XVII. Mr. Rabbit Nibbles Up the Butter. Uncle Remus Translation

Legends of the Old Plantation

XVII

MR. RABBIT NIBBLES UP THE BUTTER
Translation

“The animals and the creatures,” said Uncle Remus, shaking his coffee around in the bottom of his tin cup, in order to gather up all the sugar, “they kept on getting more and more familiar with one another, until by and by, it wasn’t long before Brer Rabbit, and Brer Fox, and Brer Possum got to sort of bunching their provisions * together in the same shanty. After a while, the roof sort of began to leak, and one day, Brer Rabbit, and Brer Fox, and Brer Possum, assembled for to see if they can’t kind of patch her up. They had a big day’s work in front of them, and they fetched their dinner with them. They lump the vittles up in one pile, and the butter what Brer Fox brought, and they goes and puts in the spring-house for to keep cool, and then they went to work, and it wasn’t long before Brer Rabbit stomach began to sort of growl and pester him. That butter of Brer Fox sat heavy on his mind, and his mouth water every time he remember about it. Presently he say to himself that he bleedzd ** to have a nip at that butter, and then he lay his plans, he did. First news you know, while they was all working long, Brer Rabbit raise his head quick and fling his ears forward and holler out:
.

“ ‘Here I is. What you want with me?’ and off he put like something was after him.
.

“He sallied around, old Brer Rabbit did, and after he make sure that nobody ain’t following on him, into the spring-house he bounces, and there he stays until he gets a bite of butter. Then he saunter on back and go to work.
.

“ ‘Where you been?’ says Brer Fox, says he.
.

“ ‘I hear my children calling me,’ says Brer Rabbit, says he, ‘and I have to go see what they want. My old woman done gone and took mighty sick,’ says he.
.

“They work on until by and by the butter taste so good that old Brer Rabbit want some more. Then he raise up his head, he did, and holler out:
.

“ ‘Heyo! Hold on! I’m a-comin’!’ and off he put.
.

“This time he stay a right smart while, and when he got back, Brer Fox asked where he been.
.

“ “I been to see my old woman, and she’s a sinkin’,’ says he.
.

“Directly Brer Rabbit hear them calling him again and off he goes, and this time, bless your soul, he gets the butter out so clean that he can see himself in the bottom of the bucket. He scrape it clean and lick it dry, and then he go back to work looking most same than a nigger what the patter-rollers *** been had a hold of.
.

“ ‘How’s your old woman this time?’ says Brer Fox, says he.
.

“ ‘I’m obliged to you, Brer Fox, says Brer Rabbit, says he, ‘but I’m feared she’s done gone by now,’ and that sort of make Brer Fox and Brer Possum feel in moanin’ **** with Brer Rabbit.
.

“By and by, when dinner –time come, they all got out of vittles, but Brer Rabbit keep on lookin’ lonesome, and Brer Fox and Brer Possum they sort of rustle around for to see if they can’t make Brer Rabbit feel sort of splimmy.”
.

“What is that, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy.

“Sort of splimmy-splammy, honey – sort of like he in a crowd – sort of like his old woman ain’t dead as she mout ***** be. You know how folks does when they gets where people’s a-moanin’.” ****
.

The little boy didn’t know, fortunately for him, and Uncle Remus went on:
.

“Brer Fox and Brer Possum rustle around, they did, getting out the vittles, and by and by Brer Fox he say, says he:
.

“ ‘Brer Possum, you run down to the spring and fetch the butter, and I’ll sail around you and set the table,’ says he.
.

“Brer Possum, he lop off after the butter, and directly her he come lopin’ back with his ears a tremblin’ and his tongue a hangin’ out. Brer Fox, he holler out:
.

“ ‘What the matter now, Brer Possum? Says he.

“ ‘You all better run here, folks,’ says Brer Possum, says he. ‘The last drop of that butter done gone!’
.

“ ‘Where she gone?’ says Brer Fox, says he.
.

“ ‘Look like she dry up,’ says Brer Possum, says he.
.

“Then Brer Rabbit, he look sort of solemn, he did, and he up and say, says he.
.

“ ‘I expect that butter melt in somebody mouth,’ says he.
.

“Then they went down to the spring with Brer Possum, and sure enough the butter done gone. While they was disputin’ over the wonderment, Brer Rabbit say he see tracks all around there, and he point out that if they’ll all go to sleep, he can catch the chap what stole the butter. Then they all lie down and Brer Fox and Brer Possum they soone dropped off to sleep, but Brer Rabbit he stay awake, and when the time come he raise up easy and smear Brer Possum’s mouth with the butter on his paws, and then he run off and nibble up the best of the dinner what they left layin’ out, and then he come back and wake up Brer fox, and sho him the butter on Brer Possum’s mouth. Then they wake up Brer Possum, and tell him about it, but of course Brer Possum deny it o the last. Brer Fox, though, he’s a kind of lawyer, and he argue this way – that Brer Possum was the first one at the butter, and the first one for to miss it, and more than that, there hand the signs on his mouth. Brer Possum see that they got him jammed up on a corner, and then he up and say that the way for to catch the man what stole the butter is to build a big brush-heap and set her afire, and all hands try to jump over, and the one what fall in, then he the chap what stole the butter. Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox they both agree, they did, and they whirl in and build the brush-heap, and they build her high and they build her wide, and then they touch her off. When she got to blazin’ up good, Brer Rabbit, he took the first turn. He sort of step back, and look around and giggle, and over he went more samer than a bird flying. Then come Brer Fox. He got back a little further, and spit on his hands, and lit out and makd the jump, and he come so nigh getting in that that the end of his tail catch afire. Ain’t you never see no fox, honey? Inquired Uncle Remus, in a tone that implied both conciliation and information.
.

