As soon as Brother Rabbit touched the ground, he sat up and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
“Ha, ha, ha! Brother Fox!” said Brother Rabbit. “Thank you, dear Brother Fox, thank you! I was born and reared in a brier patch.”
Then Brother Rabbit ran off in great glee, chuckling over the trick he had played on Brother Fox.
[O] From “Evening Tales,” by Frederic Ortoli; used by permission of the publishers, Charles Scribner’s Sons.
THE RABBIT AND THE PEAS
BY MRS. M. R. ALLEN
A long time ago there was a Bear that had a fine pea patch. He and his wife had to work in the field every day, so they left their little girl at home to keep house. One fine morning Br’er (which means “Brother”) Rabbit came up to the house and called the little girl: “Mary, Mary, your father and mother told me to come up here and tell you to put me in the pea patch and let me have as many peas as I want.” So Mary put him in, and he stayed there until nearly 12 o’clock, and then he begun calling: “Little girl, little girl, come and let me out; I’m full for this time!”
So she let him out, and he went home. At dinner when her father and mother came home and saw their pea patch they were angry, and said: “Who has been in these peas?” “Why, didn’t you send Br’er Rabbit to get as many as he wanted?” said Mary. “No, I didn’t; no, I didn’t;” said Mr. Bear. “And the next time that rascal comes here with that sort of tale, you just keep him in there until I come home.”
So the next morning Br’er Rabbit came back again, and called: “Mary, Mary, your father told me to tell you to put me in the pea patch, and let me have all the peas I want.” “All right,” said Mary; “come on.” So she put him in and fastened him up.