The Velveteen Rabbit ✨ Sleepy Story to Soothe Anxiety

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Hi, Sleep Wave listeners.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Carissa here.

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Tonight I've got a classic story for you that you'll probably remember.

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: But first, did you know that we offer a subscription to this podcast that has zero ads and access

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: to our entire back catalog?

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're loving going to sleep with us each night, there are so many more episodes

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: for you to enjoy.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of a thing I enjoy, reading my young son bedtime stories.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Just this past weekend I read The Velveteen Rabbit to my 3-year-old for the first time.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: He has a special stuffed animal friend that he takes everywhere, and I felt the love and

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: magic imbued in these special childhood toys so keenly as we read it before bed.

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[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Join in two taps via the link in the show notes.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Cancel anytime.

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[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Get cozy and comfortable, and if you're 7 years old or 70 years old, we'll enjoy

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: this sweet nostalgic story together.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: There was once a Velveteen Rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: He was fat and bunchy as a rabbit should be.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: His coat was spotted brown and white.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: He had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink satin.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the boys' stocking, with

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: There were other things in the stocking – nuts and oranges and a toy engine,

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But the rabbit was quite the best of all.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: For at least two hours, the boy loved him.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the aunts and uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and unwrapping of parcels.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And in the excitement of looking at all the new presents,

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: For a long time, he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor,

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and no one thought very much about him.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: He was naturally shy, and being only made of Velveteen,

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon everyone else.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: They were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint,

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: caught the tone from them, and never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: in technical terms.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: The rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything,

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: for he didn't know that real rabbits existed.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: He thought they were all stuffed with stardust like himself,

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and he understood that sawdust was quite out of date,

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and should never be mentioned in modern circles.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion who was made by the soldiers,

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and should have had broader views,

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: put on airs and pretended he was connected with government.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Between them all, the poor little rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and commonplace, and the only person who was kind to him at all was the horse.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: The horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches,

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and showed the seams underneath,

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger,

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and by and by break their mainsprings and pass away.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful,

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the horse

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: understand all about it.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: What is real? asked the rabbit one day,

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender before Nana came to tidy the room.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Real isn't how you are made, said the horse. It's a thing that happens to you.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you,

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: then you become real.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Does it hurt? asked the rabbit.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, said the horse, for he was always truthful.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: When you are real, you don't mind being hurt.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Does it happen all at once, like being wound up? he asked.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Or bit by bit?

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't happen all at once, said the horse. You become. It takes a long time.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily,

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off,

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_00]: But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real, you can't be ugly.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Except to people who don't understand.

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I suppose you are real, said the rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it,

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: for he thought the horse might be sensitive. But the horse only smiled.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: The boy's uncle made me real, he said. That was a great many years ago.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But once you are real, you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: The rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called real happened to him.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: He longed to become real, to know what it felt like.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: He wished he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: There was a person called Nana who ruled the nursery.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and hustled them away in cupboards. She called this tidying up.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And the playthings all hated it. Especially the tin ones.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: The rabbit didn't mind it so much, for wherever he was thrown, he came down soft.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: One evening, when the boy was going to bed,

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him.

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So she simply looked about her. And seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open,

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_00]: she made a swoop.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Here, she said, take your old bunny. He'll do to sleep with you.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And she dragged the rabbit out by one ear and put him into the boy's arms.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: That night, and for many nights after, the velveteen rabbit slept in the boy's bed.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: At first, he found it rather uncomfortable, for the boy hugged him very tight.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes he rolled over on him. And sometimes he pushed him too far under the pillow.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And he missed, too, those long moonlit hours in the nursery,

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: when all the house was silent and his talks with the horse.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: But very soon, he grew to like it. For the boy used to talk to him,

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: the real rabbits lived in. And they had splendid games together in whispers,

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: when Nana had gone away to her supper and left the nightlight burning on the mantelpiece.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And when the boy dropped off to sleep, the rabbit would snuggle down close under his little

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: warm chin and dream, with the boy's hands clasped close round him all night long.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And so, time went on. And the little rabbit was very happy,

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: so happy that he never noticed how his beautiful velveteen fur was getting shabbier and shabbier,

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and his tail becoming unsewn, and all the pink rubbed off his nose where the boy had kissed him.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Spring came, and they had long days in the garden, for wherever the boy went,

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the rabbit went too. He had rides in the wheelbarrow, and picnics on the grass,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and lovely fairy huts built for him under the raspberry canes behind the flower border.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And once, when the boy was called away suddenly to go out to tea,

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: the rabbit was left out on the lawn until long after dusk. And Nana had to come and look for

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: him with the candle, because the boy couldn't go to sleep unless he was there. He was wet

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: through with the dew, and quite earthy from diving into the burrows the boy had made for

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: him in the flower bed. And Nana grumbled as she rubbed him off with a corner of her apron.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_00]: You must have your old bunny, she said. Fancy all that fuss for a toy.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: The boy sat up in bed and stretched out his hands.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Give me my bunny, he said. You mustn't say that. He isn't a toy. He's real.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: When the little rabbit heard that, he was happy, for he knew that what the horse had said

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: was true at last. The nursery magic had happened to him, and he was a toy no longer.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: He was real. The boy himself had said it. That night, he was almost too happy to sleep,

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And into his boot button eyes, that had long ago lost their polish,

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: there came a look of wisdom and beauty. So that even Nana noticed it next morning when she picked

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_00]: him up, and said, I declare if that old bunny hasn't got quite a knowing expression.