The little boy though probably he had, but he wouldn’t commit himself.
.

“Well, then,” continued the old man, "next time you see one of them, you look right close nd see if the end of his tail ain't white. It's just like I tell you. They b'ars are scared of that brush-heap to this day. They are marked -- that's what they is - they are marked."

"And what about Brother Possum?" asked the little boy.

"Old Brer Possum, he took a running start, he did, and he come lumberin' along, and hn he lit -- kerblam! --right in the middle of the fire, and that was the last of old Brer Possum."

"But, Uncle Remus, Brother Possum didn't steal the butter after all," said the little boy, who was not at all satisfied with such summary injustice.

"That's what make I say what I does, honey. In this world, lots of folks have got to suffer for other folks sins. Look like it's mighty on wrong; but it's just that way. Tribulation seem like she's a-waitin' 'round the corner for to catch one and all of us, honey."

………………………………………………………………..

* Bunching their perwishuns together – their provisions, food

** Bleedzd to - obliged to

*** pater-rollers – patrollers, whites who monitored the area, and the people on and off the roads of it, focusing on blacks being where the patrollers thought they should not.

**** feel in moanin’; a-moanin' – in mourning?

***** mout be – might be?

XVI. Old Mr. Rabbit, He's a Good Fisherman. Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Translation

Legends of the Old Plantation
XVI

OLD MR. RABBIT, HE’S A GOOD FISHERMAN
Translation

“Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox was like some children what I knows of,” said Uncle Remus, regarding the little boy, who had come to hear another story, with an affection of great solemnity. “Both of them was always after one another, a prankin’ and a pesterin’ around, but Brer Rabbit did have some peace, cause Brer Fox got skittish about puttin’ the clamps * on Brer Rabbit.
.

“One day, when Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, and Brer Coon, and Brer B’ar, and a whole lot of them was clearin’ up a new ground for to plant a roasting ear patch **, the sun began to get sort of hot, and Brer Rabbit he got tired; but he didn’t let on, because he feared the balance of them would call him lazy, and he keep on toting off trash and piling up brush, until by and by he holler out that he got a briar in his hand and then he take and slip off, and hunt for cool place for to rest. After while he come across a well with a bucket hanging in it.
.

“ ‘That look cool,’ says Brer Rabbit, says he, ‘and cool I expect she is. I’ll just about get in there and take a nap,’ and with that in he jump, he did, and he ain’t no sooner fix himself than the bucket began to go down.
.

“Wasn’t the Rabbit scared, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy.
.

“Honey, there ain’t been no worser scared beast since the world began than this here same Brer Rabbit. He fairly had a ager. *** He know where he come from, but he don’t know where he going. Directly, he feel the bucket hit the water, and there she sat, but Brer Rabbit he keep mighty still, because he don’t know what minute going to be the next. He just lay there and shook and shiver.
.

“Brer Fox always got one eye on Brer Rabbit, and when he slip off from the new ground, Brer Fox he sneak after him. He know Brer Rabbit was after some project or another, and he took and crept off, he did, and watch him. Brer Fox see Brer Rabbit come to the well and stop, and then he see him jump in the bucket, and then, no and behold, he see him go down out of sight. Brer Fox was the most astonished Fox that you ever laid eyes on. He sat off there in the bushes and study and study but he don’t make no heads nor tails to this kind of business. Then he say to himself, says he:
.

“ ‘Well, if this don’t bang my times,’ says he, ‘then Joe's dead and Sal’s a widow. Right down there in that well Brer Rabbit keeps his money hid, and if it ain’t that then he done gone and discovered a gold mine, and if it ain’t that, then I’m a-gonna see what’s in there, ‘ says he.
.

“Brer Fox crept up a little nigher, he did, and listen, but he don’t hear no fuss, and he keep on gettin’ nigher, and yet he don’t hear nothing. Al this time Brer Rabbit mighty nigh scared out of his skin, and he feared for to move because the bucket might keel over and spill him out in the water. While he saying his prayers over like a train of cars runnin’, old Brer Fox holler out:
.

“ ‘Heyo, Brer Rabbit! Who you with sittin’ down there?’ says he.
.

“ ‘Who? Me? Oh, I’m just a fishin’, Brer Fox,’ says Brer Rabbit, says he. ‘I just say to myself that I’d sort of surprise you all with a mess of fishes for dinner, and so here I is, and there’s the fishes. I’m a fishin’ for suckers, Brer Fox,’ says Brer Rabbit, says he.
.

“ ‘Is there many of them down there, Brer Rabbit?’ says Brer Fox, says he.
.

“ ‘Lots of them, Brer Fox; scores and scores of them. The water is naturally alive with them. Come down and help me haul them in, Brer Fox,’ says Brer Rabbit, says he.
.

“ ‘How I going to get down, Brer Rabbit?’
.

“ ‘Jump into the bucket, Brer Fox. It’ll fetch you down all safe and sound.’
.

“Brer Rabbit talk so happy and talk so sweet that Brer Fox he jump in the bucket, he did, and he went down, because his weight pulled Brer Rabbit up. When they pass one another on the half-way ground, Brer Rabbit he sing out:
.

“ ‘Good-by, Brer Fox, take care your clothes,

For this is the way the world goes;

Some goes up and some goes down,

You’ll get to the bottom all safe and sound.’ ****

“When Brer Rabbit got out, he gallop off and told the folks what the well belong to that Brer Fox was down in there muddying up the drinkin’ water, and then he gallop back to the well, and holler down to Brer Fox:
.

“ ‘Here come a man with a great big gun –

When he haul you up, you jump and run.’ “
.

