, while the other must guess something about their nature - one or two, light or dark etc.
- Owsla – a sort of police force of high-status buck rabbits surrounding the Chief Rabbit. Often they are fighters, but sometimes a storyteller or seer might win a place. They serve the Chief Rabbit by doing important tasks such as stealing lettuce, etc. They are very good fighters in the warren.
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- Owslafa – found only in Efrafa, the "Council Police" are a sinister organisation, commanded by Vervain, whose job it is to maintain General Woundwort's regime and to deal severely with dissent and breach of discipline.
- Outskirter – a rabbit yet to achieve full size and weight, and therefore pushed somewhat to the margins when it comes to privileges of food etc. Most of Hazel's initial band are outskirters, including Hazel himself.
- Rah – "leader" or "prince", used as an honorific suffix when addressing the Chief Rabbit of a warren. It also forms part of the name of El-ahrairah, which is a corruption of Elil-hrair-rah, literally Enemies-thousand-prince and generally rendered into English as The Prince with a Thousand Enemies. The word can also be used to mark something particularly good: for example, flayrah means particularly tasty food. In this context it could be imagined to mean "great" or "above average" when not referring to an animate creature.
- Tharn – the state of paralysis which overcomes a rabbit in extreme terror; also used metaphorically on occasion (for example about Cowslip's warren).
- White Blindness – myxomatosis, a disease greatly feared by the rabbits.
- Wide Patrol – an invention of General Woundwort, Wide Patrols are scouting missions covering long distances, usually lasting several days with rabbits sleeping rough overnight.
