The Velveteen Rabbit & Other Stories

by Margery Williams

  Pinocchio

  Once upon a time, there was a piece of wood. The old woodcarver, Geppetto, decided to make it into a puppet named Pinocchio. As he carved the eyes, they seemed to look back at him. When he made the mouth, it opened and laughed at him. And when Geppetto carved two legs, the wooden puppet jumped up and ran away!

  On his journey, Pinocchio came to a house that was empty but for a Talking Cricket. The cricket warned the puppet, “Woe to those boys who rebel against their parents and run away from home. They will never come to any good in the world.” Because of his hunger more than his conscience, Pinocchio returned to Geppetto and promised to behave and go to school. The kindly old man made school clothes for Pinocchio and even sold his only coat to buy the puppet a schoolbook.

  The next morning, Pinocchio was on his way to school when he heard the laughter of a crowd and the beating of drums. He turned from the path to school and followed the noise to a puppet theater. Pinocchio wanted to see the show, but admission was ten cents! And although he promised Geppetto that he would be a good boy, Pinocchio traded his schoolbook for ten cents and went inside! The showman of the theater heard Pinocchio’s story about Geppetto’s sacrifice and said, “Here are five gold pieces. Go at once and take them to him with my compliments.” Pinocchio was overjoyed and thanked the showman a thousand times. On his way back home, the puppet made the mistake of mentioning his newfound riches to Fox and Cat, an unscrupulous pair he met along the path. They chased Pinocchio through the woods, intent on robbing him, until he came to a house where a lovely Fairy with blue hair lived. There he rested in safety, and presently the Fairy came to visit with him. Pinocchio told her his story.

  “Where are the gold pieces now?” she asked.

  “I lost them!” the puppet lied. Suddenly, his nose grew two inches longer!

  The Fairy asked, “Where did you lose them?”

  “In the woods,” he answered. At this second lie, his nose grew even more.

  “Then we shall find them,” the Fairy said. Pinocchio became afraid and stammered, “I mean that I swallowed them!” And his nose grew so long that the Fairy laughed at the sight. Pinocchio was so ashamed that he began to cry. After a while, the Fairy clapped her hands and one thousand woodpeckers came through the window and landed on his nose. They pecked at it until his nose was reduced to a normal size. Pinocchio was overjoyed! He thanked the Fairy and once more started on the path back to Geppetto’s house. Again, he was interrupted on his journey, but this time a kind pigeon told him that Geppetto had gone to the seashore to sail to distant lands and find Pinocchio.

  Hearing this, Pinocchio felt saddened and guilty. He resolved again to behave and set out for the seashore. However, his lazy and idle nature got him into trouble yet again. He met a boy named Candlewick, who told him of a wonderful land just for boys. “There are no schools, no books, and the week consists of six Saturdays and one Sunday. The boys play from morning to night. That is the country for me! Why don’t you come, too?”

  Pinocchio said no again and again, but when the coach arrived to take Candlewick to the wonderful land, he could not resist jumping on. Once there, he forgot about Geppetto and the Fairy and spent months playing and making mischief. One day, he woke up and looked in the mirror to find that he had grown donkey ears! He had caught donkey fever because he had been so idle, and soon he would become a whole donkey. The coachman who brought the boys to the land waited for each one to become a donkey, and then he sold them off to be used for work. He lured new boys with the promise of idleness and fun and now was rich from his evil scheme.

  Within hours, Pinocchio was a full donkey and could only bray his sadness. He was quickly sold to a man who brought him to his home close to the seashore. Once there, Pinocchio ran away into the ocean and found that the water transformed him back into a puppet! Delighted, he swam away from his angry owner, farther into the sea.

  Suddenly, he was swallowed by a giant fish! Pinocchio was not hurt, but it was dark and frightening inside the fish. Far away, he spied a light. He went toward it and was surprised to find Geppetto, sitting at a candlelit table, eating a small fish! He, too, had been swallowed by the giant fish but could not escape because he didn’t know how to swim. They reunited with laughter and tears, and soon tiptoed out of the fish’s mouth. Geppetto hung on to Pinocchio’s back as the wooden puppet swam to shore.