“What then, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy, as the old man paused.
.

“In just about half an hour, honey, both of them was back in the new ground, working just like they never heard of no well, except that every now and then Brer Rabbit would bust out in the laugh, and Old Brer Fox, he’d get a spell of the dry grins.”

…………………………………………………………

*Puttin’ the clamps on Brer Rabbit – Is this clamping a way of castrating. See the fate of this poor fellow on the wrong side of Judgment Day, a clamping fate inflicted by the gleeful imp, about third from the right. Bern Cathedral, Switzerland.

A Judgment Day clamping, imp and sinner, Bern Cathedral, Switzerland

** roasting corn; tougher than sweet eating corn

*** fairly had a ager – could be ague: illness with fever, shivers, paroxysms, see ://www.medterm.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10965; or agida, heartburn, eart palpitations, a fit of some kind. See etymology of ague at http://www.20kweb.com/etymology_dictionary_A/origin_of_the_word_ague.htm

**** Some goes up and some goes down, bottom safe and sound: There is a footnote to a single asterisk in the text here, and the footnote reads: “As a Northern friend suggests that this story may be somewhat obscure, it may be as well to state that the well is supposed to be supplied with a rope over a wheel, or pulley, with a basket at each end.”

XV. Mr. Fox Goes a-Hunting, but Mr. Rabbit Bags the Game. Uncle Remus His Songs and His Sayings, Translation

 Legends of the Old Plantation

XV

MR. FOX GOES A-HUNTING, BUT MR. RABBIT BAGS THE GAME
Translation

“After Brer Fox hear about how Brer Rabbit done Brer Wolf,” said Uncle Remus, scratching his head with the point of his awl, “he allowed, he did, that he better not be so brash, and he sort of let Brer Rabbit alone. They was all the time seeing one another, and abundance of times Brer Fox could have nabbed Brer Rabbit, but every time he got the chance, his mind would sort of resume about Brer Wold, and he let Brer Rabbit alone. By and by, they begun to get kind of familiar with one another like they used to, and it got so Brer Fox’d call on Brer Rabbit, and they’d set up and smoke their pipes, they would, like no harsh feelings had ever rested betwixt them.

“At last, one day Brer Fox come alone all rigged out , and asked Brer Rabbit for to go hunting with him, but Brer Rabbit, he sort of feel lazy, and he tell Brer Fox that he got some other fish for to fry. Brer Fox feel mighty sorry, he did, but he say he believe he try his hand anyhow, and off he put. He was gone all day, and he had a monstrous streak of luck, Brer Fox did, and he bagged a sight of game. By and by, towards the shank of the evening, Brer Rabbit sort of stretched himself, he did, and allow it’s almost time for Brer Fox for to get along home. Then Brer Rabbit, he went and mounted a stump for to see if he could hear Brer Fox coming. He ain’s been there long, until sure enough, here come Brer Fox through the woods, singing like a nigger at a frolic. Brer Rabbit, he leaped down off of the stump, he did, and lay down in the road and make like he’s dead. Brer Fox he come along, he did, and see Brer Rabbit layin’ there. He turned him over, he did, and examined him, and say, says he:

“ ‘This here rabbit dead. He look like he been dead long time. He dead, but he mighty fat. He the fattest rabbit what I ever see, but he been dead too long. I feared to take him home,' says he.

“Brer Rabbit ain’t saying nothing. Brer Fox, he sort of lick his chops, but he went on and left Brer Rabbit laying in the road. Directly he was out of sight, Brer Rabbit, he jump up, he did , and run around through the woods and get before Brer Fox again. Brer Fox, he come up, and there lay Brer Rabbit, apparently cold and stiff. Brer Fox, he look at Brer Rabbit, and he sort of study. After while, he unslung his game-bag, and say go himself, says he:

“ ‘These here rabbits going to waste. I’ll just about leave my game here, and I’ll go back and get that other rabbit, and I’ll make folks believe that I’m old man Hunter from Huntsville,' says he.

“And with that he dropped his game and loped back up the road after the other rabbit, and when he got out of sight, old Brer Rabbit, he snatch up Brer Fox game and put out for home. Next time he see Brer Fox he holler out:

“ ‘What you kill the other day, Brer Fox,' says he.

“Then Brer Fox, he sort of comb his flank with his tongue, and holler back:

“ ‘I caught a handful of hard sense, Brer Rabbit,’ says he.

“Then old Brer Rabbit, he laugh, he did, and up and respond, says he:

“ ‘If I’d have known you was after that, Brer Fox, I’d have loaned you some of mine,’ says he.”

..............................

A Story of the War. Translation, Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings

Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings
A STORY OF THE WAR

Translation

When Miss Theodosia Huntingdon *, of Burlington, Vermont, concluded to come South in 1870, she was moved by three considerations.  In the first place, her brother, John Huntingdon, had become a citizen of Georgia -- having astonished his acquaintances by marrying a young lady, the male members of whose family had achieved considerable distinction in the Confederate army; in the second place, she was anxious to explore a region which she almost unconsciously pictured to herself as remove and semi-barbarous; and, in the third place, her friends had persuaded her that to some extent she was an invalid.  It was in vain that she argued with herself as to the propriety of undertaking the journey alone and unprotected, and she finally put an end to inward and outward doubts by informing herself and her friends, including John Huntingdon, her brother, who was practicing law in Atlanta, that she decided to visit the South.

