C152. Brother Fox Follows the Fashion

9. Brother Fox Follows the Fashion. Text Source: Told by Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. Online at Project Gutenberg. I have removed the frame material and standardized the spelling; click here for the original spelling plus all notes to the story.

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BRER FOX FOLLOWS the FASHION

Some folks cries, and other folks laughs. They got their reasons, too. Now, I don't know that old Brer Rabbit was hard-hearted or cold-blooded any more than the common run of the critters, but it look like he can see more to tickle him than the others, and he was constant a-laughing. Most of the time he'd laugh in his innards, but then again, when something touch his funny-bone, he'd open up with a big ha-ha-ha that'd make the other critters take to the bushes. And that was the way he done when old Craney-Crow had his head tooken off for to be in the fashion. He laugh and laugh till it hurt him to laugh, and then he laugh some more for good measure. He laughed plumb till morning, and then he laugh whiles he was racking on towards home. He'd lope a little ways, and then he'd sit down by the side of the road and laugh some more.

Whiles he going on this a-way, he come to the place where Brer Fox live at, and then it look like he can't get no further. If a leaf shook on the tree, it'd put him in mind of the hopping and jumping and scuffling that old Craney-Crow done when Doc Wolf took and took off his head for him.

As luck would have it, Brer Fox was out in his pea-patch for to see how his crop was getting on, and hunting round for to see if there was any stray tracks where somebody had been after his truck. Whiles he was looking around he hear someone laughing fit to kill, and he looked over the fence for to see who it is. There was Brer Rabbit just a-rolling in the grass and laughing hard as he can. Brer Fox allow, "Heyo, Brer Rabbit! What the name of goodness the matter with you?"

Brer Rabbit in the middle of his laughing can't do nothing but shake his head and kick in the grass.

About that time, old Miss Fox stuck her head out of the window for to see what going on. She say, "Sandy, what all that fuss out there? Ain't you know that the baby's just gone to sleep?"

Brer Fox, he say, "It ain't nobody in the round world but Brer Rabbit, and if I ain't mighty much mistooken, he done gone and got a case of the hysterics."

Old Miss Fox say, "I don't care what he got, I wish he'd go on 'way from there, or hush up his racket. He'll wake the chillun, and them what ain't asleep he'll scare the wits out of 'em."

With that, old Brer Rabbit catch his breath, and pass the time of day with Brer Fox and his old woman. Then he say, "You see me and you hear me, Brer Fox; well, just as you see me now, that the way I been going on all night long. I expect maybe it ain't right for to laugh at them what ain't got the sense they ought to been born with, but I can't help it for to save my life; I try, but the more what I try the worser I gets. I ought to be at home right now, and I would be if it hadn't've been for something I seed last night," and then he went to laughing again.

Old Miss Fox, she fix the bonnet on her head, and then she say, "What you see, Brer Rabbit? It must be mighty funny; tell us about it, and maybe we'll laugh with you."

Brer Rabbit allow, "I don't mind telling you, ma'am, if I can keep from laughing, but if I had to stop for to catch my breath, I know mighty well that you'll excuse me." 

Old Miss Fox say, "That we will, Brer Rabbit."

With that Brer Rabbit up and told all about old Craney-Crow coming in the Swamp, and not knowing how to go to bed. He say that the funny part of it was that old Craney-Crow ain't know that when anybody went to bed they ought to take their head off, and then he start to laughing again. 

Old Miss Fox look at her old man and he look at her; they don't know what to say or how to say it. 

Brer Rabbit see how they are doing, but he ain't pay no attention. He allow, "That old Craney-Crow look like he had travel far and wide; he look like he know what all the fashions is, but when he got in the Swamp and see all the critters—them what run and them what fly—sleeping with their heads off, he sure was took back; he say he ain't never hear of such doings as that. You done seed how country folks do—well, just that a-way he done. I been trying hard for to get home, and tell my old woman about it, but every time I gets a good start it pop up in my mind about how old Craney-Crow done when he find out what the fashion was in this part of the country."

And then Brer Rabbit set into laughing, and Brer Fox and old Miss Fox they joined in with him, 'cause they ain't want nobody for to get the idea that they don't know what the fashion is, specially the fashion in the part of the country where they are living at.

Old Miss Fox, she say that old Craney-Crow must be a funny sort of somebody not to know what the fashions is, and Brer Fox he agree till he grin and show his tooths. He say he ain't caring much about fashions hisself, but he wouldn't like for to be laughed at on the account of plain ignorance.

