expression!"
That was a wonderful Summer!
Near the house where they lived there was a wood, and in the long Juneevenings the Boy liked to go there after tea to play. He took theVelveteen Rabbit with him, and before he wandered off to pick flowers,or play at brigands among the trees, he always made the Rabbit alittle nest somewhere among the bracken, where he would be quite cosy,for he was a kind-hearted little boy and he liked Bunny to becomfortable. One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone,watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in thegrass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken nearhim.
They were rabbits like himself, but quite furry and brand-new. Theymust have been very well made, for their seams didn't show at all, andthey changed shape in a queer way when they moved; one minute theywere long and thin and the next minute fat and bunchy, instead ofalways staying the same like he did. Their feet padded softly on theground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses,while the Rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuckout, for he knew that people who jump generally have something to windthem up. But he couldn't see it. They were evidently a new kind ofrabbit altogether.
Summer Days
They stared at him, and the little Rabbit stared back. And all thetime their noses twitched.
"Why don't you get up and play with us?" one of them asked.
"I don't feel like it," said the Rabbit, for he didn't want to explainthat he had no clockwork.
"Ho!" said the furry rabbit. "It's as easy as anything," And he gave abig hop sideways and stood on his hind legs.
"I don't believe you can!" he said.
"I can!" said the little Rabbit. "I can jump higher than anything!" Hemeant when the Boy threw him, but of course he didn't want to say so.
"Can you hop on your hind legs?" asked the furry rabbit.
That was a dreadful question, for the Velveteen Rabbit had no hindlegs at all! The back of him was made all in one piece, like apincushion. He sat still in the bracken, and hoped that the otherrabbits wouldn't notice.
"I don't want to!" he said again.
But the wild rabbits have very sharp eyes. And this one stretched outhis neck and looked.
"He hasn't got any hind legs!" he called out. "Fancy a rabbit withoutany hind legs!" And he began to laugh.
"I have!" cried the little Rabbit. "I have got hind legs! I am sittingon them!"
"Then stretch them out and show me, like this!" said the wild rabbit.And he began to whirl round and dance, till the little Rabbit gotquite dizzy.
"I don't like dancing," he said. "I'd rather sit still!"
But all the while he was longing to dance, for a funny new ticklyfeeling ran through him, and he felt he would give anything in theworld to be able to jump about like these rabbits did.
The strange rabbit stopped dancing, and came quite close. He came soclose this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit'sear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears andjumped backwards.
"He doesn't smell right!" he exclaimed. "He isn't a rabbit at all! Heisn't real!"
"I am Real!" said the little Rabbit. "I am Real! The Boy said so!" Andhe nearly began to cry.
Just then there was a sound of footsteps, and the Boy ran past nearthem, and with a stamp of feet and a flash of white tails the twostrange rabbits disappeared.
"Come back and play with me!" called the little Rabbit. "Oh, do comeback! I know I am Real!"
But there was no answer, only the little ants ran to and fro, and thebracken swayed gently where the two strangers had passed. TheVelveteen Rabbit was all alone.
"Oh, dear!" he thought. "Why did they run away like that? Why couldn'tthey stop and talk to me?"
For a long time he lay very still, watching the bracken, and hopingthat they would come back. But they never returned, and presently thesun sank lower and the little white moths fluttered out, and the Boycame and carried him home.
Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but theBoy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all hiswhiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and hisbrown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcelylooked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was alwaysbeautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. Hedidn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magichad made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter.
And then, one day, the Boy was ill.
His face grew very flushed, and he talked in his sleep, and his littlebody was so hot that it burned the Rabbit when he held him close.Strange people came and went in the nursery, and a light burned allnight and through it all the little Velveteen Rabbit lay there, hiddenfrom sight under the bedclothes, and he never stirred, for he wasafraid that if they found him some one might take him away, and heknew that the Boy needed him.
It was a long weary time, for the Boy was too ill to play, and thelittle Rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long.But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time whenthe Boy should be well again, and they would go out in the gardenamongst the flowers and the butterflies and play splendid games in theraspberry thicket like they used to. All sorts of delightful things heplanned, and while the Boy lay half asleep he crept up close to thepillow and whispered them in his ear. And presently the fever turned,and the Boy got better. He was able to sit up in bed and look atpicture-books, while the little Rabbit cuddled close at his side. Andone day, they let him get up and dress.
It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open. Theyhad carried the Boy out on to the balcony, wrapped in a shawl, and thelittle Rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking.
The Boy was going to the seaside to-morrow. Everything was arranged,and now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders. They talkedabout it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, withjust his head peeping out, and listened. The room was to bedisinfected, and all the books and toys that the Boy had played within bed must be burnt.
"Hurrah!" thought the little Rabbit. "To-morrow we shall go to theseaside!" For the boy had often talked of the seaside, and he wantedvery much to see the big waves coming in, and the tiny crabs, and thesand castles.
Just then Nana caught sight of him.
"How about his old Bunny?" she asked.
"That?" said the doctor. "Why, it's a mass of scarlet fevergerms!-Burn it at once. What? Nonsense! Get him a new one. He mustn'thave that any more!"
Anxious Times
And so the little Rabbit was put into a sack with the oldpicture-books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of thegarden behind the fowl-house. That was a fine place to make a bonfire,only the gardener was too busy just then to attend to it. He had thepotatoes to dig and the green peas to gather, but next morning hepromised to come quite early and burn the whole lot.
That night the Boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a newbunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny, all white plush withreal glass eyes, but the Boy was too excited to care very much aboutit. For to-morrow he was going to the seaside, and that in itself wassuch a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else.
And while the Boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the littleRabbit lay among the old picture-books in the corner behind thefowl-house, and he felt very lonely. The sack had been left untied,and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through theopening and look out. He was shivering a little, for he had alwaysbeen used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat hadworn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer anyprotection to him. Near by he could see the thicket of raspberrycanes, growing tall and close like a tropical jungle, in whose shadowhe had played with the Boy on bygone mornings. He thought of thoselong sunlit hours in the garden-how happy they were-and a greatsadness came over him. He seemed to see them all
pass before him, eachmore beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, thequiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the littleants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that hewas Real. He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and allthat he had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one'sbeauty and become Real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a realtear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to theground.
And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen aflower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all likeany that grew in the garden. It had slender green leaves the colour ofemeralds, and in the centre of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup.It was so beautiful that the little Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit Page 2
