"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 at all 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 have to be easily 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."
It's a book everyone should read. Seriously. They don't make children's books like they used to.
"It doesn't happen at all 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 have to be easily 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 those things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams
It's a book everyone should read. Seriously. They don't make children's books like they used to.
Oh hi. Just go ahead and make me cry. You know, whatever.
ReplyDeleteKelsey. I KNOW. The Velveteen Rabbit? I mean, he was always great, but I never knew how wise until I looked back at it.
ReplyDeleteAlso.
Eyye lubb ya.