The Velveteen Rabbit 🐰🧸 Abbe's Bookshelf: Classic Kids Bedtime Stories

[00:00:10] Hi, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original children's bedtime stories and meditations, designed to make bedtime a dream.

[00:00:22] In tonight's story, we're reading another classic tale from my bookshelf, The Velveteen Rabbit.

[00:00:29] It's a story about a stuffy who learns what it is to actually be a real bunny.

[00:00:35] Before we begin, a quick message for the grown-ups.

[00:00:39] If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad-free listening, unlock four bonus stories per month and much, much more, you can join Coco Club.

[00:00:50] Subscribe in just two taps via the link in the show notes.

[00:00:54] But now here's a quick word from our sponsors.

[00:00:56] Hi Koala Moon listeners!

[00:00:58] We're excited to share that we've officially joined Starglow, the largest kids and family audio network.

[00:01:05] Starglow has an amazing lineup of shows for all ages, including Go Kid Go favorites, like Snoop and Sniffy, Bobby Wonder and R.L. Stine's Story Club.

[00:01:16] Perfect for getting into the Halloween spirit.

[00:01:20] You can explore all of Starglow's podcasts and audiobooks by simply typing Starglow into the search bar wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[00:01:27] And, as always, your favorite Koala Moon bedtime stories will still be right here to help you and your family sleep peacefully.

[00:01:37] Sweet dreams and happy listening.

[00:01:39] Hello Koala Moon listeners!

[00:01:43] If you have babies and toddlers in your family, then this announcement is for you.

[00:01:48] I'd like to tell you about my other sleep show, Koala Tots.

[00:01:51] It's got all the magic of Koala Moon, but it's made especially for the littlest of listeners, babies and toddlers.

[00:01:58] Koala Tots is packed with soothing stories and calming rhymes, perfect for helping babies and toddlers sleep like a dream.

[00:02:06] Not only are the stories incredibly relaxing, but they have easy-to-understand language and gentle repetition,

[00:02:13] designed to help with babies' cognitive development as they drift off to sleep.

[00:02:17] There's even appearances from some of the Koala Moon star favorites, alongside the cutest episodes like How to Hug a Hedgehog and Nugget's Cozy Night.

[00:02:29] So search Koala Tots on your favorite podcast player and hit follow so you can find it easily night after night.

[00:02:39] Relax, get comfy, and let's begin.

[00:02:43] There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid.

[00:02:57] He was fat and bunchy as a rabbit should be.

[00:03:02] His coat was spotted brown and white.

[00:03:05] He had real thread whiskers.

[00:03:08] And his ears were lined with pink sateen.

[00:03:13] On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the boy's stocking with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.

[00:03:25] There were other things in the stocking.

[00:03:28] Nuts and oranges and a toy engine and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse.

[00:03:36] But the rabbit was quite the best of all.

[00:03:40] For at least two hours the boy loved him.

[00:03:44] And then aunts and uncles came to dinner.

[00:03:47] And there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels.

[00:03:52] And in the excitement of looking at all the new presents, the velveteen rabbit was forgotten.

[00:03:59] For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor.

[00:04:06] And no one thought very much about him.

[00:04:09] He was naturally shy.

[00:04:12] And being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snugged him.

[00:04:20] The mechanical toys were very superior and looked down upon everyone else.

[00:04:31] The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint, caught the tone from them.

[00:04:40] And never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging in technical terms.

[00:04:46] The rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything.

[00:04:51] For he didn't know that real rabbits existed.

[00:04:54] He thought they were all stuffed with sawdust, like himself.

[00:05:00] And he understood that sawdust was quite out of date and should never be mentioned in modern circles.

[00:05:09] Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion who was made by the soldiers and should have had broader views,

[00:05:17] put on airs and pretended he was connected with government.

[00:05:22] Between them all, the poor little rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant and commonplace.

[00:05:31] And the only person who was kind to him at all was the horse.

[00:05:36] The horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others.

[00:05:42] He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath.

[00:05:50] And most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.

[00:05:56] He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger.

[00:06:06] And by and by, break their mainsprings and pass away.

[00:06:11] He knew that they were only toys and would never turn into anything else.

[00:06:19] For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful.

[00:06:23] And only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the horse understand all about it.

[00:06:35] What is real?

[00:06:38] Asked the rabbit one day when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender,

[00:06:45] before Nana came to tidy the room.

