"He hasn't got any hind legs!" he called out. "Fancy a rabbit without
any hind legs!" And he began to laugh.

"I have!" cried the little Rabbit. "I have got hind legs! I am sitting
on them!"

"Then stretch them out and show me, like this!" said the wild rabbit.
And he began to whirl round and dance, till the little Rabbit got
quite dizzy.

"I don't like dancing," he said. "I'd rather sit still!"

But all the while he was longing to dance, for a funny new tickly
feeling ran through him, and he felt he would give anything in the
world to be able to jump about like these rabbits did.

The strange rabbit stopped dancing, and came quite close. He came so
close this time that his long whiskers brushed the Velveteen Rabbit's
ear, and then he wrinkled his nose suddenly and flattened his ears and
jumped backwards.

"He doesn't smell right!" he exclaimed. "He isn't a rabbit at all! He
isn't real!"

"I am Real!" said the little Rabbit. "I am Real! The Boy said so!" And
he nearly began to cry.

Just then there was a sound of footsteps, and the Boy ran past near
them, and with a stamp of feet and a flash of white tails the two
strange rabbits disappeared.