Watership Down find two pairs of hutch rabbits. Despite their uncertainty about living wild, the hutch rabbits are willing to come to Watership. Hazel leads a raid on the farm the next day, during which he rescues both does but only one of the bucks. When the emissary returns soon after, Hazel and his rabbits learn that Efrafa is a police state led by the despotic General Woundwort. Holly and the other rabbits dispatched there have managed to return with little more than their lives intact. However, Holly's group has managed to identify an Efrafan doe named Hyzenthlay who wishes to leave
Watership Down of other people have seen their histories in that book...some people see it as an allegory for struggles against the Cold War, fascism, extremism...a protest against materialism, against the corporate state. "Watership Down" can be Ireland after the famine, Rwanda after the massacres." Kadish has praised both the fantasy genre and "Watership Down" for its "motifs [that] hit home in every culture...all passersby are welcome to bring their own subplots and plug into the archetype." Adams won the 1972 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. He also won the annual