  Once back at home, Pinocchio behaved as well as any real boy could. He went to school, took a job to earn money, and obeyed Geppetto without protest. One night, the Fairy appeared to him in a dream and praised his good deeds. “Well done, Pinocchio!” she said. “You will be rewarded for your good heart.” When he awoke the next morning, Pinocchio found that he was a real boy! The rickety old house had also been changed to a warm and comfortable home, and even Geppetto seemed younger and livelier. “This is because of your good behavior,” declared Geppetto. They danced with joy, and together they lived happily ever after.

  Thumbelina

  There was once a woman whose greatest desire was to have a child. She went to see a fairy about her wish and received a flower seed, which she planted that night. The next morning, a beautiful red-and-gold flower with tightly closed petals had grown in the pot. The delighted woman kissed the bud, and suddenly the petals opened. Inside sat a very delicate and graceful little girl. She was the size of a thumb, and so she was named Thumbelina. Her cradle was a walnut shell, her bed was lined with violet leaves, and she had a rose petal for a blanket.

  One night, an ugly toad crept through the window and leaped upon the table where Thumbelina lay sleeping. “What a pretty little wife she would make for my son,” said the toad, and she took Thumbelina’s bed and jumped through the window with it into the garden.

  The toad took the cradle to the pond and placed it on a lily pad, and then went to fetch her son. Thumbelina awoke and cried at finding herself in a strange place with nowhere to go. The fish felt pity for the beautiful girl and nibbled on the lily stem so that she could escape from the toad’s ugly son. Away down a stream floated the leaf on which Thumbelina sat, until a may bug picked her up and set her down in a meadow to live among the flowers and grasses.

  All through the summer, Thumbelina ate blossom nectar and drank the rainwater that collected on leaves. She wove herself a bed from grasses and sang along with the birds that lived in the trees above. But autumn came, and then winter, and poor Thumbelina grew cold and hungry after the grasses died and the bitter wind began to blow. And when the snow came, each snowflake that landed on her was like a shovelful of snow thrown upon someone our size. Miserably, she left her meadow and wandered in search of food, until she came upon a field mouse’s den. Thumbelina begged for a bit of food, and the good mouse took pity on the girl and welcomed Thumbelina into her home, where they lived very comfortably.

  One day during the winter, the field mouse told Thumbelina that they would soon have a visitor and that she should prepare her prettiest stories to tell. “He is very rich, with a house twenty times larger than mine,” said the mouse. “He is blind, but does very well.” And so Thumbelina dutifully recited her best stories and sang her prettiest songs to the visitor, who was a mole. She did not like him, however, because he spoke badly of the sun, the flowers, and all the dear creatures she had lived with in the meadow. Being a mole, he preferred to live underground and rarely saw the daylight.

  At the end of his visit, the mole guided Thumbelina and the field mouse through one of the tunnels that led to his house. He warned them that a dead bird lay along the passage. It was a large swallow with its wings drawn in tight and its eyes closed. After the mole and mouse had moved on, Thumbelina ran back to lay a warm blanket on the bird, so that even in death it would not be cold. As she straightened the blanket, she heard a weak thump thump in the swallow’s chest. It was alive! Thumbelina was frightened but returned that night to cover the swallow with another blanket. Presently, the swallow awoke. “Thank you, pretty maiden,” it croaked feebly. “I have been nic
ely warmed and shall soon regain my strength.” All through the winter, Thumbelina secretly fed and nursed the bird back to health. In the springtime, the swallow prepared to leave the tunnel and asked her to join him, but Thumbelina could not leave the kind field mouse. When the swallow said good-bye and soared into the warm sunlight, Thumbelina felt very sad.

