826 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bit, while the Fox, Coon, and Bear are clearing up " a new groun' fer 

 ter plant a roas'n' year patch," slips away and hunts for a cool place to 

 rest in. He finally came across a well with a bucket hanging in it and 

 looking so cool that Brer Rabbit climbed in, and of course the bucket 

 began to descend ; " but Brer Rabbit he keep mighty still, kaze he 

 dunner w'at minfiit gwineter be de nex'. He des lay dar en shuck en 

 shiver." The Fox saw the Rabbit slip away and followed him, and his 

 amazement can be imagined when he saw the Rabbit disappear down 

 the well. The Rabbit on being asked, " Who you wizzitin' down 

 dar ? " answered that he was fishing, and invited the Fox to get into 

 the other bucket and come down and help him. This the Fox did, and 

 as he went down up went Brer Rabbit. The Fox is afterward pulled 

 up by the owner of the well and escapes. This fable will be recognized 

 at once from the familiar version in La Fontaine (XI, 6, " Le Loup 

 et le Renard"), which he took from the "Roman de Renart." A- 

 much older version is found in the " Disciplina Clericalis," a collection 

 of Oriental stories made in the first years of the twelfth century. 



No. XVII, " Mr. Rabbit nibbles up the Butter," relates how Brer 

 Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Possum laid up their provisions together 

 in the same shanty, and put the butter that Brer Fox brought into the 

 spring-house to keep it cool. Brer Rabbit, however, under the pre- 

 tense of going to see his family, leaves his companions at their work 

 and takes a nibble at the butter. This goes on until the butter dis- 

 appears, and, while the others are sleeping, Brer Rabbit smears Brer 

 Possum's mouth with the butter on his paws. Brer Possum on wak- 

 ing up was naturally indignant, and demanded an ordeal by fire to 

 prove his innocence, but, as ordeals among men even must sometimes 

 have failed, the innocent Possum is burned up, greatly to the indigna- 

 tion of Uncle Remus's listener. With this story may be compared 

 Grimm, No. 2, " The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership." A closer 

 parallel is found in W. H. I. Bleek's " Reynard the Fox in South 

 Africa ; or Hottentot Fables and Tales " (London, Trubner, 1864, p. 

 18), " Which was the Thief ? " 



"A Jackal and a Hyena went and hired themselves to a man to be 

 his servants. In the middle of the night the Jackal rose and smeared 

 the Hyena's tail with some fat, and then ate all the rest of it which 

 was in the house. In the morning the man missed his fat, and he im- 

 mediately accused the Jackal of having eaten it. ' Look at the Hyena's 

 tail,' said the rogue, ' and you will see who is the thief.' The man 

 did so, and then thrashed the Hyena till she was nearly dead." 



In No. XXV, " How Mr. Rabbit lost his Fine Bushy Tail," the 

 Rabbit is victimized by the Fox, who persuades him to fish, one cold 

 night, by dropping his long, bushy tail (rabbits formerly had such) 

 into the water. It freezes fast, of course, and the poor Rabbit to get 

 away is obliged to leave his tail in the ice. This is one of the familiar 

 episodes in the "Roman de Renart." 