[00:06:48] Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle?

[00:06:57] Real isn't how you were made, said the horse.

[00:07:01] It's a thing that happens to you.

[00:07:05] When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with but really loves you, then you become real.

[00:07:19] Does it hurt?

[00:07:21] Asked the rabbit.

[00:07:23] Sometimes, said the horse, for he was always truthful.

[00:07:29] When you are real, you don't mind being hurt.

[00:07:34] Does it happen all at once, like being wound up?

[00:07:39] He asked.

[00:07:41] Or bit by bit?

[00:07:44] It doesn't happen all at once, said the horse.

[00:07:50] You become.

[00:07:53] It takes a long time.

[00:07:56] That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.

[00:08:08] 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.

[00:08:25] 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.

[00:08:38] I suppose you are real?

[00:08:43] Said the rabbit.

[00:08:44] And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the horse might be sensitive.

[00:08:50] But the horse only smiled.

[00:08:52] The boy's uncle made me real, he said.

[00:08:57] That was a great many years ago.

[00:09:02] But once you are real, you can't become unreal again.

[00:09:09] It lasts for always.

[00:09:12] The rabbit sighed.

[00:09:14] He thought it would be a long time before this magic called real happened to him.

[00:09:22] He longed to become real, to know what it felt like.

[00:09:28] And yet, the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes in whiskers was rather sad.

[00:09:36] He wished that he could become it, without these uncomfortable things happening to him.

[00:09:45] There was a person called Nana who ruled the nursery.

[00:09:49] Sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about.

[00:09:55] And sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind and hustled them away in cupboards.

[00:10:04] She called this, tidying up.

[00:10:07] And the playthings all hated it, especially the tin ones.

[00:10:13] The rabbit didn't mind it so much.

[00:10:16] For wherever he was thrown, he came down soft.

[00:10:21] One evening, when the boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him.

[00:10:29] Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime.

[00:10:36] So, she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open, she made a swoop.

[00:10:45] Here, she said, take your old bunny.

[00:10:49] He'll do to sleep with you.

[00:10:52] And she dragged the rabbit out by one ear and put him into the boy's arms.

[00:10:58] That night, and for many nights after, the velveteen rabbit slept in the boy's bed.

[00:11:07] At first, he found it rather uncomfortable, for the boy hugged him very tight.

[00:11:14] And sometimes, he rolled over on him.

[00:11:17] And sometimes, he pushed him too far under the pillow.

[00:11:21] And he missed too those long moonlit hours in the nursery, when all the house was silent and his talks with the horse.

[00:11:34] But very soon, he grew to like it.

[00:11:38] For the boy used to talk to him, and make nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes,

[00:11:44] which, he said, were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in.

[00:11:50] And they had splendid games together, in whispers, when Nana had gone away to her supper and left the nightlight burning on the mantelpiece.

[00:12:01] And when the boy dropped off to sleep, the rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream,

[00:12:11] with the boy's hands clasped close round him all night long.

[00:12:17] And so time went on.

[00:12:20] And the little rabbit was very happy.

[00:12:24] So happy that he never noticed how his beautiful,

[00:12:28] valveteen fur was getting shabbier and shabbier.

[00:12:33] And his tail becoming unsewn.

[00:12:37] And all the pink rubbed off his nose where the boy had kissed him.

[00:12:43] Spring came.

[00:12:45] And they had long days in the garden.

[00:12:49] For wherever the boy went, the rabbit went too.

[00:12:54] He had rides in the wheelbarrow and picnics on the grass.

[00:12:59] And lovely fairy huts built for him under the raspberry canes behind the flower border.

[00:13:08] And once, when the boy was called away suddenly to go out to tea, the rabbit was left out on the lawn until long after dusk.

[00:13:20] Her Nana had to come and look for him with the candle, because the boy couldn't go to sleep unless he was there.

[00:13:29] He was wet through with the dew and quite earthy from diving into the burrows the boy had made for him in the flower bed.

[00:13:38] Her Nana grumbled as she rubbed him off with a corner of her apron.

[00:13:46] You must have your old bunny, she said.

[00:13:50] Fancy all that fuss for a toy.

[00:13:55] The boy sat up in bed and stretched out his hands.

[00:14:00] Give me my bunny, he said.

[00:14:03] You mustn't say that.

[00:14:05] He isn't a toy.

