United States History 17A
The Wonderful Tar Baby Story
In the decades
following the Civil War, Joel
Chandler Harris
travelled through the south, collecting
folktales and
legends that had existed before this time only
in oral tradition.
In presenting these stories in written
form, Harris
created the figure of Uncle Remus, a benevolent
old black man,
who told the stories, usually to white
children.
Most of these stories came from former slaves,
and concerned
the adventures of rabbits, bears, wolves,
foxes and other
animals. In almost all of the
confrontations
among these creatures, the winner was the
weakest of them
all -- the rabbit. From the introduction to
an 1898 collection
of these stories, Harris suggests why,
and offers the
motives for his efforts:
"However
humorous this book may be in effect, its
intention is
perfectly serious. My purpose has been to
preserve the
legends themselves in their original,
simplicity,
and to wed them permanently to the quaint
dialect through
which they have become a part of the
domestic history
of every southern family.
"I trust
I have been successful in presenting a
new and by no
means unattractive phase of Negro character, a
phase which
may be considered a curiously sympathetic
supplement to
Mrs. Stowe's wonderful defense of slavery as
it existed in
the south. Mrs. Stowe attacked the
possibilities
of slavery with all eloquence and genius; but
the same genius
painted the portrait of the southern slave
owner, and defended
him.
"It needs
no scientific investigation to show why
the Negro selects
as his hero the weakest and most harmless
of all animals,
and brings him out victorious in contests
with the bear,
wolf and fox. It is not virtue that triumphs
but helplessness;
not malice, but mischievousness.
"Curiously
enough, I have found few Negroes who
will acknowledge
to a stranger that they know anything of
these legends;
and yet to relate one of the stories is the
surest road
to their confidence and esteem. In this way,
and in this
way only, I have been enabled to collect and
verify the folklore
included in this volume."
"The Wonderful
Tar Baby Story"
"Didn't
the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle
Remus?"
"He come
mighty nigh it, honey, sho's you born -
Brer Fox did.
One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid dat
calamus root,
Brer Fox went ter wuk en got 'im some tar, en
mix it wid some
turkentine, en fix up a contrapshun w'at he
call a Tar-Baby,
en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot 'er
in de big road,
en den he lay off in de bushes fer so see
w'at de news
wuz gwinter be. En he didn't hatter wait long,
nudder, kaze
bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin' down de
road -- lippity-clippity,
clippity-lippity -- des ez sassy
ez a jay-bird.
Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come
prancin' long
twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on
his behime leghs
like he wuz 'stonished. De Tar-Baby, she
sot dar, she
did, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
" ' Mawnin"!
sez Brer Rabbit, sezee -- 'nice
wedder dis mawnin','
sezee.
"Tar-Baby
ain't sayin' nothin', en Brer Fox, he
lay low.
" 'How
duz yo' symtums seem ter segashuate?' sez
Brer Rabbit,
sezee.
"Brer
Fox, he wink his eye slow, en lay low, en
de Tar-Baby,
she ain't sayin' nothin'.
" 'How
you come on, den? Is you deaf?" sez Brer
Rabbit, sezee.
'Kaze if you is, I kin holler louder,
'sezee.
"Tar-Baby
stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
" 'Youer
stuck up, dat's wa't you is,' says Brer
Rabbit, sezee,
'en I'm gwineter kyore you, dat's w'at I'm a
gwineter do,'
sezee.
"Brer
Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummuck, he
did, but Tar-Baby
ain't sayin' nothin'.
" 'I'm
gwineter larn you how ter talk ter
'specttubble
fokes ef hit's de las' ack,' sez Brer Rabbit,
sezee.
'Ef you don't take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I'm
gwineter bus'
you wide open,' sezee.
"Tar-Baby
stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
" 'Brer
Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby,
she keep on
sayin' nothin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw
back wid his
fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side de head.
His fis' stuck,
en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im.
But Tar-Baby,
she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
" 'Ef
you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you
agin,' sez Brer
Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er a
wipe wid de
udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain't
sayin' nothin',
en Brer Fox, he lay low.
