BRER RABBIT RESCUES BRER TERRAPIN 
dan Brer Rabbit, but de long en de shorts un it is, de pearter 
Brer Fox paddle de pearter Brer Rabbit go.” 
The little boy looked puzzled. “Well, I don’t see how,” he 
exclaimed. 
“Well, sir!” continued Uncle Remus, “w’en de nose er Brer 
Fox boat git close ter Brer Rabbit boat all Brer Rabbit got ter 
do in de roun’ worl’ is ter take he pole en put it ’gin’ Brer Fox 
boat en push hisse’f out de way. De harder he push Brer Fox 
boat back, de pearter he push he own boat forrerd. Hit look 
mighty easy ter ole Brer Bull-frog settin’ on de bank, en all Brer 
Fox kin do is ter shake he fist en grit he toof, w’iles Brer Rabbit 
sail off wid de fish.” 
LXX 
BRER RABBIT RESCUES BRER TERRAPIN 
The arrival of the negroes from the River place added greatly to 
the enthusiasm with which the Christmas holidays were antici¬ 
pated on the Home place, and the air was filled with laughter day 
and night. Uncle Remus appeared to be very busy, though there 
was really nothing to be done except to walk around and scold at 
everybody and everything, in a good-humored way, and this the 
old man could do to perfection. 
The night before Christmas eve, however, the little boy saw a 
light in Uncle Remus’s cabin, and he interpreted it as in some 
sort a signal of invitation. He found the old man sitting by the 
fire and talking to himself: — 
“Ef Mars John and Miss Sally ’specks me fer ter keep all deze 
yer niggers straight deyer gwine ter be diserp’inted, — dat dey 
is. Ef dey wuz ’lev’m Remuses’t would n’t make no dittunce, 
let ’long one po’ ole cripple creetur lak me. Dey ain’t done no 
damage yit, but I boun’ you by termorrer night dey 11 tu n loose 
en tu’n de whole place upside down,en t’ar it up by de roots, en den 
325 
