Free Childrens Books - The Velveteen Rabbit Part 6Anxious Times And so the little Rabbit was put into a sack with the oldpicture-books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of thegarden behind the fowl-house. That was a fine place to make a bonfire,only the gardener was too busy just then to attend to it. He had thepotatoes to dig and the green peas to gather, but next morning hepromised to come quite early and burn the whole lot. That night the Boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a newbunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny, all white plush withreal glass eyes, but the Boy was too excited to care very much aboutit. For to-morrow he was going to the seaside, and that in itself wassuch a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else. And while the Boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the littleRabbit lay among the old picture-books in the corner behind thefowl-house, and he felt very lonely. The sack had been left untied,and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through theopening and look out. He was shivering a little, for he had alwaysbeen used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat hadworn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer anyprotection to him. Near by he could see the thicket of raspberrycanes, growing tall and close like a tropical jungle, in whose shadowhe had played with the Boy on bygone mornings. He thought of thoselong sunlit hours in the garden-how happy they were-and a greatsadness came over him. He seemed to see them all pass before him, eachmore beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, thequiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the littleants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that hewas Real. He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and allthat he had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one'sbeauty and become Real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a realtear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to theground. And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen aflower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all likeany that grew in the garden. It had slender green leaves the colour ofemeralds, and in the center of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup.It was so beautiful that the little Rabbit forgot to cry, and just laythere watching it. And presently the blossom opened, and out of itthere stepped a fairy. She was quite the loveliest fairy in the whole world. Her dress was ofpearl and dew-drops, and there were flowers round her neck and in herhair, and her face was like the most perfect flower of all. And shecame close to the little Rabbit and gathered him up in her arms andkissed him on his velveteen nose that was all damp from crying. "Little Rabbit," she said, "don't you know who I am?" The Rabbit looked up at her, and it seemed to him that he had seen herface before, but he couldn't think where. "I am the nursery magic Fairy," she said. "I take care of all theplaythings that the children have loved. When they are old and wornout and the children don't need them any more, then I come and takethem 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. Nowyou shall be Real to every one." Thank you for visiting our free childrens book pages. To read more of this free childrens books click below. Free Childrens Book Part 1
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