When, therefore, on the 12th of October, 1870 -- the date is duly recorded in one of Miss Theodosia's letters -- she alighted from the cars in Atlanta, in the midst of a great crowd, she fully expected to find her brother waiting to receive her.  The bells of several locomotives were ringing, a number of trains went moving in and out, and the porters and baggage-men were screaming and bawling to such an extent that for several moments Miss Huntingdon was considerably confused; so much so that she paused in the hope that her brother would suddenly appear and rescue her from the smoke, and dust, and dirt.  At that moment someone touched her on the arm, and she heard a strong, half-confident, half-apologetic voice exclaim:

"Ain't this here Miss Doshy?"

Turning, Miss Theodosia saw at her side a tall, gray-haired negro.  Elaborating the incident afterward to her friends, she was pleased to say that the appearance of the old man was somewhat picturesque.  He stood towering above her, his hat in one hand, a carriage-whip in the other, and an expectant smile lighting up his rugged face.  She remembered a name her brother had often used in his letters, and, with a woman's tact, she held out her hand, and said:

"Is this Uncle Remus?"

"Lord, Miss Doshy! How you know the old nigger?  I knew you by the favor *; but how you know me?" And then, without waiting for a reply:  "Miss Sally, she sick in bed, and Master John, he bleeds to go * in the country, and they took and sent me.  I knew you the minute I laid eyes on you .  Time I saw you, I say to myself, 'I lay * there's Miss Doshy,' and sure enough, there you was.  You haven't given up your checks, have you?  'Cause I'll get the trunk sent up by the express wagon."

The next moment Uncle Remus was elbowing his way unceremoniously through the crowd, and in a very short time, seated in the carriage driven by the old man, Miss Huntingdon was wheeling through the streets of Atlanta in the direction of her brother's home.  She took advantage of the opportunity to study the old negro's face closely, her natural curiosity considerably sharpened by a knowledge of the fact that Uncle Remus had played an important part in her brother's history.  The result of her observation must have been satisfactory, for presently she laughed, and said:

"Uncle Remus, you haven't told me how you knew me in that great crowd."

The old man chuckled, and gave the horses a gentle rap with the whip.

"Who? Me! I knew you by the favor.  That boy of Master John's is the very spit and image of you.  I'd have known you in New Orleans, let alone down there in the car-shed."

This was Miss Theodosia's introduction to Uncle Remus. One  Sunday afternoon, a few weeks after her arrival, the family were assembled in the piazza enjoying the mild weather.  Mr. Huntingdon was reading a newspaper; his wife was crooning softly as she rocked the baby to sleep; and the little boy was endeavoring to show his Aunt Dosia the outlines of Kenesaw Mountain through the puruple haze that hung like a wonderfully fashioned curtain in the sky and almost obliterated the horizon.  While they were thus engaged, Uncle Remus came around the corner of the house, talking to himself.

"They are too lazy to work," he was saying, "and they expects honest folks for to stand up and support them.  I'm going down to Putmon County * where Master James is -- that's what I'm a-going to do."

"What's the matter now, Uncle Remus?" inquired Mr. Huntingdon, folding up his newspaper.

"Nothing at all, Master John, exceptin' these your sunshine niggers.  They begs my tobacco, and borrows my tools, and steals my vittles *, and it's come to that pass, that I got to pack up and go.  I'm a-going down to Putmon, that's what.

Uncle Remus was accustomed to make this threat several times a day, but upon this oocasion it seemed to remind Mr. Huntingdon of somethig.

"Very well," he said, "I'll come around and help you pack up, but before you go I want you to tell Sister here how you went to war and fought for the Union -- Remus was a famous warrior," he continued, turning to Miss Theodosia; "he volunteered for one day and commanded an army of one.  You know the story, but you have never heard Remus's version."

Uncle Remus shuffled around in an awkward, embarrassed way, scratched his head, and looked uncomfortable.

"Miss Doshy ain't got no time for to sit there and hear the old nigger run on."

"Oh, yes, I have, Uncle Remus!" exclaimed the young lady; "plenty of time."

The upshot of it was that, after many ridiculous protests, Uncle Remus sat down on the steps, and proceeded to tell his story of the war.  Miss Theodosia listened with great interest, but throughout it all she observed -- and she was painfully conscious of the fact , as she after ward admitted -- that Uncle Remus spoke from the standpoint of a Southerner, and with the air of one who expected his hearers to thoroughly synpathize with him.

"Course," said Uncle Remus, addressing himself to Miss Theodosia, "you ain't been to Putmon, and you don't know where the Brad Slaughter place in Harmony Grove is, but Master John and Miss Sally, they been there a time or two, and they knows how the land lays.  Well, then, it is right along in there where Master James lived, and where his lives ow.  When the war come along, he was living there longer (than) Old Miss and Miss Sally.  Old Miss was his ma, and Miss Sally there was his sister.  The war come just like I tell you, and matters sort of rock along same like they always did. It didn't strike me that there was any war going on, and if I hadn't sort of miss the neighbors, and seen folks going out of the way for to ask the news, I have allowed to myself that the war was away off among some other country.  But all this time the fus was going on, and Master James, he was just itchin' for to put in.  Old Miss and Miss Sally,they took on so he didn't get off the first year, but by and by news come down that times was gettin' pretty hot, and Master James he got up, he did, and say he got to go, and go he did.  He got a overseer for to look after the place, and he went and joined the army.  And he was a fighter, to, man, Master James was.  Many's and many's the time, " continued the old man, reflectively, "that I had to take and bresh * on account of his abusin' and beatin' them other boys.  He went off there for to fight, and he fit.  Old Miss used to call me up Sunday and read what the papers say 'bout Master James, and it hoped her up mightily.  I can see her just like it was yesterday.