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_00]: That was a wonderful summer. Near the house where they lived, there was a wood,

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and in the long June evenings, the boy liked to go there after tea

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_00]: to play. He took the Velveteen Rabbit with him, and before he wandered off to pick flowers,

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: or play at brigands among the trees, he always made the rabbit a little nest somewhere among

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_00]: the bracken where he would be quite cozy. For he was a kind-hearted little boy,

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and he liked Bunny to be comfortable. One evening, while the rabbit was lying there alone,

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_00]: watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass,

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him.

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: They were rabbits like himself, but quite furry and brand new.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: They must have been very well made, for their seams didn't show at all,

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and they changed shape in a strange way when they moved. One minute they were long and thin,

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and the next minute fat and bunchy, instead of always staying the same like he did.

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: noses, while the rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out,

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_00]: for he knew that people who jump generally have something to wind them up.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But he couldn't see it, they were evidently a new kind of rabbit altogether.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_00]: They stared at him, and the little rabbit stared back, and all the time their noses twitched.

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_00]: "'Why don't you get up and play with us?' one of them asked.

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_00]: "'I don't feel like it,' said the rabbit, for he didn't want to explain that he had no clockwork.

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_00]: "'Ho!' said the furry rabbit.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: "'It's as easy as anything.' And he gave a big hop sideways and stood on his hind legs.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_00]: "'I don't believe you can,' he said.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: "'I can,' said the little rabbit.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: "'I can jump higher than anything.' He meant when the boy threw him,

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_00]: but of course he didn't want to say so.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: A funny new tickly feeling ran through him, and he felt he would give anything in the world

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: to be able to jump about like these rabbits did.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: The strange rabbit stopped dancing and came quite close.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_00]: He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the velveteen rabbit's ear,

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly, and flattened his ears, and jumped backwards.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: "'He doesn't smell right,' he exclaimed.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: "'He isn't a rabbit at all. He isn't real.'

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: "'I am real,' said the little rabbit.

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_00]: "'I am real.' The boy said so, and he nearly began to cry.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Just then there was a sound of footsteps, and the boy ran past near them,

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and with a stamp of feet and a flash of white tails, the two strange rabbits disappeared.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: "'Come back and play with me,' called the little rabbit.

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_00]: "'Oh, do come back. I know I am real.'

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But there was no answer. Only the little ants ran to and fro,

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and the bracken swayed gently where the two strangers had passed.

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The velveteen rabbit was all alone.

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_00]: "'Oh dear,' he thought. Why did they run away like that?'

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_00]: "'Why couldn't they stop and talk to me?'

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: For a long time he lay very still, watching the bracken,

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and hoping that they would come back. But they never returned, and presently

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_00]: the sun sank lower, and the little white moths fluttered out, and the boy came and carried him

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: home. Weeks passed, and the little rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the boy loved him just

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_00]: much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_00]: turned gray, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape,

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and he scarcely looked like a rabbit anymore, except to the boy. To him, he was always beautiful,

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and that was all that the little rabbit cared about. He didn't mind how he looked to other

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: people, because the nursery magic had made him real. And when you are real,

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: shabbiness doesn't matter. And then one day was ill. It was a long, weary time,

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_00]: for the boy was too ill to play, and the little rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_00]: all day long. But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time when the boy

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_00]: should be well again, and they would go out in the garden amongst the flowers

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and the butterflies, and play splendid games in the raspberry thicket like they used to.

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_00]: All sorts of delightful things he planned. And while the boy lay half asleep,

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_00]: he crept up close to the pillow, and whispered them in his ear.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And presently, the fever turned, and the boy got better. He was able to sit up in bed,

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and look at picture books, while the little rabbit cuddled close at his side.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And one day they let him get up and dress.

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And they had carried the boy out onto the balcony, wrapped in a shawl.

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And the little rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the boy was going to the seaside tomorrow. Everything was arranged,

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders.

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Hurrah, thought the little rabbit. Tomorrow we shall go to the seaside.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: For the boy had often talked of the seaside, and he wanted very much

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_00]: to see the big waves coming in, and the tiny crafts, and the sand castles.

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Just then, Nana caught sight of him.

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: How about his old bunny? She asked. That, said the doctor.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Why, it's a mass of germs. Throw it out? What nonsense! Get him a new one.