Brer Rabbit, he say he ain't making no pretense of doing everything that's done, 'cause he ain't that finicky, but when fashions is comfortable and cooling he don't mind following 'em for their own sake as well as his own. He say now that he done got in the habits of sleeping with his head off, he wouldn't no more sleep with it on than he'd fly.

Old Miss Fox, she up and respond, "I believe you, Brer Rabbit—that I does!"

Brer Rabbit, he make a bow, he did, and allow, "I know mighty well that I'm old-fashioned, and there ain't no denying it, Miss Fox, but when the new generation hit on to something that's cool and comfortable, I ain't the man to laugh at it just 'cause it's tolerable new. No, ma'am! I'll try it, and if it work all right I'll follow it; if it don't, I won't. The first time I try to sleep with my head off I was kind of nervous, but I soon got over that, and now if it was to go out fashion, I'd just keep right on with it, I don't care what the others'd think. That's me; that's me all over."

By and by, Brer Rabbit look at the sun, and just vow he pleased to get home. He wish old Miss Fox mighty well, and made his bow, and put out down the road at a two-forty gait. 

Brer Fox look kind of sheepish when his old woman look at him. He say that the idea of sleeping with your head off is brand new to him. Old Miss Fox allow that there's a heap of things in this world what he don't know, and what he won't never find out. She say, "Here I is a-scrimping and a-working my eyeballs out for to be as good as the best, and there you is a-projecting round and not a-caring whether your family is in the fashion or not."

Brer Fox allow that if sleeping with your head off is one of the fashions, he for one ain't caring about trying. Old Miss Fox say, "No, and you ain't a-caring what folks say about your wife and family. No wonder Brer Rabbit had to laugh whiles he was telling you about Craney-Crow, 'cause you stood there with your mouth open like you ain't got no sense. It'll be a pretty tale he'll tell his family about the tacky Fox family."

With that old Miss Fox switch away from the window and went to cleaning up the house, and by and by Brer Fox went in the house hoping that breakfast was ready; but there weren't no sign of nothing to eat. After so long a time, Brer Fox ask when he was going to get breakfast. His old woman allow that eating breakfast and getting it, too, was one of the fashions. If he ain't following fashions, she ain't neither. He ain't say no more, but went off behind the house and had a mighty time of thinking and scratching for fleas.

When bedtime come, old Miss Fox was mighty tired, and she ain't a-caring much about fashions right then. Just as she was fixing for to roll herself in the cover, Brer Fox come in from a hunt he'd been having. He fetch a weasel and a mink with him, and he put 'em in the cupboard where they'd keep cool. Then he wash his face and hands, and allow that he's ready for to have his head tooken off for the night, if his old woman'll be so good as to help him.

(image source)

By that time old Miss Fox had done got over the pouts, but she ain't got over the idea of following after the fashions, and so she say she'll be glad for to help him do what's right, seeing that he's so hard-headed in general. Then come the knotty part. Neither one of 'em knowed what they was about, and there they sat and jowered about the best way for to get the head off. Brer Fox say there ain't but one way, unless you twist the head off, and goodness knows he ain't want nobody for to be twisting his neck, 'cause he ticklish anyhow. That one way was to take the ax and cut the head off. Old Miss Fox, she squall, she did, and hold up her hands like she scared.

Brer Fox sat there looking up the chimney. By and by his old woman allow, "The ax look mighty scary, but one thing I know, and that ain't two, it ain't going to hurt you if it's the fashion." Brer Fox kind of work his under jaw, but he ain't saying nothing. 

(image source)

So his old woman went out to the woodpile and got the ax, and then she say, "I'm ready, honey, whenever you is,' and Brer Fox, he respond, "I'm just as ready now as I ever is to be," and with that she up with the ax and blip! She took him right on the neck. The head come right off with little or no trouble, and old Miss Fox laugh and say to herself that she glad they following the fashion at last.

Brer Fox sort of kick and squirm when the head first come off, but his old woman allow that that was the sign he was dreaming, and after he lay right still she say he was having a better night's rest than what he'd had in a mighty long time. And then she happen for to think that whiles her old man done gone and got in the fashion, there she was ready for to go to bed with her head on. She don't know how to get her head off, and she try to wake up her old man, but it look like he was one of them stubborn kind of sleepers what won't be wokened after they once drop off. She shake him and holler at him, but it ain't do no good. She can't make him stir, spite of all the racket she make, and she had to go to bed with her head on.