" 'Remus,' says she, 'this here's what the papers say about my baby,' and then she'd read out until she couldn't read for crying.  It went on this way year in and year out, and them was lonesome times, sure's you're born, Miss Doshy -- lonesome times, sure.  It got hotter and hotter in the war, and lonesomer and more lonesomer at home, and by and by along come the conscrip-man *, and he just everlastingly scoop up Master James' overseer *.  When this come about, old Miss, she sent after me and say, says she:

" 'Remus, I ain't got nobody for to look after the place but you,' says she, and then I up and say, says I:

" 'Mistress, you can just depend on the old nigger.'

"I was old then, Miss Doshy -- let alone what I is now; and you better believe I bossed them hands.  I had them niggers up in the field long before day, and the way they did work was a caution.l  If they didn't earn their vittles that season then I ain't name Remus.  But they was took care of.  They had plenty of clothes and plenty of grub, and they was the fattest niggers in the settlement.

"By and by one day, Old Miss, she call me up and say the Yankees done gone and took Atlanta -- this here very town; then presently I hear they was a marchin' on down towards Putmon, and, lo and behold! one day, the first news I knew, Master James he rid up with a whole gang of men.  He just stopped long enough for to change horses and snatch a mouthful  of something to eat, but before he rid off, he call me up and say, says he:

" 'Daddy' -- all Old Miss's children call me daddy -- 'Daddy," he say, ' it appears like there 's going to be mighty rough times around here.  The Yankees, they are done got to Madison * and Mounticellar *, and it won't be many days before they are down here.  It ain't likely they'll pester mother nor sister; but daddy, if the worst come to the worst, I expect you to take care of them, says he.

"Then I say, says I"  'How long you been knowing me, Master James?" says I.

" 'Since I was a baby,' says he.

" 'Well, then, Master James,' says I, 'you know'd it wasn't no use for to ask me to take care of Old Miss and Miss Sally.'

"Then he took and squeezed my hand and jump on the filly I been saving for him, and rid off.  One time he turn around and look like he want to say something, but he just wave his hand - so - and gallop on.  I knowed then that  trouble was brewing.  Nigger that knows he's going to get thumped can sort of fix himself, and I took and fix up like the war was going to come right in at the front gate.  I took all the cattle and horses together and drive them to the four-mile place, and I took all the corn and fodder en wheat, and put them in a crib out there in the woods; and I built me a pen in the swamp, and there I put the hogs.  Then, when I fix all this, I put on my Sunday clothes and ground my axe.  Two whole days I ground that axe.  The grindstone was in sight of the gate and close to the big house, and there I took my stand.'

"By and by one day, here come the Yankees.  Two of them came first, and then the whole face of the earth swarmed with them.  The first glimpse I catch of them, I took my axe and march into Old Miss' sitting room.  She done had the sideboard moved in there, and I wish I may drop if it wasn't fairly blazing with silver -- silver cups and silver saucers, silver places and silver dishes, silver mugs and silver pitchers.  Look like to me they was fixin' for a weddin'.  There sat Old Miss just as prim and as proud as if she owned the whole county.  This kinder hope me up, 'cause I done seen Old Miss look that way once before when the overseer struck me in the face with a whip.l  I sat down by the fire with my axe between my knees.  There we sat, whiles the Yankees ransack the place.  Miss Sally, there, she got sort of restless, but Old Miss didn't scarcely bat her eyes.  By and by, we hear steps on the piazza, and here come a couple of young fellers with straps on their shoulders, and their swords  dragging on the floor, and their spurs a-rattling.  I won't say I was scared," said Uncle Remus, as though endeavoring to recall something he failed to remember, "I won't say I was scared, 'cause I wasn't; but I was taken with a mighty funny feeling in the neighborhood of the gizzard.  They was mighty polite, them young chaps was; but Old Miss, she never turn her head, and Miss Sally, she look straight at the fire.  By and by one of them see me, and he say, says he:

" 'Hello, old man, what you doing in here?' says he.

" 'Well, boss,' says I, 'I been cutting some wood for Old Miss, and I just stop for to warm my hand a little,' says I.

" 'It is cold, that's a fact,' says he.

"With that I got up and took my stand behind Old Miss and Miss Sally, ad the man what speak, he went up and warm his hands.  First thing you know, he raise up sudden, and say, says he:

" 'What's that on your axe?'

" 'That 's the fire shining on it,' sayus I.

" 'It look like blood,' says he, and then he left.

"But bless your soul, that man wouldn't never left that day if he's knowed the workings of Remus' mind.  But they didn't bother nobody nor touch nothing, and by and by they put out.  Well, the Yankees, they kept passing all the morning and it look to me there was a string of them ten miles long.  Then they commence getting thinner and thinner, and then after a while we hear skirmishing in the neigtborhood of  Armer's ferry, and Old Miss allowed how that was Wheeler's men making pursuit.  Master James was with them Wheeler fellers, and I knowed if they was that close I wasn't doing no good sitting 'round the house toasting my shins at the fire, so I just took Master James' rifle from behind the door and put out to look after my stock.

"Seem like I ain't never seen no raw day like that, neither before nor since.  There wasn't no rain, but the wet just sifted down ; mighty raw day.  The leaves on the ground was so wet they don't make no fuss, and I got in the woods, and whenever I hear the Yankees going by, I just stop in my tracks and let them pass.  I was standing that way in the edge of the woods looking out across a clearing, when -- piff! -- out come a little bunch of blue smoke from the top of one of them big lonesome-looking pines, and then -- pow!

