An excerpt from
The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
2006-12-01 04:17:47 · 7 answers · asked by unworthychild 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
It's like you were just reading my mind- I just ordered that book and rabbit on buy.com for my daughter - who is 22!! It was her favorite book as a child and now it comes with the rabbit- yes, she IS regressing back to childhood because she just finished college and is out on her own for the first time in her life and it is scary to her and thank you sooo much for quoting the book--
2006-12-01 04:50:26 · answer #1 · answered by mac 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Velveteen Rabbit is the best children`s book ever. When my 30 yr. old son lost his old battered copy I went to a book store and ordered one for him for Christmas. It was a hit! He`s a normal male but the book contained a lot of childhood memories for him.
2006-12-01 04:48:30 · answer #2 · answered by Hamish 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have never read the book and now I am going to buy it to read to my son.
2006-12-01 04:48:08 · answer #3 · answered by Lotus Phoenix 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes i know im real. i know just what the author is saying. i read that book to my children over and over when they were little and they loved it. i have always loved that book.
2006-12-01 04:24:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I so need to find that for my children to enjoy!
2006-12-01 04:25:33 · answer #5 · answered by Jen-Jen 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
one of my favorite stories.
2006-12-01 04:24:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That was an acid trip.........
2006-12-01 04:21:33 · answer #7 · answered by germans 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