She went to bed, she did, but she ain't sleep good, 'cause she had trouble in the mind. She'd wake up and turn over, and roll and toss, and wonder what the other critters'd say if they knowed she was so far out of the fashion as to sleep with her head on. And she had bad dreams; she dreamt that Brer Rabbit was laughing at her, and she start for to run at him, and the first news she knowed the dogs was on her trail and going in full cry. It was that a-way all night long, and she was more than thankful when morning come.

She try to wake up her old man, but still he won't be woke. He lay there, he did, and won't budge, and by and by old Miss Fox get mad and go off and leave him. After so long a time she went back to where he was laying, and he was just like she left him. She try to roust him up, but he won't be rousted. She holler so loud that Brer Rabbit which he was going by, got the idea that she was calling him, and he stick his head in the door and allow, "Is you calling me, ma'am?"

She say, "Lord! Brer Rabbit? I ain't know you was anywheres around. I been trying for to wake up my old man; he more lazier this morning than I ever is know him to be. If my house weren't all 'full up, I'd ask you in and get you to drag him out and get him up."

Brer Rabbit say, "If there ain't nothing the matter with Brer Fox he'll get up in good time." 

Old Miss Fox allow, "Ord! I don't know what you call good time. Look at the sun—it's 'way up yonder, and there he is sleeping like a log. 'Fore he went to bed he made me take his head off, and he ain't woke up since."

"And how did you get it off, ma'am?' says old Brer Rabbit, says he. 

"I took and took the ax and cut it off," says she. 

With that Brer Rabbit flung both hands over his face, and mosied off like he was crying. From the way he look you'd've thunk his heart was broke; yet he weren't crying.He was just a-laughing—laughing fit to kill. 

When old Miss Fox see him going long like he was crying, she suspicioned that something was wrong, and sure enough it was, 'cause Brer Fox ain't wake up no more. She allow, "Old honey look like he dead, but he better be dead than out of the fashion!"

C152. Baer (p. 143). Brother Fox Follows the Fashion

This is Chase152.

Types
Motifs
J2413.4.2. fowl makes another animal believe that he has had his neck cut off.
J2401 Fatal imitation (and that should also be for Chase 151, right?

See note to Chase151.

Plus also: Seven Tales, number 5: Brother Bear Learns to Comb His Hair: "Rabbit tells Bear that Rabbit's head looks so nice because his wife cuts it off, combs it, and then puts it back. Bear tells his wife to do the same; it kills him."

C152. Brother Fox Follows the Fashion (original spelling)

9. Brother Fox Follows the Fashion. Text Source: Told by Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. Online at Project Gutenberg. You can click here for the standardized spelling plus all notes to the story.

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The little boy was not sure whether Uncle Remus had finished the story; it would have been hard for a grown man to keep up with the whimsical notions of the venerable old darkey, and surely you couldn’t expect a little bit of a boy, who had had no experience to speak of, to do as well. The little lad waited a while, and, seeing that Uncle Remus showed no sign of resuming the narrative, he spoke up. “I didn’t see anything to cry about,” he remarked.



“Well, some folks cries, an’ yuther folks laughs. Dey got der reasons, too. Now, I dunno dat ol’ Brer Rabbit wuz hard-hearted er col’-blooded any mo’ dan de common run er de creeturs, but it look like he kin see mo’ ter tickle ’im dan ye yuthers, an’ he wuz constant a-laughin’. Mos’ er de time he’d laugh in his innerds, but den[142] ag’in, when sump’n tetch his funny-bone, he’d open up wid a big ha-ha-ha dat ’ud make de yuther creeturs take ter de bushes.

“An’ dat ’uz de way he done when ol’ Craney-Crow had his head tooken off fer ter be in de fashion. He laugh an’ laugh twel it hurt ’im ter laugh, an’ den he laugh some mo’ fer good medjur. He laughed plum twel mornin’, an’ den he laugh whiles he wuz rackin’ on todes home. He’d lope a little ways, an’ den he’d set down by de side er de road an’ laugh some mo’. Whiles he gwine on dis a-way, he come ter de place whar Brer Fox live at, an’ den it look like he can’t git no furder. Ef a leaf shook on de tree, it ’ud put ’im in min’ er de hoppin’ an’ jumpin’ an’ scufflin’ dat ol’ Craney-Crow done when Dock Wolf tuck an’ tuck off his head fer ’im.