Says I to myself, says I"  'Honey, you're right on my route, and I'll just see what kind of burd you got roostin' in you, and while I was a lookin' out bus' (?) (past?) the smoke -- piff! -- and then -- bang!  With that I just dropped back into the woods, and sort of skirted around so as to get the tree betwixt me and the road.  I slid up pretty close, and what do you expect I see?  Just as sure's you're settin' there listenin', they was a live Yankee up there in that tree, and he was a loadin' and a shootin' at the boys just as cool as a cucumber in the jaw, and he had his horse hitched out in the bushes, 'cause I hear the creature trompling around.  He had a spy-glass up there, and whiles I was a watchin' on him, he raise her up and look through her, and then he lay her down and fix his gun for to shoot.  I had good eyes in them days, if I ain't got them now, and 'way up the big road I see Master James a-comin'.  It was too far to see his face, but I knew him by the filly what I raise for him, and she was a prancin' like a school-girl.  I knew that man was going to shoot Master James if he could, and that was more than I could stand.  Many and many the time that I nurse that boy, and held him in these arms, and toted him on this back, and when I see that Yankee lay that gun across a limb and take aim at Master James I up with my old rifle, and shut my eyes and let the man have all she had."

"Do you mean to say," exclaimed Miss Theodosia, indignantly, "that you shot the Union soldier, when you knew he was fighting for your freedom?"

" 'Course, I know all about that," responded Uncle Remus, "and it sort of made cold chills run up my back' but when I see that man take aim, and Master James going home to Old Miss and Miss Sally, I just disremembered all about freedom and lammed loose.l  And then, after that, me and Miss Sally took and nursed the man right straight along.  He lost one arm in that tree business, but me and Miss Sally we nursed him and we nursed him until he done got well.  Just about that time I quit nursing him, but Miss Sally, she kept on.  She kept on," continued Uncle Remus, pointing to Mr. Huntingdon, "and now there he is."

"But you cost him an arm," exclaimed Miss Theodosia.

"I gin * him them," said Uncle Remus, pointing to Mrs. Huntingdon, "and I gin him these" -- holding up his own brawny arms.  "And if them ain't enough for any man, then I done lost the way."


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Mini-glossary

Bleedzd ter, or bleeds to, do something:  want very much to do it? has to?

Conscrip-man:  From conscription, the act of compulsory recruiting, signing up people for the military - the Draft.

In the South, the 1862 Conscription Act enacted by the Confederate Congress made men between 18 and 35 required to serve for three years.  This was needed:  compare manpower in terms of non-slaves North and South: North had 23 million people in 23 states.  South had only 9 million people, and of those, 3.5 million were slaves, see http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWconscriptionC.htm,  leaving an eligible population  (from that we have to back out the right gender-age bracket not calculated out here) 5.5 million total non-slaves South,  against 23 million total non-slaves North.

How many in each total population, North or South, were male and between 18-35, we do not know.

Bresh - refers to brush, or brushwood, so that to bresh would be to take some brushwood to someone, swat.  See Webster's Gullah-English Thesaurus Dictionary (2008)

Gin - as in "I gin" -- Not completely clear, but possibly am going to, as in give, as in the future.  See 'The word gine (as in "going to") is usually used to mark the future tense e.g. I gine and eat = "I am going to eat".'  See dialects and creoles at http://wapedia.mobi/en/Bajan/  Scroll down with a "find" at that site for "gin" and you will see "going".  The sense might be here that he gave the man in the tree his family and his arm, and did not take his life. Is that so?

Know someone "by the favor" - meaning the person favors or resembles another, in similar appearance, here Theodosia to the son of her  brother, Master Huntingdon: the little boy.

I lay - I bet.  A lay bet. See types of bets at http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/school/bet_types.php.  The "lay bet", however, is a bet that the thing will not win.  Not win.  Lay bet = Lay a horse and if the horse loses, you win.  Lay a horse and if the horse wins, you lose.  See Online Betting Guide. Other bets:  win, each-way, place, etc.

Madison and Mounticellar GA - Madison is a town about an hour away from Atlanta, that calls itself the town that Sherman refused to burn, see http://www.madisonga.org/  It has been the county seat since 1807. Mounticellar refers to Monticello GA, a town also nearby.  See http://monticelloga.org/

Miss Theodosia Huntingdon - Sister of Master John, husband of Aunt Sally, see http://books.google.com/books?id=L3qQYDOzXn0C&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=Theodosia+Huntingdon&source=bl&ots=xLybUQlf31&sig=ifCMR3M0oCqJrVGcsrajd7on6Jw&hl=en&ei=gcmXS_PbG8KUtgeY18TkAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Theodosia%20Huntingdon&f=false/

Overseer:  One who directs the labor of others.  See://www.thefreedictionary.com/overseer/.  This was often a White supervisor, lower class than the owner, often with whip, managing slaves in the fields.  See discussion of the role at Crafting the Overseer's Image at  http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/26.2/br_11.html/

Putmon County - we see Putnam County, south of Atlanta, halfway or so to Tallahassee FL, but not Putmon.  Putmon is a common last name, however.

Vittles - from 14th or 15th century words, "victuals", http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vittles; http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/victuals. Middle English vitaille, Anglo-French victuale; Late Latin victualia,  Supplies of food, provisions.

His Songs IX. Time Goes By Turns. Translation, Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings

HIS SONGS, from Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings

IX. TIME GOES BY TURNS

Translation

There's a powerful wrestle betwixt the Good and the Bad,

And the Bad's got the all-under-hold;

And when the worst comes, she come in iron-clad,

And you better hold your breath for the jolt.

But just towards the last, Good gets the knee-lock,

And they drop to the ground -- ker flop!

Good had the inturn (?), and he stand like a rock,

And he bleeds for to be on top.

The dry weather breaks with a big thunder-clap,

For theere ain't no drought what can last,

But the seasons what whoops up the cotton crop,

Likewise they freshens up the grass.

