Margery Williams

Name: The Velveteen Rabbit
Author: Margery Williams

The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

Summary

“The Velveteen Rabbit”, published in 1922, is a work by Margery Williams. It explores elements such as little Rabbit, the Skin Horse and bracken.

Quotes from The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams)

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ 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." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ The Rabbit looked up at her, and it seemed to him that he had seen her face before, but he couldn't think where.
"I am the nursery magic Fairy," she said. "I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved. When they are old and worn out and the children don't need them any more, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real."
"Wasn't I Real before?" asked the little Rabbit.
"You were Real to the Boy," the Fairy said, "because he loved you. Now you shall be real to every one."
And she held the little Rabbit close in her arms and flew with him into the wood. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn’t mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ They stared at him, and the little Rabbit stared back. And all the time 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 explain that he had no clockwork.
"Ho!" said the furry rabbit. "It's as easy as anything." And he gave a big 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!" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses, while the Rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out, for he knew that people who jump generally have something to wind them up. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ She called this "tidying up," and the playthings all hated it, especially the tin ones. The Rabbit didn't mind it so much, for wherever he was thrown he came down soft.
One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime, so she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open, she made a swoop.
"Here," she said, "take your old Bunny! He'll do to sleep with you!" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit's ear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and jumped backwards.
"He doesn’t smell right!" he exclaimed. "He isn’t a rabbit at all! He isn’t real!"
"I am Real!" said the little Rabbit, "I am Real! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)

“ The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint, caught the tone from them and never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging in technical terms. The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed ”

Margery Williams

Summary

Quotes from The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams)

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