"'Is he grin yit?'
"All de creeturs dey up'n say he ain't grin, not ez dey knows un. Den Brer Rabbit, he 'low, he did:—
"'Well, den, gentermuns all, ef he ain't grin, den he ain't dead good. In all my 'speunce folks ain't git dead good tel dey grins.'[79]
"W'en Brer Wolf year Brer Rabbit talk dat a-way, he tuck'n grin fum year ter year, en Brer Rabbit, he picked up his hat en walkin'-cane en put out fer home, en w'en he got 'way off in de woods he sot down en laugh fit ter kill hisse'f."
Uncle Remus had paid Aunt Tempy the extraordinary tribute of pausing in his work to listen to her story, and when she had concluded it, he looked at her in undisguised admiration, and exclaimed:—
"I be bless, Sis Tempy, ef you ain't wuss'n w'at I is, en I'm bad 'nuff', de Lord knows I is!"
LXIII
BRER FOX AND THE WHITE MUSCADINES
Aunty Tempy did not attempt to conceal the pleasure which Uncle Remus's praise gave her. She laughed somewhat shyly, and said:—