“On the Plantation” is said to be autobiographical; it is a story of a boy’s life during the war, well and simply told.
WORKS.
Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings.
Nights with Uncle Remus.
On the Plantation.
Little Mr. Thimblefinger.
Mingo, and other Sketches.
Free Joe, and other Georgian Sketches.
Daddy Jake, the Runaway, and Short Stories Told after Dark.
THE TAR-BABY.
(From Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings.[42])
“Didn’t the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy the next evening.
“He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho’s you bawn—Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool ’im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got ’im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentine, en fix up a contrapshun w’at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuk dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot ’er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see w’at de news wuz gwineter be. En he didn’t hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin’ down de road—lippity-clippity, clippity-lippity—dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin’ ’long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behine legs like he wuz ’stonished. De Tar-Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
“‘Mawnin’!’ says Brer Rabbit, sezee—‘nice wedder dis mawnin’,’ sezee.
“Tar-Baby ain’t sayin’ nuthin’, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
“‘How duz yo’ sym’tums seem ter segashuate?’ sez Brer Rabbit, sezee.