“Ez luck would have it, Brer Fox wuz out in his pea-patch fer ter see how his crap wuz gittin’ on, an’ huntin’ roun’ fer ter see ef dey wuz any stray tracks whar somebody had bin atter his truck. Whiles he wuz lookin’ roun’ he hear some un laughin’ fit ter kill, an’ he looked over de[143] fence fer ter see who ’tis. Dar wuz Brer Rabbit des a-rollin’ in de grass an’ laughin’ hard ez he kin. Brer Fox ’low: ‘Heyo, Brer Rabbit! what de name er goodness de matter wid you?’ Brer Rabbit, in de middle er his laughin’ can’t do nothin’ but shake his head an’ kick in de grass.

“’Bout dat time, ol’ Miss Fox stuck ’er head out’n de winder fer ter see what gwine on. She say, ‘Sandy, what all dat fuss out dar? Ain’t you know dat de baby’s des gone ter sleep?’ Brer Fox, he say, ‘’Tain’t nobody in de roun’ worl’ but Brer Rabbit, an’ ef I ain’t mighty much mistooken, he done gone an’ got a case er de highstericks.’ Ol’ Miss Fox say, ‘I don’t keer what he got, I wish he’d go on ’way fum dar, er hush up his racket. He’ll wake de chillun, an’ dem what ain’t ’sleep he’ll skeer de wits out’n ’um.’

“Wid dat, ol’ Brer Rabbit cotch his breff, an’ pass de time er day wid Brer Fox an’ his ol’ ’oman. Den he say, ‘You see me an’ you hear me, Brer Fox; well, des ez you see me now, dat de way I been gwine on all night long. I speck maybe it ain’t right fer ter laugh at dem what ain’t got de[144] sense dey oughter been born wid, but I can’t he’p it fer ter save my life; I try, but de mo’ what I try de wusser I gits. I oughter be at home right now, an’ I would be ef it hadn’t ’a’ been fer sump’n I seed las’ night,’ an’ den he went ter laughin’ ag’in. Ol’ Miss Fox, she fix de bonnet on her head, an’ den she say, ‘What you see, Brer Rabbit? It mus’ be mighty funny; tell us ’bout it, an’ maybe we’ll laugh wid you.’ Brer Rabbit ’low, ‘I don’t min’ tellin’ you, ma’am, ef I kin keep fum laughin’, but ef I hatter stop fer ter ketch my breff, I know mighty well dat you’ll skuzen me.’ Ol’ Miss Fox say, ‘Dat we will, Brer Rabbit.’

“Wid dat Brer Rabbit up an’ tol’ all ’bout ol’ Craney-Crow comin’ in de Swamp, an’ not knowin’ how ter go ter bed. He say dat de funny part un it wuz dat ol’ Craney-Crow ain’t know dat when anybody went ter bed dey oughter take der head off, an’ den he start ter laughin’ ag’in. Ol’ Miss Fox look at her ol’ man an’ he look at her; dey dunner what ter say er how ter say it.

“Brer Rabbit see how dey er doin’, but he ain’t pay no ’tention. He ’low, ‘Dat ol’ Craney-Crow[145] look like he had travel fur an’ wide; he look like he know what all de fashions is, but when he got in de Swamp an’ see all de creeturs—dem what run an’ dem what fly—sleepin’ wid der heads off, he sho’ wuz tuck back; he say he ain’t never her er sech doin’s ez dat. You done seed how country folks do—well, des dat a-way he done. I been tryin’ hard fer ter git home, an’ tell my ol’ ’oman ’bout it, but eve’y time I gits a good start it pop up in my min’ ’bout how ol’ Craney-Crow done when he fin’ out what de fashion wuz in dis part er de country.’ An’ den Brer Rabbit sot inter laughin’, and Brer Fox an’ ol’ Miss Fox dey j’ined in wid ’im, kaze dey ain’t want nobody fer ter git de idee dat dey don’t know what de fashion is, speshually de fashion in de part er de country whar dey er livin’ at.

“Ol’ Miss Fox, she say dat ol’ Craney-Crow must be a funny sort er somebody not ter know what de fashions is, an’ Brer Fox he ’gree twel he grin an’ show his tushes. He say he ain’t keerin’ much ’bout fashions hisse’f, but he wouldn’t like fer ter be laughed at on de ’count er plain ignunce.[146] Brer Rabbit, he say he ain’t makin’ no pertence er doin’ eve’ything dat’s done, kaze he ain’t dat finnicky, but when fashions is comfertubble an’ coolin’ he don’t min’ follerin’ um fer der own sake ez well ez his’n. He say now dat he done got in de habits er sleepin’ wid his head off, he wouldn’t no mo’ sleep wid it on dan he’d fly.