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_00]: He mustn't have that anymore. And so, the little rabbit was put into a sack

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: with the old picture books and a lot of rubbish,

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and carried out to the end of the garden behind the foul house.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That night, the boy slept in a different bedroom.

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Meant he had a new bunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny,

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_00]: all white plush with real glass eyes. But the boy was too excited to care very much about it.

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_00]: For tomorrow he was going to the seaside. And that, in itself, was such a wonderful thing

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_00]: that he could think of nothing else. And while the boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside,

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_00]: the little rabbit lay among the old picture books in the corner behind the foul house.

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And he felt very lonely.

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit, he was able to get his

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: head through the opening and look out. He was shivering a little,

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_00]: for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed.

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And by this time his coat had worn so thin and the red bear from hugging

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_00]: that it was no longer any protection to him. Nearby he could see a thicket of raspberry canes

[00:29:29] [SPEAKER_00]: growing tall and close like a tropical jungle in whose shadow he had played with the boy

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_00]: on bygone mornings. He thought of those long, sunlit hours in the garden,

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_00]: how happy they were. And a great sadness came over him.

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_00]: He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_00]: The fairy huts and the flower bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken

[00:30:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and the little ants ran over his paws. The wonderful day when he first knew that he was real.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_00]: He thought of the horse, so wise and gentle, and all that he had told him.

[00:30:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become real if it all ended like this?

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen,

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_00]: a flower grew out of the ground. A mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_00]: garden. It had slender green leaves the color of emeralds, and in the center of the leaves,

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_00]: a blossom like a golden cup. It was so beautiful that the little rabbit forgot to cry

[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and just lay there watching it. And presently the blossom opened,

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and out of it there stepped a fairy. She was quite the loveliest fairy in the whole world.

[00:32:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Her dress was of pearl and dew drops, and there were flowers round her neck.

[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And in her hair, and her face was like the most perfect flower of all.

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Then she came close to the little rabbit, and gathered him up in her arms,

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and kissed him on his velvety nose that was all damp from crying.

[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Little rabbit, she said, don't you know who I am?

[00:32:43] [SPEAKER_00]: The rabbit looked up at her, and it seemed to him that he had seen her before,

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_00]: but he couldn't think where. I am the nursery magic fairy, she said.

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved.

[00:33:06] [SPEAKER_00]: When they are old and worn out, and the children don't need them anymore,

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_00]: then I come and take them away with me, and turn them into real.

[00:33:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Wasn't I real before? asked the little rabbit.

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_00]: You were real to the boy, the fairy said, because he loved you.

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Now you shall be real to everyone. And she held the little rabbit close in her arms,

[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and flew with him into the wood. It was light now, for the moon had risen.

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_00]: All the forest was beautiful, and the fronds of the bracken shone like frosted silver.

[00:34:11] [SPEAKER_00]: In the open glade between the tree trunks, the wild rabbits danced with their shadows

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_00]: on the velvet grass. But when they saw the fairy, they all stopped dancing,

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and stood round in a ring to stare at her.

[00:34:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I've brought you a new playfellow, the fairy said. You must be very kind to him,

[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and teach him all he needs to know in Rabbitland, for he is going to live with you

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_00]: forever and ever. And she kissed the little rabbit again, and put him down on the grass.

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Run and play, little rabbit, she said. But the little rabbit sat quite still for a moment,

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and never moved. For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him,

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_00]: he suddenly remembered about his hind legs, and he didn't want them to see that he was made

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_00]: all in one piece. He did not know that when the fairy kissed him that last time,

[00:35:44] [SPEAKER_00]: she had changed him altogether. And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move.

[00:35:55] [SPEAKER_00]: If just then something hadn't tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing,

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_00]: he lifted his hind toe to scratch it. And he found that he actually had hind legs.

[00:36:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of dingy velveteen, he had brown fur, soft and shiny. His ears twitched by themselves,

[00:36:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass.

[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_00]: He gave one leap, and the joy of using those hind legs was so great

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_00]: that he went springing about the turf on them, jumping sideways and whirling round as the others

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_00]: did. And he grew so excited that when at last he did stop to look for the fairy,

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_00]: she had gone. He was a real rabbit at last, at home with the other rabbits.

[00:37:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Autumn passed and winter, and in the spring, when the days grew warm and sunny,

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_00]: the boy went out to play in the wood behind the house.

[00:37:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And while he was playing, two rabbits crept out from the bracken and peeped at him.

[00:37:41] [SPEAKER_00]: One of them was brown all over, but the other had strange markings under his fur,

[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_00]: as though long ago he had been spotted, and the spots still showed through.

[00:37:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And about his little soft nose and round his black eyes, there was something familiar.

[00:38:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So that the boy thought to himself, why, he looks just like my old bunny that was lost

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_00]: when I had scarlet fever, but he never knew that it really was his own bunny.

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be real.