NIGHTS WITH UNCLE REMUS 
“Ole man Benjermun Ram. I ’speck you done year tell er him 
too long ’go ter talk ’bout.” 
“Why, no, I have n’t, Uncle Remus!” exclaimed the little boy, 
protesting and laughing. “He must have been a mighty funny 
old man.” 
“Dat’s ez may be,” responded Uncle Remus, sententiously. 
“Fun deze days wouldn’t er counted fer fun in dem days; en 
many’s de time w’at I see folks laughin’,” continued the old man, 
with such withering sarcasm that the little boy immediately be¬ 
came serious, — “many’s de time w’at I sees um laughin’ en 
laughin’, w’en I lay dey ain’t kin tell w’at deyer laughin’ at 
deyse’f. En ’taint der laughin’ w’at pesters me, nudder,” — re¬ 
lenting a little, — “hit’s dish yer ev’lastin’ snickle en giggle,giggle 
en snickle.” 
Having thus mapped out, in a dim and uncertain way, what 
older people than the little boy might have been excused for ac¬ 
cepting as a sort of moral basis, Uncle Remus proceeded: — 
“Dish yer Mr. Benjermun Ram, w’ich he done come up inter 
my min’, wuz one er dezeyer ole-timers. Dey tells me dat he ’uz 
a fiddler fum away back yander — one er dem ar kinder fiddlers 
w’at can’t git de chune down fine ’less dey pats der foot. He stay 
all by he own-alone se’f way out in de middle un a big new-groun’, 
en he sech a handy man fer ter have at a frolic dat de yuther 
creeturs like ’im mighty well, en w’en dey tuck a notion fer ter 
shake der foot, w’ich de notion tuck’n struck um eve’y once in a 
w’ile, nuthin’ ’ud do but dey mus’ sen’ fer ole man Benjermun 
Ram en he fiddle; en dey do say,” continued Uncle Remus, 
closing his eyes in a sort of ecstasy, “dat w’en he squar’ hisse’f 
back in a cheer, en git in a weavin’ way, he kin des snatch dem 
ole-time chunes fum who lay de rail . 1 En den, w’en de frolic wuz 
done, dey’d all fling in, dem yuther creeturs would, en fill up a 
bag er peas fer ole Mr. Benjermun Ram fer ter kyar home wid ’im. 
1 That is, from the foundation, or beginning. 
36 
