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TheSkin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so

old and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead

necklaces. 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 childloves 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 happen often 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 your 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. "

" I suppose you are real? " said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said

it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only

smiled.

" The Boy's Uncle made me Real, " he said. " That was a great many years ago; but

once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always. "

 

VELVETEEN RABBIT

by Margery Williams