NIGHTS WITH UNCLE REMUS 
w’at,” continued Uncle Remus, seeing that the little boy was 
somewhat troubled, “w’en it come to dat pass dat you gotter be 
dodgin’ ’roun’ in de dark, ef you’ll des holler fer me, I’ll loan you 
dish yer rabbit foot, en you ’ll be des ez safe ez you is w’en Miss 
Sally stannin’ by yo’ bed wid a lit can’le in ’er han’. 
“Strip er red flannil tied ’roun’ yo’ arm’ll keep off de rheumatis; 
stump-water ’ll kyo ’spepsy; some good fer one ’zeeze, 1 en some 
good fer n’er, but de p’ints is dat dish yer rabbit foot ’ll gin you 
good luck. De man w’at tote it mighty ap’ fer ter come out right 
een’ up w’en dey’s any racket gwine on in de neighborhoods, let 
’er be whar she will en w’en she may; mo’ espeshually ef de man 
w’at got it know ’zactly w’at he got ter do. W’ite folks may 
laugh,” Uncle Remus went on, “but w’en rabbit run ’cross de big 
road front er me, w’at does I do? Does I shoo at um? Does I 
make fer ter kill um? Dat I don’t — dat I don’t! I des squots 
right down in de middle er de road, en I makes a cross-mark in de 
san’ des dis way, en den I spits in it.” 2 
Uncle Remus made a practical illustration by drawing a cross¬ 
mark in the ashes on the hearth. 
“Well, but, Uncle Remus, what good does all this do?” the 
little boy asked. 
“Lots er good, honey; bless yo’ soul, lots er good. W’en rabbit 
crosses yo’ luck, w’at you gwine do, less’n you sets down en 
crosses it out, right den en dar? I year talk er folks shootin’ 
rabbit in de big road, yit I notices dat dem w’at does de shootin’ 
ain’t come ter no good een’ — dat w’at I notices.” 
“Uncle Remus,” the little boy asked, after a while, “how did 
people happen to find out about the rabbit’s foot?” 
t “Oh, you let folks ’lone fer dat, honey! You des let um ’lone. 
1 Disease. 
2 If, as some ethnologists claim, the animal myths are relics of zootheism, there can 
scarcely be a doubt that the practice here described by Uncle Remus is the survival of 
some sort of obeisance or genuflexion by which the negroes recognized the presence of 
the Rabbit, the great central figure and wonder-worker of African mythology. 
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