“Ol’ Miss Fox, she up ’n’ spon’, ‘I b’lieve you, Brer Rabbit—dat I does!’ Brer Rabbit, he make a bow, he did, an’ ’low, ‘I know mighty well dat I’m ol’-fashion’, an’ dey ain’t no ’nyin’ it, Miss Fox, but when de new gineration hit on ter sump’n dat’s cool an’ comfertubble, I ain’t de man ter laugh at it des kaze it’s tollerbul new. No, ma’am! I’ll try it, an’ ef it work all right I’ll foller it; ef it don’t, I won’t. De fus’ time I try ter sleep wid my head off I wuz kinder nervious, but I soon got over dat, an’ now ef it wuz ter go out fashion, I’d des keep right on wid it, I don’t keer what de yuthers ’d think. Dat’s me; dat’s me all over.’

“Bimeby, Brer Rabbit look at de sun, an’ des vow he bleeze ter git home. He wish ol’ Miss Fox[147] mighty well, an’ made his bow, an’ put out down de road at a two-forty gait. Brer Fox look kinder sheepish when his ol’ ’oman look at ’im. He say dat de idee er sleepin’ wid yo’ head off is bran new ter him. Ol’ Miss Fox ’low dat dey’s a heap er things in dis worl’ what he dunno, an’ what he won’t never fin’ out. She say, ‘Here I is a-scrimpin’ an’ a-workin’ my eyeballs out fer ter be ez good ez de bes’, an’ dar you is a projickin’ roun’ an’ not a-keerin’ whedder yo’ fambly is in de fashion er not.’ Brer Fox ’low dat ef sleepin’ wid yo’ head off is one er de fashions, he fer one ain’t keerin’ ’bout tryin’. Ol’ Miss Fox say, ‘No, an’ you ain’t a-keerin’ what folks say ’bout yo’ wife an’ fambly. No wonder Brer Rabbit had ter laugh whiles he wuz tellin’ you ’bout Craney-Crow, kaze you stood dar wid yo’ mouf open like you ain’t got no sense. It’ll be a purty tale he’ll tell his fambly ’bout de tacky Fox fambly.’

“Wid dat Ol’ Miss Fox switch away fum de winder an’ went ter cleanin’ up de house, an’ bimeby Brer Fox went in de house hopin’ dat brekfus wuz ready; but dey wa’n’t no sign er[148] nothin’ ter eat. Atter so long a time, Brer Fox ax when he wuz gwine ter git brekfus’. His ol’ ’oman ’low dat eatin’ brekfus’ an’ gittin’ it, too, wuz one er de fashions. Ef he ain’t follerin’ fashions, she ain’t needer. He ain’t say no mo’, but went off behin’ de house an’ had a mighty time er thinkin’ an’ scratchin’ fer fleas.

“When bedtime come, ol’ Miss Fox wuz mighty tired, an’ she ain’t a-keerin’ much ’bout fashions right den. Des ez she wuz fixin’ fer ter roll ’erse’f in de kivver, Brer Fox come in fum a hunt he’d been havin’. He fotch a weasel an’ a mink wid ’im, an’ he put um in de cubberd whar dey’d keep cool. Den he wash his face an’ han’s, an’ ’low dat he’s ready fer ter have his head tooken off fer de night, ef his ol’ ’oman’ll be so good ez ter he’p ’im.

“By dat time ol’ Miss Fox had done got over de pouts, but she ain’t got over de idee er follerin’ atter de fashions, an’ so she say she’ll be glad fer ter he’p ’im do what’s right, seein’ dat he’s so hard-headed in gin’ul. Den come de knotty part. Na’er one un um know’d what dey wuz ’bout,[149] an’ dar dey sot an’ jowered ’bout de bes’ way fer ter git de head off. Brer Fox say dey ain’t but one way, less’n you twis’ de head off, an’ goodness knows he ain’t want nobody fer ter be twis’in’ his neck, kaze he ticklish anyhow. Dat one way wuz ter take de ax an’ cut de head off. Ol’ Miss Fox, she squall, she did, an’ hol’ up her han’s like she skeer’d.

