one kotch Brer Rabbit!'

"En den Brer Fox, he jump up on de top rail er de fence en fetch a
spring dat lan' 'im 'way out in de bu'nin' grass, en it hurted 'im en
sting 'im in de footses dat bad, dat he squeal en he roll, en de mo' he
roll de wuss it bu'n him, en Brer Rabbit en Brer Tarrypin dey des holler
en laff. Bimeby Brer Fox git out, en off he put down de road, limpin'
fus' on one foot en den on de yuther."

The little boy laughed, and then there was a long silence--so long,
indeed, that Uncle Remus's "Miss Sally," sewing in the next room,
concluded to investigate it. An exceedingly interesting tableau met her
sight. The little child had wandered into the land of dreams with a
smile on his face. He lay with one of his little hands buried in both of
Uncle Remus's, while the old man himself was fast asleep, with his head
thrown back and his mouth wide open. "Miss Sally" shook him by the
shoulder and held up her finger to prevent him from speaking. He was
quiet until she held the lamp for him to get down the back steps, and
then she heard him say, in an indignantly mortified tone:

"Now den, Miss Sally'll be a-riggin' me 'bout noddin', but stidder dat
she better be glad dat I aint bus loose en sno' en 'larm de house--let
'lone dat sick baby. Dat 's w'at!"

XVIII

A DREAM AND A STORY

"I dreamed all about Brother Fox and Brother Rabbit last night, Uncle
Remus," exclaimed the little boy when the old man came in after supper
and took his seat by the side of the trundle-bed; "I dreamed that
Brother Fox had wings and tried to catch Brother Rabbit by flying after
him."

"I don't 'spute it, honey, dat I don't!" replied the old man, in a tone
which implied that he was quite prepared to believe the dream itself was
true. "Manys en manys de time, deze long nights en deze rainy spells,
dat I sets down dar in my house over ag'in de chimbley-jam--I sets dar
en I dozes, en it seem lak dat ole Brer Rabbit, he'll stick he head in
de crack er de do' en see my eye periently shot, en den he'll beckon
back at de yuther creeturs, en den dey'll all come slippin' in on der
tip-toes, en dey'll set dar en run over de ole times wid one er n'er, en
crack der jokes same ez dey useter. En den ag'in," continued the old
man, shutting his eyes and giving to his voice a gruesome intonation
quite impossible to describe,--"en den ag'in hit look lak dat Brer
Rabbit'll gin de wink all 'roun', en den dey'll tu'n in en git up a
reg'lar jub