[00:14:08] He's real.

[00:14:10] When the little rabbit heard that, he was happy.

[00:14:15] For he knew that what the horse had said was true at last.

[00:14:20] The nursery magic had happened to him.

[00:14:25] And he was a toy no longer.

[00:14:28] He was real.

[00:14:31] The boy himself had said it.

[00:14:34] That night he was almost too happy to sleep.

[00:14:40] And so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst.

[00:14:49] And into his boot button eyes that had long ago lost their polish,

[00:14:55] there came a look of wisdom and beauty.

[00:14:59] So that even Nana noticed it next morning when she picked him up and said,

[00:15:05] I declare if that old bunny hasn't got quite a knowing expression.

[00:15:14] That was a wonderful summer.

[00:15:19] Near the house where they lived there was a wood.

[00:15:23] And in the long June evenings the boy liked to go there after tea to play.

[00:15:29] He took the velveteen rabbit with him.

[00:15:34] And before he wandered off to pick flowers or play at brigands among the trees,

[00:15:40] he always made the rabbit a little nest somewhere among the bracken,

[00:15:46] where he would be quite cosy.

[00:15:49] For he was a kind-hearted little boy and he liked Bunny to be comfortable.

[00:15:54] One evening, while the rabbit was lying there alone,

[00:16:01] watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass,

[00:16:07] he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him.

[00:16:13] They were rabbits like himself, but quite furry and brand new.

[00:16:21] They must have been very well made, for their seams didn't show at all.

[00:16:27] And they changed shape in a strange way when they moved.

[00:16:31] One minute, they were long and thin, and the next minute, fat and bunchy,

[00:16:39] instead of always staying the same like he did.

[00:16:42] Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they kept quite close to him,

[00:16:49] twitching their noses while the rabbit stared hard to see which side the clockwork stuck out.

[00:16:57] He was a little bit surprised, for he knew that people who jump generally have something to wind them up.

[00:17:03] But he couldn't see it.

[00:17:05] They were evidently a new kind of rabbit altogether.

[00:17:11] They stared at him, and the little rabbit stared back,

[00:17:16] and all the time their noses twitched.

[00:17:22] Why don't you get up and play with us?

[00:17:25] One of them asked.

[00:17:28] I don't feel like it, said the rabbit,

[00:17:31] for he didn't want to explain that he had no clockwork.

[00:17:36] Oh, said the furry rabbit, it's as easy as anything.

[00:17:41] And he gave a big hop sideways, and stood on his hind legs.

[00:17:46] I don't believe you can, he said.

[00:17:51] I can, said the little rabbit.

[00:17:55] I can jump higher than anything.

[00:17:58] He meant when the boy threw him, but of course he didn't want to say so.

[00:18:04] A funny, new, tickly feeling ran through him,

[00:18:09] and he felt he would give anything in the world to be able to jump about like these rabbits did.

[00:18:17] The strange rabbit stopped dancing and came quite close.

[00:18:23] He came so close this time that his long whiskers brushed the velveteen rabbit's ear,

[00:18:30] and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and jumped backwards.

[00:18:39] He doesn't smell right, he exclaimed.

[00:18:43] He isn't a rabbit at all.

[00:18:46] He isn't real.

[00:18:49] I am real, said the little rabbit.

[00:18:54] I am real.

[00:18:55] The boy said so.

[00:18:58] And he nearly began to cry.

[00:19:02] Just then, there was a sound of footsteps, and the boy ran past near them.

[00:19:09] And with a stamp of feet and a flash of white tails, the two strange rabbits disappeared.

[00:19:18] I could play with me, called the little rabbit.

[00:19:25] Oh, do come back.

[00:19:27] I know I'm real.

[00:19:30] But there was no answer.

[00:19:33] Only the little ants ran to and fro, and the bracken swayed gently where the two strangers had passed.

[00:19:44] The velveteen rabbit was all alone.

[00:19:49] Oh dear, he thought.

[00:19:52] Why did they run away like that?

[00:19:56] Why couldn't they stop and talk to me?

[00:20:01] For a long time, he lay very still, watching the bracken and hoping that they would come back.

[00:20:10] But they never returned.

[00:20:14] And presently, the sun sank lower, and the little white moths fluttered out.

[00:20:22] And the boy came and carried him home.

[00:20:28] Weeks passed, and the little rabbit grew very old and shabby.