" ' Tu'n
me loose, fo' I kick de natal stuffin'
outen you,'
sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she
ain't sayin'
nothin'. She des hilt on, en den Brer Rabbit
lose de use
er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay
low. Den
Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't
tu'n 'im loose
he butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en
his head got
stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa'ntered fort',
lookin' des
ez innercent ez one er yo' mammy's
mockin'-birds.
" 'Howdy,
Brer Rabbit,' sez Brer Fox, sezee.
'You look sorter
stuck up dis mawnin',' sezee, en den he
rolled on de
groun', en laft en laft twel he couldn't laff
no mo'.
'I speck you'll take dinner wid me dis time, Brer
Rabbit.
I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain't
gwineter take
no skuse,' sez Brer Fox, sezee. 'I speck I
got you dis
time, Brer Rabbit,' sezee. 'Maybe I ain't, but
I speck I is.
You been runnin' round here sassin' atter me
a mighty long
time, but I speck you done come ter de een' er
de row.
You bin cuttin' up yo' capers en bouncin' roun' in
dis neighberhood
ontwel you come ter b'leeve yo'se'f de boss
er de whole
gang. En den youer allers some'rs whar you got
no bizness,'
sez Brer Fox, sezee. 'Who ax you fer ter come
en strike up
a 'quaintance wid dish yer Tar-Baby? En who
stuck you up
dar whar you iz? Nobody in de roun' worril.
You des tuck
en jam you'se'f on day Tar-Baby widout waitin'
fer enny invite,'
sez Brer Fox, sezee, 'en dar you is, en
dar you'll stay
twel I fixes up a bresh-pile and fires her
up, kaze I'm
gwineter bobbycue you dis day, sho,' sez Brer
Fox, sezee.
"Den Brer
Rabbit talk mighty 'umble.
" 'I don't
keer w'at you do wid me, Brer Fox,'
sezee, 'so you
don't fling me in dat brier-patch. Roas' me,
Brer Fox,' sezee,
'but don't fling me in dat brier-patch,'
sezee.
" 'Hit's
so much trouble fer ter kindle a fier,'
sez Brer Fox,
sezee, 'dat I speck I'll hatter hang you,'
sezee.
" 'Hang
me des ez high as you please, Brer Fox,'
sez Brer Rabbit,
sezee, 'but fer de Lord's sake don't fling
me in dat brier-patch,'
sezee.
" 'I ain't
got no string,' sez Brer Fox,
sezee,'en now
I speck I'll hatter drown you,' sezee.
" 'Drown
me des ez deep ez you please, Brer Fox,'
sez Brer Rabbit,
sezee, 'but don't fling me in dat
brier-patch,'
sezee.
" 'Dey
ain't no water nigh,' sez Brer Fox, sezee,
'en now I speck
I'll hatter skin you,' sezee.
" 'Skin
me, Brer Fox,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee,
'snatch out
my eyeballs, t'ar out my years by de roots, en
cut off my legs,'
sezee, 'but please, Brer Fox, don't fling
me in dat brier-patch,'
sezee.
"Co'se
Brer Fox wanter hur Brer Rabbit bad ez he
kin, so he cotch
'im by de behime legs en slung 'im right in
de middle er
de brier-patch. Dar wuz a considerbul flutter
whar Brer Rabbit
struck de bushes, en Brer Fox sorter hang
roun' fer ter
see w'at wuz gwineter happen. Bimeby he hear
somebody call
'im, en way up de hill he see Brer Rabbit
settin' cross-legged
on a chinkapin log koamin' de pitch
outen his har
wid a chip. Den Brer Fox know dat he bin swop
off mighty bad.
Brer Rabbit wuz bleedzed fer ter fling back
some er his
sass, en he holler out:
" 'Bawn
en bred in a brier-patch, Brer Fox --
bawn en bred
in a brier-patch!' En wid dat he skip out des
ez lively ez
a cricket in de embers."
*From Uncle Remus; Or, Mr. Fox, Mr. Rabbit, and
Mr. Terrapin",
by Joel Chandler Harris. George Routledge &
Sons, (London:
1898), pp. vii-xxiii, 6-9, 15-18.
Revised
November 12, 2003
by Tom Gallup, e-mail address: [email protected]
West Valley College
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvc/ss/gallup/gallup.html