  Returning to the field mouse’s den, Thumbelina was surprised to see her so excited. “We must start working on your wedding clothes, dear!” said the mouse. “The mole has asked to marry you. You’re a very lucky girl.” Thumbelina had no choice but to sew a wedding dress. She did not want to marry the mole and live in his underground tunnels. She would miss the sun and the sky, as well as the birds and butterflies who cheered her days last summer.

  At last, it was her wedding day. Thumbelina asked permission to stand at the door and say farewell to the daylight. As she stood in the sunshine with her arms raised, she heard a familiar tweet tweet overhead. It was her dear swallow! And when he asked her now if she would come with him, she agreed. On and on he flew, until at last he landed near a beautiful lake where a dazzling white palace stood. His nest was among the top of the pillars, but he set Thumbelina down upon a flower of her choosing, where she would be safe.

  To her surprise, a tiny man already stood on the flower, with a gold crown on his head and gossamer wings on his back. He was the prince of all flowers and ruled over all the tiny men and women who lived on each flower. The handsome fairy prince was delighted with Thumbelina, as she was the prettiest and sweetest girl he had ever met. He quickly put his crown on her head and asked her to be his wife. This bridegroom was different from the toad and the mole! Thumbelina agreed, and they celebrated their wedding that day. The swallow sang his loveliest song, and the other flower fairies came bearing wonderful gifts for their new princess. The best gift was a pair of fairy wings of her own, so that she could flit from flower to flower as well. Happiness had come to Thumbelina at last, and she and the prince rejoiced at their good fortune until the end of their days.

  Little Red Riding Hood

  Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a cozy cottage near the edge of the woods with her mother. The girl liked to wear a red cloak with a hood. In fact, she wore it so much that soon she was known as Little Red Riding Hood.

  One day her mother said, “Little Red, your grandmother is very sick. Bring her this basket of goodies but be very careful. Keep to the path and no matter what don’t talk to strangers.”

  Little Red Riding Hood kissed her mother on the cheek. “Don’t worry, Mama. I’ll run all the way to Grandma’s without stopping.”

  Little Red stayed on the path and spoke to no one…until she saw a bush full of raspberries. Raspberries were her grandma’s favorite! She began picking berries, unaware that a wicked wolf was watching her from the woods.

  “What a nice snack she will make,” the wolf said under his breath. Just as he was about to pounce, the wolf heard the chopping sound of a woodsman working nearby. “Drat!” he muttered. He needed a plan.

  “Where are you going, my pretty girl, all alone in the woods?” the wolf asked, with a toothy grin.

  Little Red was so excited about the berries that she forgot her mother’s warning. “To see my grandmother!”

  “Have you far to go?” asked the wolf.

  “Yes,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “Her house is all the way on the other side of the woods.”

  “Well, then,” the wolf said, with a little bow. “You had better be on your way.”

  Little Red Riding Hood skipped down the trail. But the sneaky wolf knew a shortcut. He dashed through the woods until he was at Grandma’s door.

  Knock! Knock!

  “Who’s there?” cried Grandma from her bed.

  “It’s me,” said the wolf, trying to make his voice sound soft and sweet. “It’s Little Red Riding Hood. I’ve brought you a basket of goodies.”

  “Come in,” said Grandma.

  The door opened, and a horrible shadow appeared on the wall. “Oh, my!” was all the poor old woman could say as the wolf leapt across the room and grabbed her. He tied her up with rope and put her in the closet.

  The wicked wolf put on Grandma’s night-clothes and climbed into her bed. Moments later, there was a knock on the door.

  “Grandma,” called Little Red Riding Hood, “may I come in?”

  The wolf tried to imitate Grandma’s quivering voice. “Come in!”

  Little Red opened the door and set the basket down, and came closer. “Why, Grandma,” she said, “what a deep voice you have.”

  “The better to greet you with,” said the wolf.

  “And what big eyes you have.”

  “The better to see you with.”

  “And what big teeth you have!”

  “The better to eat you with!”