The rain fall so soft in the long dark night,

'Til you have to hold your hand for a sign,

But the drizzle what sets the potato-slips right

Is the making of the May-pop vine.

In the mellowest ground the clay root'll catch

And hold to the tongue * of the plow,

And a pine-pole gate at the garden-patch

Never'll keep out the old brindle cow.

One and all of us knows who's a-pullin' at the bits

Like the lead-mule that guides by the rein,

And yet, somehow or another, the best one of us gets

Mighty sick of the tuggin' at the chain.

Hump yourself to the load and forget the distress,

And them what stands by to scoff,

For the harder the pullin', the longer the rest,

And the bigger the feed in the trough.

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Mini-glossary

* tongue - parts of a plow - We did not see the tongue, but see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough/; then visit the towing tongue at a discussion of a chisel plow, at http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4106568.html/

Here is a walking plow, fair use thumbnail from http://ruralheritage.com

XIV. Mr. Fox and the Deceitful Frogs. Translation. Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings

Legends of the Old Plantation
XIV

MR. FOX AND THE DECEITFUL FROGS
Translation

When the little boy ran in to see Uncle Remus the night after he had told him of the awful fate of Brer Wolf, the only response to his greeting was:

"I-doom-er-ker-kum-mer-ker!"

No explanation could convey an adequate idea of the intonation and pronunciation which Uncle Remus brought to bear upon this wonderful word. Those who can recall to mind the peculiar gurgling, jerking, liquid sound made by pouring water from a large jug, or the sound produced by throwing several stones in rapid succession into a pond of deep water, may be able to form a very faint idea of the sound, but it can not be reproduced in print. The little boy was astonished.

“What did you say, Uncle Remus?”

“I-doom-er-ker-kum mer-ker! I-doom-er-ker-kum-mer-ker!”

“What is that?”

“That’s Terrapin * talk, that is. Bless your soul, honey,” continued the old man, brightening up, “when you get old as me – when you see what I sees, and hear what I hears – the creatures that you can’t talk with’ll be mighty scarce – they will that. Why, there’s there old gray rat what uses about here, and time after time he comes out when you all done gone to bed and sets up there in the corner and dozes, and me and him talks by the hour; and what that old rat don’t know ain’t down in the spelling book. Just now, when you run in and broke me up, I was fetching into my mind what Brother Terrapin say to Brer Fox when he turned him loose in the branch.”

“What did he say, Uncle Remus?”

“That what he said –I-doom-er-ker-kum-mer-ker! Brer Terrapin was at the bottom ofa the pond, and he talk back, he did, in bubbles – I-doomer-ker-kum-er-ker! Brer Fox, he ain’t saying nothing, but Brer Bull-Frog, sitting on the bank, he hear Brother Terrapin, he did, and he holler back:

“ ‘Jug-er-rum-kum-dum! Jug-er-rum-kum-dum!

“Then another Frog holler out:

“ ‘Knee-deep! Knee’deep!’

“Then old Brer Bull-Frog, he holler back:

“ ‘Don’t-you-believe-him! Don’t-you-believe-him!’

“Then the bubbles come up from Brer Terrapin:

“ ‘I-doom-er-ker-kum-mer-ker!’

“Then another Frog sing out:

“ ‘ Wade in! Wade in!”

“Then old Brer Bull-frog talk through his hoarseness:

‘ ‘There-you’ll-find-your-brother! There-you’ll find-your-brother!’

“Sure enough, Brer Fox look over the bank, he did, and there was another Fox looking at him out of the water. Then he reached out for to shake hands, and in he went, heels over head, and Brer Terrapin bubble out:

“I-doom-er-ker-kum-mer-ker!”

“Was the Fox drowned, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy.

“He weren’t exactly drowned, honey,” replied the old man, with an air of cautious reserve. “He did manage for to scramble out, but a little more and the Mud Turtle would have got him, and then he’d have been made hash and the world without him.’

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* Mini-Glossary

Terrapin - The malaclemus terrapin, or diamond-back; a kind of turtle living in brackish water, part salt, at coastal lowlands, swamps, in the US, at the east and south.
Fair use thumbnail of a terrapin from http://people.dot.wcsu.edu/

XIII. The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf. Translation. Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings

 Legends of the Old Plantation
XIII

THE AWFUL FATE OF MR. WOLF
Translation

Uncle Remus was half-soling * one of his shoes, and his Miss Sally’s little boy had been handling his awls *, his hammers, and his knives to such an extent that the old man was compelled to assume a threatening attitude; but peace reigned again, and the little boy perched himself on a chair, watching Uncle Remus driving in pegs.

“Folks what’s always pesterin’ people, and bothering too long with what ain’t done, don’t never come to no good end. There was Brer Wolf; instead of minding on his own business, he had to take and go in partnership with Brer Fox. And there wasn’t scarcely a minute in the day that he wasn’t after Brer Rabbit. And he kept on and kept on, until first news you knew, he got caught up with – and he got caught up with monstrous bad.”

“Goodness, Uncle Remus! I thought the Wolf let the Rabbit alone, after he tried to fool him about the Fox being dead.”

“Better let me tell this here my way. By and by, it’ll be your bed time, and Miss Sally’ll be hollerin’ after you, and you’ll be a whimpling around, and then Master John’ll fetch up the rear with that there strap what I made for him.”

The child laughed, and playfully shook his fist in the simple, serious face of the venerable old darkey, but said no more. Uncle Remus waited awhile to be sure there was to be no other demonstration, and then proceeded:

“Brer Rabbit ain’t see no peace whatsoever. He can’t leave home except Brer Wolf would make a raid and tote off some of the family. Brer Rabbit built him a straw house, and it was torn down; then he made a house out of pine-tops, and that went the same way; then he made him a bark house, and that was raided on, and every time he lost a house he lost one of his children. At last Brer Rabbit got mad, he did, and cussed *, and then he went off, he did, and got some carpenters, and they built him a plank house with rock foundations.

