Tales from Watership Down

Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams
Hutchinson - March 1, 1996
198 pages

The author of Watership Down has penned a sequel of sorts. It is a collection of short stories in three parts: the first part are traditional stories of the rabbit trickster El-ahrairah. The second part are more stories of El-ahrairah and his faithful companion Rabscuttle, although these are on their way home from the Black Rabbit of Inle. The third and final part follows the rabbits on the Down in events after what happened in Watership Down.

I was thrilled to see that this was mostly stories of El-ahrairah. The few stories that were mentioned in the original were delightfully whimsical, and the stories in Tales are the same way. The first part also includes a story by Blackavar, a rabbit rescued from Efrafa, about a ghost rabbit. However, it is also ruined by a nonsensical story by the jester-type rabbit Bluebell. In the third part, I started off with a grin upon seeing that Hyzenthlay, my favorite character from the original because of the fact that she is a strong doe, becomes elevated to co-Chief Rabbit with her mate Hazel as opposed to remaining stuck in the "First Lady" type position. I was, however, less than thrilled to see that Blackberry is rarely mentioned and is only once called upon for his intelligence. This book still holds almost as much of the magic as the first. Almost.

Grade: B+