10/28/2022 0 Comments Rabbit line art view from aboveWhat remains is a strong sense of loss, very appropriate for a lamentation or elegy. The established folklore surrounding "the thousand" is understood, but there is no mention of any sort of "persistence of personality" found within the prayer. My Friend", yet can be spoken by a larger group again, as rabbits are by their nature, social animals. Structurally, the prayer is very personal, "My Heart. The very palpable loss is expressed in terms even a child could understand, but is in no way talking down to the reader, or diminishing the grief felt by the characters. The simple eloquence of equating death with the image of a still lying rabbit (the antithesis of what a rabbit ought to do, according to their own folklore), is very powerful, even profound. In the context of the prayer, then, the rabbits essentially "die" a little bit at the loss of their friend the rabbits are heart broken. "The thousand" then, refers to all of the creatures in the world who seek to do harm to the rabbits. El-ahrirah ignored Frith, and so as punishment, Frith endowed the other creatures with a ravenous hunger for the children of El-ahrirah. He garnered this name by ignoring his god's (Frith) warning that his children were multiplying too fast, devastating the land and the other creatures. The progenitor of all rabbits, according to their own folklore, is named El-ahrairah, whose name translates to "Prince with a thousand enemies". I believe the prayer is straightforward, with the exception of "the thousand". For those unfamiliar with the novel the quote comes from, Watership Down, which contains some marvelous mythology and folklore, some explanation may be required. "My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped running today" - Richard AdamsSimple yet profound, and probably my favourite "prayer" from any work of fiction I also don't seem to be alone, a quick Google returns around 173 million hits.
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