Some stories can never get old, with their charm and the fun that they bring, to their countless educational and valuable lessons. These stories, like “The Velveteen Rabbit” full story, not only entertain but also teach and guide children with some important lessons. It is a beautiful story about a stuffed rabbit who becomes real through the love of a little boy. This story has been reprinted many times since its initial publication and is a timeless children’s classic.
Continue to read “The Velveteen Rabbit” story in English.
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Origin And History Of The Velveteen Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit is a British children’s book written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson.
Story Type Of The Velveteen Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit straddles between fable and fairy tale. You can read this story to your kid as a bedtime story.
Story Characters
Here are the characters of the story:
- Velveteen Rabbit
- A Boy
- Cowboy Horse
- Skin Horse
- Nana
- Doctor
- Fairy
The Velveteen Rabbit Story For Children
Once upon a time, a soft, fluffy Velveteen Rabbit lived in a toy box in a Boy’s room. Each day, the Boy opened the toy box and picked up Velveteen Rabbit, which made the Velveteen Rabbit happy.
Newer, brighter toys came into the toy box one day. The new toys had some special tricks. Some could move when the button was pushed, and the others bounced high. As Velveteen Rabbit had no special tricks or buttons, the Boy started to choose the other new toys over it.
At night, when all the toys were back all in the toy box, they used to talk with pride about the things they could do. Velveteen Rabbit was quiet as there was not much to say.
There was only one other toy in the toy box like Velveteen Rabbit. A Cowboy Horse, which was also a soft, fluffy toy. But the Cowboy Horse was old. Most of its fur was worn away, and it only had one eye left.
Cowboy Horse said to Velveteen Rabbit one day, “Soft toys like us are really lucky. We get loved the most, and when we are loved and loved, we can become real.”
“What is real?” asked the Velveteen Rabbit.
“Being real is the best,” replied the Skin Horse. “You can move when and wherever you want to move. When you are real, and if you are loved, you can show your love back.”
Then one day, Nana, who took care of the Boy, opened the toy box. She said in a busy tone, “Oh, that walking dog is missing. I need to find something else for the Boy!” and the Velveteen Rabbit was plopped down onto the bed with the Boy.
Happy days of Velveteen Rabbit began again. Each night the Boy would hold the Velveteen Rabbit close to him. In the morning, the little Boy would show Velveteen Rabbit how to make rabbit holes under the sheets. When the Boy went outside to a picnic or the park, the Velveteen Rabbit would come with him, too.
After some time, the Velveteen Rabbit’s fur got matted down because of the hugging and holding. Its pink nose grew less pink because of the Boy’s kisses. But Velveteen Rabbit did not care and was happy.
One day the Boy got sick, and the doctor came and went. Day after day, the Boy only stayed in bed, and there was nothing for Velveteen Rabbit to do but stay in bed with the Boy.
After some days, the Boy got better, and the doctor said the Boy must go to the shore.
“What about this old rabbit?” Nana asked the doctor.
“That old thing is full of scarlet fever germs. Burn it at once and get the Boy a new bunny,” said the doctor.
The Velveteen Rabbit was thrown into a bag along with the Boy’s bed sheets and old clothes, carried to the backyard, and given to the gardener to be burned. But the gardener was busy with his work and left the bag behind. “I will take care of it tomorrow,” the gardener said.
The bag was not tied, and Velveteen Rabbit fell out of it. The next day when the gardener picked up the bag to burn, Velveteen Rabbit was not in it.
It started raining, but Velveteen Rabbit was sad. So far away from the Boy and now soaking wet. A tear fell from Velveteen Rabbit’s eye and plopped onto the grass. In the spot where the tear fell, a flower grew out of it, and then a Fairy appeared.
“Hello, Velveteen Rabbit,” said the Fairy. “Do you know who I am?”
“I wish I did,” replied the Velveteen Rabbit.
“I am the Fairy who takes care of toys that are loved,” said the Fairy.
By now, Velveteen Rabbit was shabby and grey. As the Boy had loved off all of its whiskers, it’s pink lining in the ears had long turned grey, and it was faded at places.
“It’s now time to make you real,” the Fairy said.
“I think I remember real,” said Velveteen Rabbit.
The Fairy flicked her wand, and Velveteen Rabbit felt different. Suddenly, each one of its two legs, sewn together tight, could move now!
“So, this is being real”! “I can move whenever I want to move!”
“I will show you some new friends,” the Fairy said. She took Velveteen Rabbit where several rabbits ran and hopped about. They all became great friends.
The Boy was back from the shore now and went to the backyard to play. A few rabbits hopped out from the tree nearby. One rabbit was brown, and another one was all white. A third rabbit had brown spots, and most of them were faded. That rabbit hopped closer to the Boy.
The Boy thought, “This rabbit looks like my old Bunny that was lost when I was sick.”
The Boy didn’t know that it was his very own rabbit he once played with that had come back to see him. Velveteen Rabbit had become a real rabbit now.
Story Summary
Here is the velveteen rabbit summary.
A stuffed rabbit sewn from velvet used to live in a Boy’s toy box. The Boy started playing with his other new toys and forgot the Velveteen Rabbit. An old toy in the toy box tells the rabbit about toys magically becoming real when they are loved.
One night, the Boy’s nanny gives the Velveteen Rabbit to the Boy to sleep with in place of a lost toy. The Velveteen Rabbit became the Boy’s favourite and stayed with him wherever he went. Time passes, and the Velveteen Rabbit becomes shabbier but happy.
The Boy fell sick one day, and the rabbit sat with him as he recovered. The doctor orders that the Boy be taken to the seaside and all his sheets and toys be burnt, including the Velveteen Rabbit. The rabbit was then bundled into a sack and left out in the garden overnight. Somehow the rabbit fell out of the sack and started crying. The rabbit’s tear dropped onto the ground, and a magical flower appeared. A Fairy stepped out of it and said that now she would make the rabbit real, as the Velveteen Rabbit was loved by the Boy. After making the rabbit real, she took the rabbit to a place, where the rabbit met the other real rabbits.
After returning back from the shore, the Boy went to the garden and saw rabbits hopping around the tree. One rabbit resembled his old Velveteen Rabbit, and the Boy was confused as he didn’t know that the rabbit had turned into a real rabbit now.
Moral Of The Story
The story will help kids learn that hardships are a normal part of life and that, eventually, they will pass. At first, the Velveteen Rabbit is sad that he is not loved, but eventually, the rabbit is loved by the Boy, which helps him become real. The story will also teach kids that we become real through the process of connection.
How Can Children Apply The Moral Of The Story In Their Real Life?
The children can apply the lesson of this story with pictures in their real life by not loving someone only to get something out of it but by actually loving with all their hearts. This story is perfect to read to your little one.
Also Read:
Frozen Story for Children
The Story of Happy Prince for Kids
Robin Hood Story for Children
