Watership Down: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

As Dandelion finishes his tale, Acorn catches the scent of something strange. Suddenly, the ferns part, and an animal’s face peers through them—it is a lendri, or badger. Bigwig urges the rabbits to hurry and flee, and they follow him through the fern and onto a new path. The rabbits streak through the woods until they come upon a river—though it is only twelve feet wide and a couple of feet deep, to the rabbits, it seems immense and appears to be a dead end. Fiver states that they shall all have to cross the river, but Bigwig is deeply skeptical. Though rabbits can swim if they have to, they are not strong swimmers—and all of them are exhausted to boot. Hazel knows, though, that if Fiver thinks they should cross the river, his intuition must have told him that it will be okay to do so.