Daddy Jake the Runaway, and Short Stories Told after Dark

by Joel Chandler Harris

“Den,” Uncle Remus went on, “ole Tommy Long-Wing he’d wake up en holler back:

“‘Who—who dat a-callin’? Who—who dat a-callin’?’

“‘Bill—Billy Big-Eye! Bill—Billy Big-Eye!’

“‘Whyn’t you come down—come down ter my house?’

“‘I coodn’t—I coodn’t come down to yo’ house!’

“‘Tom—Tommy Long-Wing! Why coodn’t you?’

“‘Had coompenny, Bill—Billy Big-Eye! Had coompenny!’

“‘Who—who wuz de coompenny?’

“‘Heel Tap ’n his wife, Deel Tap ’n his wife, en I don’t know who-all, who-all, who-all!’

“Ez ter Heel Tap en Deel Tap,” Uncle Remus continued, noticing a puzzled expression on the child’s face, “I dunno ez I ever bin know anybody edzackly wid dat name. Some say dat’s de name er de Peckerwoods en de Yallerhammers, but I speck w’en we git at de straight un it, dey er all in de Owl famberly.”