ANIMAL TALES

• The Big Leap
• Whining & Dining
• Tiger's Cub
• Safety In Numbers
• Tug of War
• The Fairest of Them All
• Donkey Who Didn't Help
• Wrinkled Winner
• The Fire Specialists
• Uneasy Neighbours
• Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby
• The Boastful Crow
• How You Say It Matters
• Outwitting a Crocodile
• The Diplomatic Reply
• The Scheming Rat
• Half-Educated

Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby

One day Brer Fox got hold of some tar and made a Tar Baby. He put a hat on it and set it in the middle of the road. Then he hid behind a bush to see what would happen.
Presently, along came Brer Rabbit. He politely wished the Tar Baby good morning. When it did not respond he wished it again and then yet again. Finally, thinking the tar baby was being deliberately rude, he punched it in the face and of course, his hand got stuck in the tar. He punched it with the other hand and that hand too got stuck. When he tried kicking it, his legs got stuck.
Brer Fox came out of his hiding place and rolled on the ground with laughter.
Then he said he would roast Brer Rabbit for dinner.
"Roast me if you want, Brer Fox," said Brer Rabbit, "but please don't throw me into that briar patch."
"I'll hang you before roasting you," said Brer Fox.
"Do that," said Brer Rabbit, "but for heaven's sake, don't throw me into that briar patch."
"I'll drown you," said Brer Fox, but Brer Rabbit didn't seem afraid of that either.
"...Only don't throw me into that briar patch," he begged.
This made Brer Fox think the briar patch was a dangerous place and plucking out Brer Rabbit from the Tar Baby, flung him into the patch of thorny bushes.
He waited expectantly for the cry of pain, but heard nothing. Instead, after some time he saw Brer Rabbit sitting cross-legged way up on a nearby hill, and grinning at him.
"I was born and bred in a briar patch, Brer Fox!" he shouted. "Born and bred in a briar patch!"


Adapted from a story by Joel Chandler Harris.