RABBIT aided his friend the Frenchman with his work. They planted potatoes. Rabbit looked upon the potato vines as his share of the crop and ate them all.
Again Rabbit aided his friend the Frenchman. This time they planted corn. When it was grown, Rabbit said, “This time I will eat the roots.” So he pulled up all the corn by the roots, but he found nothing to satisfy his hunger.
Then the Frenchman said, “Let us dig a well.” Rabbit said, “No. You dig it alone.”
The Frenchman said, “Then you shall not drink water from the well.”
“That does not matter,” said Rabbit. “I am used to licking off the dew from the ground.”
So the Frenchman dug his well. Then he made a tar baby and stuck it up close to the well. One day Rabbit came near the well, carrying a long piece of hollow cane and a tin bucket. When he reached the well he spoke to the tar baby; it did not answer.
“Friend, what is the matter? Are you angry?” asked Rabbit.
Tar baby did not answer. So Rabbit hit him with a forepaw. The forepaw stuck there.
“Let me go,” said Rabbit, “or I will hit you on the other side.”
Tar baby paid no attention, so Rabbit hit him with the other forepaw, and that stuck fast.