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."
The Fairy Flower
And she held the little Rabbit close in her arms and flew with himinto the wood.
It was light now, for the moon had risen. All the forest wasbeautiful, and the fronds of the bracken shone like frosted silver. Inthe open glade between the tree-trunks the wild rabbits danced withtheir shadows on the velvet grass, but when they saw the Fairy theyall stopped dancing and stood round in a ring to stare at her.
"I've brought you a new playfellow," the Fairy said. "You must be verykind to him and teach him all he needs to know in Rabbit-land, for heis going to live with you for ever and ever!"
And she kissed the little Rabbit again and put him down on the grass.
"Run and play, little Rabbit!" she said.
But the little Rabbit sat quite still for a moment and never moved.For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him he suddenlyremembered about his hind legs, and he didn't want them to see that hewas made all in one piece. He did not know that when the Fairy kissedhim that last time she had changed him altogether. And he might havesat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn'ttickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he liftedhis hind toe to scratch it.
And he found that he actually had hind legs! Instead of dingyvelveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny, his ears twitched bythemselves, and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass.He gave one leap and the joy of using those hind legs was so greatthat he went springing about the turf on them, jumping sideways andwhirling round as the others did, and he grew so excited that when atlast he did stop to look for the Fairy she had gone.
He was a Real Rabbit at last, at home with the other rabbits.
At Last! At Last!
Autumn passed and Winter, and in the Spring, when the days grew warmand sunny, the Boy went out to play in the wood behind the house. Andwhile he was playing, two rabbits crept out from the bracken andpeeped at him. One of them was brown all over, but the other hadstrange markings under his fur, as though long ago he had beenspotted, and the spots still showed through. And about his little softnose and his round black eyes there was something familiar, so thatthe Boy thought to himself:
"Why, he looks just like my old Bunny that was lost when I had scarletfever!"
But he never knew that it really was his own Bunny, come back to lookat the child who had first helped him to be Real.
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