PLANTATION FOLK-LORE. 825 



grandson of his former owner. Too much praise can not be bestowed 

 upon Mr. Harris for the manner in which he has executed his task : not 

 only is the representation of the dialect better than anything that has 

 heretofore been given, but he has shown himself a master in the difficult 

 art of collecting popular tales. A glance at the variants of these sto- 

 ries published elsewhere will show the vast superiority of Mr. Harris's. 

 It is not, however, in their literary character, interesting as it is, that 

 we intend to examine briefly these fables, but simply in their relations 

 to the similar tales of other countries. 



Mr. Harris does not state the precise locality where he collected his 

 fables. To cite the words of a competent critic ("The Nation," De- 

 cember 2, 1880) : " Presumably his stories are all of Georgian origin, 

 though he cites a variant from Florida ; and he gives us proof that 

 ' they have become a part of the domestic history of every Southern 

 family.' However widely they may have been spread through our 

 domestic slave-trade, we regard it as highly probable that the Sea-Isl- 

 and neighborhood from South Carolina to Florida was, as in the case 

 of the slave-songs, the focus of the animal fables an hypothesis which 

 finds its support in the reference of both to an African and heathen 

 origin." We have at present but scanty information as to the extent 

 of the diffusion of these stories variants have been found in South 

 Carolina and Florida ; no locality is mentioned for those given in the 

 interesting article on " Folk-Lore of the Southern Negroes," by Wil- 

 liam Owens, in " Lippincott's Magazine," December, 1877, pp. 748- 

 755.* 



These stories narrate the contests of wit between the rabbit, the 

 terrapin, the bear, the wolf, and the fox. The first two, who are the 

 embodiments of weakness and harmlessness, are always victorious ; as 

 Mr. Harris says, " It is not virtue that triumphs, but helplessness ; it is 

 not malice, but mischievousness." The animals are all dignified with 

 the title Brer, or Buh, as represented by Mr. Owens, who says, " It is 

 generally supposed to be an abbreviation of the word ' brother ' " (the 

 br being sounded without the whir of the r), " but it probably is a title 

 of respect equivalent to our Mr." The manners and customs of human 

 beings are, after the usual fashion of fables, transferred to the animals 

 in a way that excites the wonder of Uncle Remus's youthful auditor, 

 and a mysterious Miss Meadows and " de gals " are introduced, with 

 whom the animals are on terms of intimacy, and at whose house some 

 of the most amusing incidents take place. A glance at the contents 

 of these fables will at once reveal many familiar episodes, a few of 

 which we shall note for a specific purpose. 



In No. XYI, " Old Mr. Rabbit he's a Good Fisherman," Brer Rab- 



* There are four stories in this article which have no parallels in " Uncle Remus " : 

 "Buh Rabbit, Buh Wolf, and the Pears"; "Buh Rabbit frightens Buh Wolf " ; "The 

 Rooster and the Cornbread ; " and " Buh Elephant and Buh Lion," which last has a dis- 

 tant resemblance to a story in Koelle's "African Native Literature," London, 1854, p. ITV. 



