He rose, grunting as he did so, thus paying an unintentional tribute to
the efficacy of age as the partner of rheumatic aches and stiff joints.
“You hear me gruntin’,” he remarked—“well, dat’s bekaze I ain’t de chicky
fried by Dicky, which he e’t ’nuff fer ter make ’im sicky.” As he went
out the child took his hand, and went trotting along by his side, thus
affording an interesting study for those who concern themselves with the
extremes of life. Hand in hand the two went out into the fields, and
thence into the great woods, where Uncle Remus, after searching about for
some time, carefully deposited his oblong box, remarking: “Ef I don’t
make no mistakes, dis ain’t so mighty fur fum de place whar de creeturs
has der playgroun’, an’ dey ain’t no tellin’ but what one un um’ll creep
in dar when deyer playin’ hidin’, an’ ef he do, he’ll sho be our meat.”
“Oh, it’s a trap!” exclaimed the little boy, his face lighting up with
enthusiasm.
“An’ dey wa’n’t nobody here fer ter tell you,” Uncle Remus declared,
astonishment in his tone. “Well, ef dat don’t bang my time, I ain’t no
free nigger. Now, ef dat had ’a’ been yo’ pa at de same age, I’d ’a’ had
ter tell ’im forty-lev’m times, an’ den he wouldn’t ’a’ b’lieved me twel
he see sump’n in dar tryin’ fer ter git out. Den he’d say it wuz a trap,
but not befo’. I ain’t blamin’ ’im,” Uncle Remus went on, “kaze ’tain’t
eve’y chap dat kin tell a trap time he see it, an’ mo’ dan dat, traps
don’ allers sketch what dey er sot fer.”
He paused, looked all round, and up in the sky, where fleecy clouds were
floating lazily along, and in the tops of the trees, where the foliage
was swaying gently in the breeze. Then he looked at the little boy. “Ef I
ain’t gone an’ got los’,” he said, “we ain’t so mighty fur fum de place
whar Mr. Man, once ’pon a time—not yo’ time ner yit my time, but some
time—tuck’n’ sot a trap fer Brer Rabbit. In dem days, dey hadn’t l’arnt
how ter be kyarpenters, an’ dish yer trap what I’m tellin’ you ’bout wuz
a great contraption. Big ez Brer Rabbit wuz, it wuz lots too big fer him.
“Now, whiles Mr. Man wuz fixin’ up dis trap, Mr. Rabbit wa’n’t so mighty
fur off. He hear de saw—er-rash! er-rash!—an’ he hear de hammer—bang,
bang, bang!—an’ he ax hisse’f what all dis racket wuz ’bout. He see Mr.
Man come out’n his yard totin’ sump’n, an’ he got furder off; he see Mr.
Man comin’ todes de bushes, an’ he tuck ter de woods; he see ’im comin’
todes de woods, an’ he tuck ter de bushes. Mr. Man tote de trap so fur
an’ no furder. He put it down, he did, an’ Brer Rabbit watch ’im; he put
in de bait, an’ Brer Rabbit watch ’im; he fix de trigger, an’ still Brer
Rabbit watch ’im. Mr. Man look at de trap an’ it satchify him. He look at
it an’ laugh, an’ when he do dat Brer Rabbit wunk one eye, an’ wiggle his
mustache, an’ chaw his cud.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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