As Uncle Remus would say, I will “’gin it out to you as it was ’gunt to me.”
In the mountains of Tennessee, ’way back in de big woods, lived onct a man, in a house all by his self. This man had one room to his house, and dat room was his kitchen.
One night, when de man was sleepin on his bed, he heerd sup’ner roun de fire place snifflin, lickin de pots, de fryinpans, and de skillets, car’en on and g’wyin on. De man struk a light, and dar he see de curioses lookin varmint what you ever laid eyes on, a varmint wid a great, long tail. No sooner de man see de varmint dan he retched for his hatchet. He made one sweep at him, and clipped his tail squar off behime. De varmint he run out thu de cracks er de logs and tuk to de woods.
De man, fool-lik, took an cooked de tail, et it,—and den he went to bed. ’Way long in de night, suppen cum and got up over de man’s do, and scratched and sed:
“Taileypo, I want’s my ta-a-a-a-a-a-iley-po.”
De man had three dogs: one name Uno, and one Ino, and one Cumticocalico. De man call his dogs, “Yer! Yer! Yer!”
De dogs dey cum bilin out frum under de house. De varmint he run down side de house and jumped. De dogs snapped at him, but he got away, and dey run’ed him and run’ed him ’way back in de big woods. De man he tuk, he did and went back to bed, and went to sleep.
But ’way long in de night, de thing cum and got up in de crac’ er de man’s do and sed:
“Taileypo, you know,—I know,—all I want’s my Ta-a-a-a-a-a-iley-po.”
De man call his dogs, “Yer! Yer! Yer!”