Opening · page 21 2 3101"I don't feel like it," said the Rabbit, for he didn't want to explain that he had no clockwork.102"Ho!" said the furry rabbit. "103It's as easy as anything," And he gave a big hop sideways and stood on his hind legs.104"I don't believe you can!" he said.105"I can!" said the little Rabbit. "106I can jump higher than anything!"107He meant when the Boy threw him, but of course he didn't want to say so.108"Can you hop on your hind legs?" asked the furry rabbit.109That was a dreadful question, for the Velveteen Rabbit had no hind legs at all!110The back of him was made all in one piece, like a pincushion.111He sat still in the bracken, and hoped that the other rabbits wouldn't notice.112"I don't want to!" he said again.113But the wild rabbits have very sharp eyes.114And this one stretched out his neck and looked.115"He hasn't got any hind legs!" he called out. "116Fancy a rabbit without any hind legs!"117And he began to laugh.118"I have!" cried the little Rabbit. "119I have got hind legs!120I am sitting on them!"121"Then stretch them out and show me, like this!" said the wild rabbit.122And he began to whirl round and dance, till the little Rabbit got quite dizzy.123"I don't like dancing," he said. "124I'd rather sit still!"125But all the while he was longing to dance, for a funny new tickly feeling ran through him, and he felt he would give anything in the world to be able to jump about like these rabbits did.126The strange rabbit stopped dancing, and came quite close.checked by a teacher127He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit's ear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and jumped backwards.128"He doesn't smell right!" he exclaimed. "129He isn't a rabbit at all!130He isn't real!"131"I am Real!" said the little Rabbit. "132I am Real!133The Boy said so!"134And he nearly began to cry.135Just then there was a sound of footsteps, and the Boy ran past near them, and with a stamp of feet and a flash of white tails the two strange rabbits disappeared.136"Come back and play with me!" called the little Rabbit. "137Oh, do come back!138I know I am Real!"139But there was no answer, only the little ants ran to and fro, and the bracken swayed gently where the two strangers had passed.140The Velveteen Rabbit was all alone.141"Oh, dear!" he thought. "142Why did they run away like that?143Why couldn't they stop and talk to me?"144For a long time he lay very still, watching the bracken, and hoping that they would come back.145But they never returned, and presently the sun sank lower and the little white moths fluttered out, and the Boy came and carried him home.146Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much.147He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded.148He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy.149To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about.150He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter.checked by a teacher151And then, one day, the Boy was ill.152His face grew very flushed, and he talked in his sleep, and his little body was so hot that it burned the Rabbit when he held him close.153Strange people came and went in the nursery, and a light burned all night and through it all the little Velveteen Rabbit lay there, hidden from sight under the bedclothes, and he never stirred, for he was afraid that if they found him some one might take him away, and he knew that the Boy needed him.154It was a long weary time, for the Boy was too ill to play, and the little Rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long.155But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time when the Boy should be well again, and they would go out in the garden amongst the flowers and the butterflies and play splendid games in the raspberry thicket like they used to.156All sorts of delightful things he planned, and while the Boy lay half asleep he crept up close to the pillow and whispered them in his ear.157And presently the fever turned, and the Boy got better.158He was able to sit up in bed and look at picture-books, while the little Rabbit cuddled close at his side.159And one day, they let him get up and dress.160It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open.161They had carried the Boy out on to the balcony, wrapped in a shawl, and the little Rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking.162The Boy was going to the seaside to-morrow.163Everything was arranged, and now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders.164They talked about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, with just his head peeping out, and listened.165The room was to be disinfected, and all the books and toys that the Boy had played with in bed must be burnt.166"Hurrah!" thought the little Rabbit. "167To-morrow we shall go to the seaside!"168For the boy had often talked of the seaside, and he wanted very much to see the big waves coming in, and the tiny crabs, and the sand castles.169Just then Nana caught sight of him.170"How about his old Bunny?" she asked.171"That?" said the doctor. "172Why, it's a mass of scarlet fever germs!-Burn it at once.173What?174Nonsense!175Get him a new one.176He mustn't have that any more!"177Anxious Times178And so the little Rabbit was put into a sack with the old picture-books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of the garden behind the fowl-house.179That was a fine place to make a bonfire, only the gardener was too busy just then to attend to it.180He had the potatoes to dig and the green peas to gather, but next morning he promised to come quite early and burn the whole lot.181That night the Boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a new bunny to sleep with him.182It was a splendid bunny, all white plush with real glass eyes, but the Boy was too excited to care very much about it.183For to-morrow he was going to the seaside, and that in itself was such a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else.184And while the Boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the little Rabbit lay among the old picture-books in the corner behind the fowl-house, and he felt very lonely.185The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out.186He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.187Near by he could see the thicket of raspberry canes, growing tall and close like a tropical jungle, in whose shadow he had played with the Boy on bygone mornings.188He thought of those long sunlit hours in the garden-how happy they were-and a great sadness came over him.189He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the little ants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that he was Real.190He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and all that he had told him.191Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become Real if it all ended like this?192And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.193And then a strange thing happened.194For where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden.195It had slender green leaves the colour of emeralds, and in the centre of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup.196It was so beautiful that the little Rabbit forgot to cry, and just lay there watching it.197And presently the blossom opened, and out of it there stepped a fairy.198She was quite the loveliest fairy in the whole world.199Her dress was of pearl and dew-drops, and there were flowers round her neck and in her hair, and her face was like the most perfect flower of all.200And she came close to the little Rabbit and gathered him up in her arms and kissed him on his velveteen nose that was all damp from crying.1 2 3↑ back to The Velveteen RabbitThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/page/2/