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.
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 cant be
ugly except to people who dont understand.
>From the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.
to Colin, my Real and very beautiful friend,
love to you on your birthday and every day,
Mags and Brian
xoxoxoxox
You open my heart, you do.
Yes you do.
- JM
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