by de helps er de
walkin'-cane. De water wuz dat shaller dat it don't mo'n come over Brer
Rabbit slipper, en w'en he git out on t'er side, he holler back,
sezee:--

"'So long, Brer Fox!'"

FOOTNOTES:

[13] A corruption of "aye, aye." It is used as an expression of triumph
and its employment in this connection is both droll and picturesque.

[14] Southern readers will recognize this and "han'-roomance" as terms
used by negroes in playing marbles,--a favorite game on the plantations
Sunday afternoons. These terms were curt and expressive enough to gain
currency among the whites.

[15] Levy.

XIII

BRER FOX, BRER RABBIT, AND KING DEER'S DAUGHTER

Notwithstanding Brother Rabbit's success with the drum, the little boy
was still inclined to refer to Mr. Benjamin Ram and his fiddle; but
Uncle Remus was not, by any means, willing that such an ancient vagabond
as Mr. Ram should figure as a hero, and he said that, while it was
possible that Brother Rabbit was no great hand with the fiddle, he was a
drummer, and a capital singer to boot. Furthermore, Uncle Remus declared
that Brother Rabbit could perform upon the quills,[16] an accomplishment
to which none of the other animals could lay claim. There was a time,
too, the old man pointedly suggested, when the romantic rascal used his
musical abilities to win the smiles of a nice young lady of quality--no
less a personage, indeed, than King Deer's daughter. As a matter of
course, the little boy was anxious to hear the particulars, and Uncle
Remus was in nowise loath to give them.

"W'en you come ter ax me 'bout de year en day er de mont'," said the
old man, cunningly arranging a defence against criticism, "den I'm done,
kaze de almanick w'at dey got in dem times won't pass muster deze days,
but, let 'lone dat, I 'speck dey ain't had none yit; en if dey is, dey
ain't none bin handed down ter Remus.

"Well, den, some time 'long in dar, ole Brer Fox en Brer Rabbit got ter
flyin' 'roun' King Deer daughter. Dey tells me she 'uz a monst'us likely
gal, en I 'speck may be she wuz; leas'ways, Brer Fox, he hanker atter
'er, en likewise Brer Rabbit, he hanker atter 'er. Ole King Deer look
lak he sorter lean todes Brer Fox, kaze ter a settle man like him, hit
seem lak dat Brer Fox kin stir 'roun' en keep de pot a-b'ilin', mo'
speshually bein's he de bigges'. Hit go on dis a-way twel hardly a day
pass dat one er de yuther er dem creeturs don't go sparklin' 'roun' King
Dee