[00:20:35] But the boy loved him just as much.

[00:20:38] He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off.

[00:20:44] And the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded.

[00:20:53] He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit anymore, except to the boy.

[00:21:03] To him, he was always beautiful.

[00:21:06] And that was all that the little rabbit cared about.

[00:21:10] He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him real.

[00:21:20] And when you are real, shabbiness doesn't matter.

[00:21:24] And then, one day, the boy was ill.

[00:21:32] It was a long, weary time, for the boy was too ill to play.

[00:21:38] And the little rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long.

[00:21:45] But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time when the boy should be well again.

[00:21:54] And they would go out into the garden amongst the flowers and the butterflies,

[00:22:00] and play splendid games in the raspberry thicket like they used to.

[00:22:06] All sorts of delightful things he planned.

[00:22:11] And while the boy lay half asleep, he crept up close to the pillow and whispered them in his ear.

[00:22:20] And presently, the fever turned, and the boy got better.

[00:22:26] He was able to sit up in bed and look at picture books, while the little rabbit cuddled close at his side.

[00:22:36] And one day they let him get up and dress.

[00:22:41] It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open.

[00:22:48] They had carried the boy out onto the balcony, wrapped in a shawl.

[00:22:54] And the little rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking.

[00:23:01] The boy was going to the seaside tomorrow.

[00:23:05] Everything was arranged.

[00:23:07] And now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders.

[00:23:15] Hurrah, thought the little rabbit.

[00:23:18] Tomorrow we shall go to the seaside.

[00:23:22] For the boy had often talked of the seaside.

[00:23:27] And he wanted very much to see the big waves coming in.

[00:23:33] And the tiny crabs.

[00:23:36] And the sand castles.

[00:23:39] Just then, Nana caught sight of him.

[00:23:45] How about his old bunny?

[00:23:48] She asked.

[00:23:50] That, said the doctor.

[00:23:53] Why?

[00:23:53] It's a mass of germs.

[00:23:56] Throw it out.

[00:23:57] What?

[00:23:58] Nonsense.

[00:24:00] Get him a new one.

[00:24:01] He mustn't have that one anymore.

[00:24:05] And so, the little rabbit was put into a sack with the old picture books and a lot of rubbish.

[00:24:13] And carried out to the end of the garden behind the fowl house.

[00:24:19] That night, the boy slept in a different bedroom.

[00:24:23] And he had a new bunny to sleep with him.

[00:24:27] It was a splendid bunny.

[00:24:30] All white plush with real glass eyes.

[00:24:34] And the boy was too excited to care very much about it.

[00:24:40] For tomorrow, he was going to the seaside.

[00:24:46] And that in itself was such a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else.

[00:24:55] And while the boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the little rabbit lay among the old picture books in the corner behind the fowl house.

[00:25:11] And he felt very lonely.

[00:25:15] The sack had been left untied.

[00:25:19] And so, by wriggling a bit, he was able to get his head through the opening and look out.

[00:25:25] He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed.

[00:25:33] And by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.

[00:25:46] Nearby he could see the thicket of raspberry canes growing tall and close like a tropical jungle.

[00:25:55] In whose shadow he had played with the boy on bygone mornings.

[00:26:01] He thought of those long sunlit hours in the garden.

[00:26:07] How happy they were.

[00:26:11] And a great sadness came over him.

[00:26:15] He seemed to see them all pass before him.

[00:26:21] Each more beautiful than the other.

[00:26:26] The fairy huts in the flower bed.

[00:26:29] The quiet evenings in the wood.

[00:26:32] When he lay in the bracken and the little ants ran over his paws.

[00:26:40] The wonderful day when he first knew that he was real.

[00:26:46] He thought of the horse, so wide and gentle.

[00:26:51] And all that he had told him.

[00:26:55] Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become real if it all ended like this?

[00:27:07] And a tear.

[00:27:09] A real tear.

[00:27:11] Trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground.

[00:27:20] And then, a strange thing happened.

[00:27:26] For where the tear had fallen, a flower grew out of the ground.

[00:27:31] A mysterious flower.

[00:27:34] Not at all like any that grew in the garden.

[00:27:39] It had slender green leaves the colour of emeralds.

[00:27:45] And in the centre of the leaves, a blossom like a golden cup.

[00:27:53] It was so beautiful that the little rabbit forgot to cry.