“Brer Fox sot dar lookin’ up de chimbley. Bimeby his ol’ ’oman ’low, ‘De ax look mighty skeery, but one thing I know, an’ dat ain’t two, it ain’t gwineter hurt you ef it’s de fashion. Brer Fox kinder work his under jaw, but he ain’t sayin’ nothin’. So his ol’ ’oman went out ter de woodpile an’ got de ax, an’ den she say, ‘I’m ready, honey, whenever you is,’ an’ Brer Fox, he ’spon’, ‘I’m des ez ready now ez I ever is ter be,’ an’ wid dat she up wid de ax an’ blip! she tuck ’im right on de neck. De head come right off wid little er no trouble, an’ ol’ Miss Fox laugh an’ say ter herse’f dat she glad dey follerin’ de fashion at las’.

“Brer Fox sorter kick an’ squirm when de[150] head fus’ come off, but his ol’ ’oman ’low dat dat wuz de sign he wuz dreamin’, an’ atter he lay right still she say he wuz havin’ a better night’s res’ dan what he’d had in a mighty long time. An’ den she happen fer ter think dat whiles her ol’ man done gone an’ got in de fashion, dar she wuz ready fer ter go ter bed wid ’er head on. She dunner how ter git ’er head off, an’ she try ter wake up her ol’ man, but it look like he wuz one er dem stubborn kinder sleepers what won’t be woken’d atter dey once drap off. She shake ’im an’ holler at ’im, but ’tain’t do no good. She can’t make ’im stir, spite er all de racket she make, an’ she hatter go ter bed wid her head on.

“She went ter bed, she did, but she ain’t sleep good, kaze she had trouble in de min’. She’d wake up an’ turn over, an’ roll an’ toss, an’ wonder what de yuther creeturs’d say ef dey know’d she wuz so far outer de fashion ez ter sleep wid ’er head on. An’ she had bad dreams; she dremp dat Brer Rabbit wuz laughin’ at ’er, an’ she start fer ter run at ’im, an’ de fust news she know’d de dogs wuz on her trail an’ gwine in full cry. ’Twuz[151] dat a-way all night long, an’ she wuz mo’ dan thankful when mornin’ come.


“So his ol’ ’oman went out ter de woodpile an’ got de ax”

“She try ter wake up her ol’ man, but still he won’t be woke. He lay dar, he did, an’ won’t budge, an’ bimeby ol’ Miss Fox git mad an’ go off an’ leave ’im. Atter so long a time she went back ter whar he wuz layin’, an’ he wuz des like she lef’ ’im. She try ter roust ’im up, but he won’t be rousted. She holler so loud dat Brer Rabbit which he wuz gwine by, got de idee dat she wuz callin’ him, an’ he stick his head in de do’ an’ ’low, ‘Is you callin’ me, ma’am?’

“She say, ‘La! Brer Rabbit? I ain’t know you wuz anywheres aroun’. I been tryin’ fer ter wake up my ol’ man; he mo’ lazier dis mornin’ dan I ever is know ’im ter be. Ef my house wa’n’t all to’ up, I’d ax you in an’ git you ter drag ’im out an’ git ’im up.’

“Brer Rabbit say, ‘Ef dey ain’t nothin’ de matter wid Brer Fox he’ll git up in good time.’ Ol’ Miss Fox ’low, ‘La! I dunner what you call good time. Look at de sun—it’s ’way up yander, an’ dar he is sleepin’ like a log. ’Fo’ he went[152] ter bed he made me take his head off, an’ he ain’t woke up sence.’ ‘An’ how did you git it off, mum?’ sez ol’ Brer Rabbit, sezee. ‘I tuck an’ tuck de ax an’ cut it off,’ se’she. Wid dat Brer Rabbit flung bofe han’s over his face, an’ mosied off like he wuz cryin’. Fum de way he look you’d ’a’ thunk his heart wuz broke; yit he wa’n’t cryin’.”

“Then what was he doing, Uncle Remus?” the little boy asked.

“Des a-laughin’—laughin’ fit ter kill. When ol’ Miss Fox see ’im gwine long like he wuz cryin’, she spicion’d dat sump’n wuz wrong, an’ sho ’nuff ’twuz, kaze Brer Fox ain’t wake up no mo’. She ’low, ‘Ol’ honey look like he dead, but he better be dead dan outer de fashion!’

“I take notice, honey, dat you ain’t use yo’ hankcher yit. What de matter wid you? Is yo’ weeps all dry up?”

The child laughed and stuffed his handkerchief back in his pocket.


“She dremp dat Brer Rabbit wuz laughin’ at ’er”