A boy and a bunny

“What is REAL?” asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day… “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 [someone] 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… once you are Real you can’t become unreal again.  It lasts for always.”

~ Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real

M x

{Image shot at JinkyArt workshop, Canberra 2012}

This entry was posted in Children.

6 Comments

  1. Angela January 6, 2013 at 3:51 am #

    Beautiful Mel! LOVE the Velveteen Rabbit too! I only discovered the story as an adult reading to my own children, but it’s so beautiful!

  2. Anastasia January 6, 2013 at 8:05 pm #

    It’s gorgeous Mel! I love that book. Such a sweet image, made my day brighter 🙂

  3. Katie January 7, 2013 at 7:57 am #

    So, so beautiful!!

  4. melriddell January 7, 2013 at 10:20 am #

    Thank you so much Angela! I, too, only discovered the story in adulthood – I wish I had known of it sooner. x

    That’s so lovely of you to say, Anastasia! Thank you!! xo

    Thanks so much, Katie! xx

  5. Jody Ryan January 17, 2013 at 3:11 pm #

    Cute Bunny – I so adore this shot xx

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