[00:27:59] And just lay there, watching it.

[00:28:03] And presently, the blossom opened.

[00:28:08] And out of it, there stepped a fairy.

[00:28:13] She was quite the loveliest fairy in the whole world.

[00:28:19] Her dress was of pearl and dewdrops.

[00:28:24] And there were flowers round her neck and in her hair.

[00:28:28] And her face was like the most perfect flower of all.

[00:28:36] And she came close to the little rabbit.

[00:28:39] And gathered him up in her arms.

[00:28:42] And kissed him on his velvety nose.

[00:28:46] And looked at her.

[00:28:51] And looked at her.

[00:28:52] Little rabbit, she said.

[00:28:55] Don't you know who I am?

[00:28:59] The rabbit looked up at her.

[00:29:02] And it seemed to him that he had seen her face before.

[00:29:07] But he couldn't think where.

[00:29:10] I am the nursery magic fairy, she said.

[00:29:16] I take care of all the playthings that the children have loved.

[00:29:21] When they are old and worn out.

[00:29:25] And the children don't need them anymore.

[00:29:28] Then I come and take them away with me.

[00:29:33] And turn them into real.

[00:29:37] Wasn't I real before?

[00:29:41] Asked the little rabbit.

[00:29:44] You were real to the boy.

[00:29:46] The fairy said.

[00:29:48] Because he loved you.

[00:29:51] Now, you shall be real to everyone.

[00:29:56] And she held the little rabbit close in her arms.

[00:30:01] And flew with him into the wood.

[00:30:05] And the forest was beautiful.

[00:30:15] And the fronds of the bracken shone like frosted silver.

[00:30:21] In the open glade between the tree trunks.

[00:30:26] The wild rabbits danced with their shadows on the velvet grass.

[00:30:33] But when they saw the fairy, they all stopped dancing.

[00:30:38] And stood round in a ring to stare at her.

[00:30:43] I've brought you a new playfellow.

[00:30:46] The fairy said.

[00:30:49] The fairy said.

[00:30:50] You must be very kind to him.

[00:30:53] And teach him all he needs to know in rabbit land.

[00:30:57] For he's going to live with you forever and ever.

[00:31:02] And she kissed the little rabbit again.

[00:31:04] And put him down on the grass.

[00:31:08] Run and play, little rabbit.

[00:31:10] It's not good, she said.

[00:31:13] But the little rabbit sat quite still for a moment.

[00:31:16] And never moved.

[00:31:19] For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him.

[00:31:25] He suddenly remembered about his hind legs.

[00:31:30] And he didn't want them to see that he was made all in one piece.

[00:31:36] He did not know that when the fairy kissed him that last time.

[00:31:42] She had changed him altogether.

[00:31:45] And he might have sat there a long time.

[00:31:50] Too shy to move.

[00:31:52] If just then, something hadn't tickled his nose.

[00:31:57] And before he thought what he was doing.

[00:32:00] He lifted his hind toe to scratch it.

[00:32:04] And he found out that he actually had hind legs.

[00:32:12] Instead of dingy valveteen, he had brown fur.

[00:32:18] Soft and shiny.

[00:32:21] His ears twitched by themselves.

[00:32:25] And his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass.

[00:32:30] He gave one leap.

[00:32:34] And the joy of using those hind legs was so great that he went springing about the turf on them.

[00:32:45] Jumping sideways and whirling round as the others did.

[00:32:51] And he grew so excited that when at last he did stop to look for the fairy, she had gone.

[00:33:02] He was a real rabbit at last.

[00:33:08] At home with the other rabbits.

[00:33:13] Autumn past and winter.

[00:33:17] And in the spring, when the days grew warm and sunny.

[00:33:23] The boy went out to play in the wood behind the house.

[00:33:28] And while he was playing, two rabbits crept out from the bracken and peeped at him.

[00:33:38] One of them was brown all over.

[00:33:43] But the other had strange markings on his fur.

[00:33:48] As though, long ago, he had been spotted.

[00:33:52] And the spots still showed through.

[00:33:56] And about his little soft nose and his round black eyes.

[00:34:03] There was something familiar.

[00:34:07] So that the boy thought to himself.

[00:34:11] Why?

[00:34:13] He looks just like my old bunny.

[00:34:18] That was lost when I had scarlet fever.

[00:34:25] He never knew that it really was his own bunny.

[00:34:31] Come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be real.