BRER RABBIT’S BEEF SUPPLY 
He adjusted his spectacles, looked around and behind him, and 
then, seeing no one but the child, addressed himself to the rafters 
and cobwebs: — 
“Well! well! well! ef dish yer don’t beat all! Gentermens! dish 
yer little chap yer, he puny in de legs, yit he mighty strong in de 
head.” 
He paused, as if reflecting over the whole matter, and then 
turned to the child: — 
“Is dat w’at make you hone atter Daddy Jack, honey — des 
’kaze you wanter set back dar en lissen at a tale? Now, den, ef 
you had n’t ’a’ got me off ’n de track, you’d ’a’ bin settin’ yer 
lis’nen at one un um dis blessid minnit, ’kaze des time I year talk 
dat Mars John gwine ter have dat ar long-hornded steer kilt fer 
beef, hit come ’cross my min’ ’bout de time w’ence Brer Rabbit en 
Brer Fox j’ined in wid one er ’n’er en kilt a cow.” 
“Killed a cow. Uncle Remus?” 
“Des ez sho’ ez youer settin’ dar,” replied the old man with 
emphasis. “Look lak dey wa’n’t no kinder doin’s w’at dem ar 
creeturs wa’n’t up ter, mo’ speshually ole Brer Rabbit. Day in en 
day out, fum mawnin’ twel night en fum night twel mawnin’, he 
’uz constant a-studyin’ up some bran new kinder contrapshun 
fer ter let de yuther creeturs know he ’uz some’rs in de neighbor¬ 
hoods. 
“ Come down ter dat, you kin b’leeve me er not b’leeve me, des 
ez you er min’ ter; you kin take yo’ choosement; but ole Brer 
Rabbit en ole Brer Fox, spite er dey failin’ out, dey tuck’n go inter 
cahoots en kilt a cow. Seem lak I disremember who de cow b’long 
ter,” continued the old man, frowning thoughtfully, and thus, by 
a single stroke, imparting an air of reality to the story; “but she 
sho’ly b’long’d ter some er de neighbors, ’kaze you kin des put it 
down, right pine-blank, dat Brer Rabbit ain’t gwine ter kill he 
own cow, en needer is Brer Fox. 
“Well, den, dey tuck’n kilt a cow, en’t wa’n’t dey own cow, 
235 
