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General Woundwort
The de facto leader of a countryside warren. Though wild rabbits live in the warren, they are tended by a local farmer who leaves them fresh vegetables and roots to eat. The rabbits live in apparent harmony—but secretly know that any one of them could be captured at any time by the farmer and killed for their meat or pelt. Cowslip’s willingness to sacrifice a few members of his warren for the prosperity of the greater good shows that there are many types of violence in the rabbit world—not all of them obvious at first glance, and some much more insidious than others.
Cowslip Quotes in Watership Down
The Watership Down quotes below are all either spoken by Cowslip or refer to Cowslip. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 17
Quotes
“One day the farmer thought, ‘I could increase those rabbits: make them part of my farm—their meat, their skins. […] He began to shoot all elil—lendri, homba, stoat, owl. He put out food for the rabbits, but not too near the warren. For his purpose they had to become accustomed to going about in the fields and the wood. And then he snared them—not too many: as many as he wanted and not as many as would frighten them all away or destroy the warren. They grew big and strong and healthy, for he saw to it that they had all of the best, particularly in winter, and nothing to fear—except the running knot in the hedge gap and the wood path. So they lived as he wanted them to live and all the time there were a few who disappeared. The rabbits became strange in many ways, different from other rabbits. They knew well enough what was happening. But even to themselves they pretended that all was well, for the food was good, they were protected, they had nothing to fear but the one fear; and that struck here and there, never enough at a time to drive them away.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Cowslip Quotes in Watership Down
The Watership Down quotes below are all either spoken by Cowslip or refer to Cowslip. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 17
Quotes
“One day the farmer thought, ‘I could increase those rabbits: make them part of my farm—their meat, their skins. […] He began to shoot all elil—lendri, homba, stoat, owl. He put out food for the rabbits, but not too near the warren. For his purpose they had to become accustomed to going about in the fields and the wood. And then he snared them—not too many: as many as he wanted and not as many as would frighten them all away or destroy the warren. They grew big and strong and healthy, for he saw to it that they had all of the best, particularly in winter, and nothing to fear—except the running knot in the hedge gap and the wood path. So they lived as he wanted them to live and all the time there were a few who disappeared. The rabbits became strange in many ways, different from other rabbits. They knew well enough what was happening. But even to themselves they pretended that all was well, for the food was good, they were protected, they had nothing to fear but the one fear; and that struck here and there, never enough at a time to drive them away.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
