BRER RABBIT SECURES A MANSION 
“ Youer too hard fer me now, honey. Dat w’at I knows I don’t 
min’ tellin’, but w’en you axes me ’bout dat w’at I dunno, den 
youer too hard fer me, sho’. Deze yer Willis-whistlers, dey bangs 
my time, en I bin knockin’ ’roun’ in dish yer low-groun’ now 
gwine on eighty year. Some folks wanter make out deyer frogs, 
yit I wish dey p’int out unter me how frogs kin holler so dat de 
nigher you come t urn, de furder you is off; I be mighty glad ef 
some un ’ud come ’long en tell me dat. Many en many’s de time 
is I gone atter deze yer Willis-whistlers, en, no diffunce whar I 
goes, deyer allers off yander. You kin put de shovel in de fier 
en make de squinch-owl hush he fuss, en you kin go out en put 
yo’ han’ on de trees en make deze yere locus’-bugs quit der 
racket, but dem ar Willis-whistlers deyer allers ’way off yander.” 1 
Suddenly Uncle Remus paused over one of the dishes, and 
exclaimed: — 
“Gracious en de goodness! W’at kinder doin’s is dis Miss 
Sally done gone sont us?” 
“That,” said the little boy, after making an investigation, “is 
what mamma calls a floating island.” 
“Well, den,” Uncle Remus remarked, in a relieved tone, “dat’s 
diffunt. I wuz mos’ fear’d it ’uz some er dat ar sillerbug, w’ich a 
whole jugful ain’t ska’cely ’nuff fer ter make you seem like you 
dremp ’bout smellin’ dram. Ef I’m gwine ter be fed on foam,” * 
continued the old man, by way of explaining his position on the 
subject of syllabub, “let it be foam, en ef I’m gwine ter git dram, 
lemme git in reach un it w’ile she got some strenk lef’. Dat’s me 
up an down. W’en it come ter yo’ floatin’ ilun, des gimme a hunk 
er ginger-cake en a mug er ’simmon-beer, en dey won’t fine no 
nigger w’ats got no slicker feelin’s dan w’at I is. 
“Miss Sally mighty kuse w’ite ’oman,” Uncle Remus went on. 
1 It is a far-away sound that might be identified with one of the various undertones 
of silence, but it is palpable enough (if the word may be used) to have attracted the 
attention of the humble philosophers of the old plantation. 
23 
