one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
MATTHEW 25:45
Our virtues now are the high and horrible
Ones of a streaming wound which heals in evil.
ROY FULLER, "October 1942"
El-ahrairah, they say, often used to visit this warren and that, staying a few days with the Chief Rabbit and his Owsla, and advising them about any problems they had. Even the oldest and most experienced rabbits respected his advice and were glad to see him. He was not usually in any hurry to talk about himself, but was a most sympathetic listener, always ready to hear of others' difficulties and adventures, and to give praise where it was deserved. I've often found myself hoping that one day he might drop in here, and I think we ought all to keep a wary eye open for him, for they say that often he's not so easy to recognize: and he has good reasons for that, as you shall hear.
They say that there was once a warren called Parda-rail, whose rabbits thought the world of themselves. According to them, there was no one so spruce, no one so daring, no one so fleet of foot, as the rabbits of Parda-rail; and as for newcomers, well, you more or less had to have a personal recommendation from Prince Rainbow to get in there. The Chief Rabbit was called Henthred, and before you could even speak to Henthred-rah you had to be brought up and introduced by one of the Owsla. And as for his doe, Anflellen--oh! she was a dream of delight until you knew her well enough to realize that she lacked practically all the qualities of an honest rabbit and had other rabbits to do everything for her.
Well, one evening two of the Owsla of this precious warren, Hallion and Thyken, were making their way home after a successful raid on a distant kitchen garden, when near the outskirts of Parda-rail they came upon a rabbit, evidently a hlessi, a wanderer, lying on his side under a thornbush, breathing hard, and plainly in a bad way. One ear was torn and bloody, both his front paws were just about encased in dried mud, and he'd lost half the fur on his head. As they approached him, he tried to get up, but after two attempts he fell back and lay where he was. They stopped to look at him and to make sure he wasn't from Parda-rail. As they were sniffing him over, he said to Hallion, "Sir, I'm afraid I'm in a bad way. I'm utterly exhausted and I know I can't run. If I stay here like this, I think one or other of the Thousand is bound to get me. Can you give me shelter in your warren for the night?"
"Give you shelter?" answered Hallion. "A dirty, disreputable rabbit like you? Why--"
"Oh, it's a rabbit, is it?" put in Thyken. "I was wondering what it was."
"You'd better get yourself out of here," went on Hallion. "We don't want the likes of you hanging about near Parda-rail. Someone might think you came from there."
The hlessi, who seemed desperate, implored them to help him to get to their warren, for he thought it was his only chance. But neither of them would do so, saying that a dirty vagabond like him would only bring disgrace on the name of Parda-rail. They left him still pleading and made their way back without giving him another thought.
About two or three days later, El-ahrairah dropped by, as was his wont in the long days of summer. Henthred greeted him with much respect, saying he hoped he would stay with them several days and enjoy the clover, which was just in season. El-ahrairah accepted the invitation and said he would like to meet the Owsla, whom he hadn't seen for quite some time.
They all came proudly before him, with sleek fur and white-flashing tails, and El-ahrairah praised their appearance and told Henthred that they looked a most likely lot. Then he spoke to them, glancing from one to another as he did so.
"You look the most handsome bunch of rabbits," he said, "that anyone could well wish to see; and I'm sure your hearts and spirits are just as good as your appearance. For example," he went on, turning to one of them, a big buck by the name of Frezail, "what would you do if you were coming home one evening and came upon a wounded hlessi who begged you to help him to your warren and give him shelter for the night?"
"I'd certainly help him," replied Frezail, "and let him stay with us for as long as he liked."
"And you?" asked El-ahrairah, turning to the next rabbit.
"The same, sir."
And so they all said.
Then, before their very eyes, El-ahrairah slowly changed and little by little became the pitiful hlessi whom Hallion and Thyken had encountered a few evenings before. He fell on his side and as he did so looked up at Hallion and Thyken. "And how about you?" he said. But they answered nothing at all, only staring at him in consternation.
"You didn't recognize me, then?" inquired El-ahrairah. All the rest of the Owsla gazed from him to Hallion and Thyken, not understanding what he meant but guessing that there must be something disconcerting between El-ahrairah and those two.
"You--you didn't look like yourself," faltered Thyken at last. "We couldn't tell--"
"Couldn't tell that I was a rabbit--is that it?" said El-ahrairah. "Are you sure you know now?"
Then, before he changed back, he made them all come up close and look at him, "to make sure," he said, "that they'd know me another time." Hallion and Thyken were fully expecting that he'd come down hard on them in some way or other, but all he did was to tell Henthred, in everyone's hearing, what had happened that evening when they'd come upon him lying under the thornbush. They all knew in their hearts that they wouldn't have done any better, and they left him without another word; all except Henthred and a gray-furred, ancient-looking rabbit, whom Henthred introduced to El-ahrairah as Themmeron, the oldest rabbit in the warren.
"All I want to say, my lord," quavered Themmeron, "is that if I had seen you that evening, I would have known that you were not what you seemed, although I can't say whether I could have told that you were our Prince with a Thousand Enemies. But that you were in disguise I would certainly have known."
"How?" asked El-ahrairah, a little put out, for he had been feeling that no one could have looked more the part of a poor old hlessi than he had.
"Because I would have perceived, my lord, that you didn't look like a rabbit who had seen the Hole in the Sky. Nor do you now, for the matter of that."
"The Hole in the Sky?" said El-ahrairah. "And what may that be?"
"It can't be told," replied Themmeron. "It can't be told. I mean no disrespect, my lord--"
"No, no, that doesn't matter," said El-ahrairah. "I just want to know what you mean by the Hole in the Sky. How can there be a hole in the sky?"