Page 11 - My FlipBook

"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 happen often 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 can't be ugly, except to people who don't

understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he

had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many

years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It

lasts for always."

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