The Velveteen Rabbit recap

A velveteen rabbit, given to a boy at Christmas, feels plain and unimportant beside the fancier nursery toys until the wise old Skin Horse tells him that a toy becomes "Real" when a child loves it truly and long enough, however worn it may grow. The boy comes to love the rabbit above everything, carrying it everywhere, and the shabby rabbit is blissfully content. But when the boy nearly dies of scarlet fever, the doctor orders his contaminated toys burned. Discarded in the garden and facing the fire, the rabbit weeps a real tear, from which a flower and the Nursery Magic Fairy appear. Because he has been so deeply loved, the fairy makes him fully Real, a living rabbit who joins the others in the wood. In spring the recovered boy sees a wild rabbit that reminds him of his lost toy, never realizing it is the same one, brought truly to life by the love he gave it.

A velveteen rabbit is given to a small boy one Christmas and, after being set aside among grander, mechanical toys, is befriended by the wise old Skin Horse, who explains that a toy can become "Real" if a child loves it truly for a long time, even though the process wears the toy out. In time the boy comes to love the velveteen rabbit above all his other playthings, carrying it everywhere and sharing his bed with it, and the rabbit grows shabby but deeply happy, believing himself Real in the boy's eyes. Then the boy falls gravely ill with scarlet fever, and once he recovers, the doctor orders that all the germ-laden playthings from the sickroom, including the beloved rabbit, be burned. Cast out in a sack in the garden and awaiting the bonfire, the lonely, discarded rabbit sheds a real tear. From that tear a flower grows, and the Nursery Magic Fairy appears; because the rabbit has been so truly loved, she makes him Real in full, a living rabbit able to hop and play with the wild rabbits in the wood. Later, the boy glimpses a rabbit in the garden that seems strangely familiar, never knowing it is his own old toy, brought to life by the love he gave it.

The Velveteen Rabbit ends with the toy's longing fulfilled. After the boy recovers from scarlet fever, the doctor insists that all the toys from his sickroom be destroyed, and the beloved but shabby velveteen rabbit is bundled into a sack and left in the garden overnight to be burned. Alone and forgotten, remembering all the love he had shared with the boy, the rabbit sheds a single real tear. From that tear springs a flower, out of which comes the Nursery Magic Fairy, who tends toys that have been truly loved. She tells the rabbit that the child's love had already made him Real to the boy, and now she will make him Real to everyone. With a kiss she transforms him into a living rabbit, and he bounds away to live among the wild rabbits in the wood. The following spring, the boy, out playing, notices a rabbit watching him that looks oddly like his old velveteen toy. He never learns the truth, but the rabbit he lost has become fully alive, its worn devotion rewarded with a real life of its own.