  The wolf grabbed the girl and let out a sinister howl! His howl was so loud that it echoed through the woods. The woodsman, fearing the worst, grabbed his axe and ran toward the terrible noise. He burst through the door and found Little Red in the wolf’s clutches. The woodsman swung his axe! The wolf jumped back, the blade just barely missing him, and let Little Red go.

  “I’ll get you next time,” he said before running off into the woods.

  Little Red Riding Hood ran to the closet and untied her grandma as the woodsman looked on.

  Later, the three sat down to enjoy the goodies Little Red had brought…and she never, ever, ever spoke to a stranger again!

  The Country Mouse and the City Mouse

  There was once a happy little mouse that lived in the country. In the summer, the country mouse scampered around the wheat field, eating grain whenever he felt like it. As the weather grew cold, the little mouse moved into the farmhouse. Inside he gathered nuts and barley that were dropped on the kitchen floor. When winter came, he had a good supply of food in three neat piles: one for nuts, one for barley, and one for crumbs.

  One snowy winter day, there was a knock at the door. It was his cousin, all the way from the city! When the little city mouse sat down to dinner, he couldn’t believe the country mouse had nothing to eat except barley, nuts, and crumbs.

  The city mouse shook his head and said, “My poor country cousin. You do not live well at all. Why, you should see how I live! I have fine things to eat every day.”

  The country mouse immediately felt ashamed of his simple home.

  The city mouse went on, “Tomorrow, we’ll go to the city. I’ll show you my home and you will see how much nicer it is where I live.”

  In the morning, they went to the city where the houses were big and there were people everywhere.

  The very first place that the city mouse took his cousin was the kitchen cupboard. Inside there was a sack of brown sugar. They began to eat at once. The country mouse had never tasted anything so delicious in his life!

  “Wow, cousin,” the country mouse said. “You are so lucky!”

  Just then, the door swung open with a bang. The city mouse ran for the hole in the corner of the cupboard but the country mouse froze with fear. A cook reached into the cupboard and to her surprise came nose to nose with the country mouse.

  She let out a scream and dropped the flour on the floor.

  “Don’t just stand there, cousin!” shouted the city mouse. “Come on!”

  The country mouse scurried through the little hole. When they were safe, the country mouse said, “Whew! That was close.”

  The city mouse dusted the flour off his whiskers. “Don’t worry. She’ll be gone soon and then we can go back.”

  After the cook had gone away, they crept back to the kitchen. This time, the city mouse had something new to share. They went through the hole in the cupboard, where a big jar of dried cherries was left open. These were even better than the brown sugar! Everything was wonderful until they heard scratch, scratch, scratch on the cupboard door.

  “What is that?” asked the country mouse.

  Suddenly there was
a loud meow!

  The city mouse ran as fast as he could to the hole, and this time the country mouse followed.

  As soon as they were out of danger, the city mouse said with a glint in his eye, “That old cat will never catch me! Let’s go down to the pantry. There is even more food down there!”

  Down in the pantry, there were rounds of cheese, bunches of sausages, and barrels full of pickles. It smelled so good that the little country mouse went wild. He scurried around the room, nibbling a little cheese here and a bit of a pickle there, until he saw a morsel of cheese on a strange little stand in a corner. He was just about to take a big, healthy bite when the city mouse saw him.

  “Stop!” cried the city mouse. “That’s a trap!”

  The little country mouse stopped in his tracks. “What’s a trap?”

  “That thing,” said the little city mouse, “is a trap. The minute you touch the cheese, something comes down on your head hard, and—” The city mouse made a loud clap with his little hands.

  The little country mouse looked at the trap. Then he looked at his cousin. “I think I will go home,” he said. “I’d rather have barley and grain and eat it in peace, than have brown sugar and cheese and eat in fear.”

  The two mice shook hands. The country mouse happily went back to his home. And there he stayed for the rest of his life.

  Chicken Little

  Once upon a time, Chicken Little was scratching in her garden when an acorn fell out of a tree and hit her on the head.