“Brer Wolf ax what all dem contraptions on de inside is, an’ Brer Rabbit
’spon’ dat dey er de rockers, an’ dey ain’t no needs fer ter be skeer’d
un um, kaze dey ain’t nothin’ but plain wood. Brer Wolf say he ain’t
’zactly skeer’d, but he done got ter de p’int whar he know dat you better
look ’fo’ you jump. Brer Rabbit ’low dat ef dey’s any jumpin’ fer ter
be done, he de one ter do it, an’ he talk like he done fergit what dey
come fer. Brer Wolf, he fool an’ fumble roun’, but bimeby he walk in de
cradle, sprung de trigger, an’ dar he wuz! Brer Rabbit, he holler out,
‘Come on, Brer Wolf; des hump yo’se’f, an’ I’ll be wid you.’ But try ez
he will an’ grunt ez he may, Brer Wolf can’t budge dat trap. Bimeby Brer
Rabbit git tired er waitin’, an’ he say dat ef Brer Wolf ain’t gwineter
come on he’s gwine home. He ’low dat a frien’ what say he gwineter he’p
you, an’ den go in a cradle an’ drap off ter sleep, dat’s all he wanter
know ’bout um; an’ wid dat he made fer de bushes, an’ he wa’n’t a minnit
too soon, kaze here come Mr. Man fer ter see ef his trap had been sprung.
He look, he did, an’, sho’ nuff, it ’uz sprung, an’ dey wuz sump’n in
dar, too, kaze he kin hear it rustlin’ roun’ an’ kickin’ fer ter git out.
“Mr. Man look thoo de crack, an’ he see Brer Wolf, which he wuz so
skeer’d twel his eye look right green. Mr. Man say, ‘Aha! I got you, is
I?’ Brer Wolf say, ‘Who?’ Mr. Man laugh twel he can’t sca’cely talk, an’
still Brer Wolf say, ‘Who? Who you think you got?’ Mr. Man ’low, ‘I don’t
think, I knows. Youer ol’ Brer Rabbit, dat’s who you is.’ Brer Wolf say,
‘Turn me outer here, an’ I’ll show you who I is.’ Mr. Man laugh fit ter
kill. He ’low, ‘You neenter change yo’ voice; I’d know you ef I met you
in de dark. Youer Brer Rabbit, dat’s who you is.’ Brer Wolf say, ‘I ain’t
not; dat’s what I’m not!’
“Mr. Man look thoo de crack ag’in, an’ he see de short years. He ’low,
‘You done cut off yo’ long years, but still I knows you. Oh, yes! an’ you
done sharpen you mouf an’ put smut on it—but you can’t fool me.’ Brer
Wolf say, ‘Nobody ain’t tryin’ fer ter fool you. Look at my fine long
bushy tail.’ Mr. Man ’low, ‘You done tied an’er tail on behime you, but
you can’t fool me. Oh, no, Brer Rabbit! You can’t fool me.’ Brer Wolf
say, ‘Look at de ha’r on my back; do dat look like Brer Rabbit? Mr. Man
’low, ‘You done wallered in de red san’, but you can’t fool me.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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