"After that he could have some peace and quietness. He could go out and pass the time of day with his neighbors, and come back and set by the fire, and smoke his pipe, and read the newspapers same like any man what got a family. He made a hole, he did, in the cellar where the little Rabbits could hide out when there was much of a racket in the neighborhood, and the latch of the front door caught on the inside.

"Brer Wolf, he see how the land lay, he did, and he lay low. The little Rabbits was mighty skittish, but it got so that cold chills ain’t run up Brer Rabbit’s back no more when he heard Brer Wolf go galloping by.

“By and by, one day when Brer Rabbit was fixing to call on Miss Coon *, he heard a monstrous fuss and clatter up the big road, and almost before he could fix his ears for to listen, Brer Wolf run in the door. The little Rabbits, they went into their hole in the cellar, they did, like blowing out a candle. Brer Wolf was fairly covered with mud, and mighty nigh out of wind.

“ ‘Oh, do pray save me, Brer Rabbit!’ says Brer Wolf, says he. ‘Do please, Brer Rabbit! the dogs is after me, and they’ll tear me up. Don’t you hear them comin? Oh, do please save me, Brer Rabbit! Hide me somewhere where the dogs won’t get me.’

“No quicker said than done.

“ ‘Jump in that big chest there, Brer Wolf,’ says Brer Rabbit, says he. ‘jump in there and make yourself at home.’

“In jump Brer Wolf, down came the lid, and into the hasp * went the hook, and there Mr. Wolf was. Then Brer Rabbit went to the looking-glass, he did, and winked at himself, and then he drew the rocking chair in front of the fire, he did, and took a big chaw * of tobacco.

“Tobacco, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy, incredulously.

“Rabbit tobacco, honey. You know this here life everlasting * what Miss Sally puts among the clothes in the trunk; well, that’s rabbit tobacco. Then Brer Rabbit sat there a long time, he did, turning his mind over and working his thinking machine. By and by he got up, and sort of stirred around. Then Brer Wolf opened up:

“ ‘Is the dogs all gone, Brer Rabbit?’

“ ‘Seems like I hear one of them smelling around the chimney corner just now.’ “

“Then Brer Rabbit got the kettle and filled it full of water, and put it on the fire.

“ ‘What you doing now, Brer Rabbit?’

“ ‘I’m fixing for to make you a nice cup of tea, Brer Wolf.’

“Then Brer Rabbit went to the cupboard and got the gimlet *, and commenced for to bore little holes in the chest-lid.

“ ‘What you doing now, Brer Rabbit?’

“ ‘I’m boring little holes so you can get breath, Brer Wolf.’

“Then Brer Rabbit went out and got some more wood, and fling it on the fire.

“ ‘What you doing now, Brer Rabbit?

“ ‘I’m a chunkin’ up the fire so you won’t get cold, Brer Wolf.’ “

“Then Brer Rabbit went down in the cellar and fetched out all his children.

“ ‘What you doin’ now, Brer Rabbit?’ “

“ ‘I’m telling my children what a nice man you is, Brer Wolf.’ “

“And the children, they had to put their hands on their mouths for to keep from laughing. Then Brer Rabbit he got the kettle and commenced for to pour the hot water on the chest-lid.

“ ‘What’s that I hear, Brer Rabbit?’ “

“’ ‘You hear the wind a blowin’, Brer Wolf.’

“Then the water began for to sift through.

“ ‘What’s that I feel, Brer Rabbit?’ “

“ ‘Turn over on the other side, Brer Wolf.’ “

“ ‘What’s that I feel now, Brer Rabbit?’ “

“ ‘Still you feels the fleas, Brer Wolf.’ “

“’ ‘They’re eating me up, Brer Rabbit,’ and them was the last words of Brer Wolf, cause the scalding water did the business.

“Then Brer Rabbit called in his neighbors, he did, and they held a regular jubilee; and if you go to Brer Rabbit’s house right now, I don’t know, but what you’ll find Brer Wolf’s hide hanging in the back porch, and all because he was so busy with other folks’ business.

The Awful Fate of Brer Wolf *







.
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* Photo:  Hatpin, the Scharfe Edwardian Hatpin Collection, see http://hatpinscollection.blogspot.com/2008/07/animals.html
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* Mini-glossary:

Awl: a sharp, pointed tool, see varieties and uses at http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-awl.htm/ A shoemaker's awl is curved, and is used as a big needle would be, to poke the holes and sew the soles to the uppers. Patron saint? St. Crispin, who was a shoemaker, and the awl is sometimes called 'St. Crispin's lance'

Chaw of tobacco: A chew of it, see http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_chaw_and_plug_of_tobacco/

Cuss: curse

Gimlet: A kind of hand drill, see http://www.wisegeek.com/s/gimlet/ See some simple ones at http://www.garrettwade.com/product.asp?pn=37J03.04&bhcd2=1266509115/

Half-sole: The part of the sole of a shoe from arch to toe (not the heel part)

Hasp: A fastening device, especially for a door or lid, where a flap fits over a protruding half-ring or staple sticking out, and then a spike fits through the half ring itself, holding down the flap. See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hasp/ Here is a picture: http://www.merriam-webster.com/art/dict/hasp.htm

Life everlasting: a botanical, a flower used for cures, see http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/product/1-life-everlasting-flower.html/ But this site about a botanical book, A Modern Herbal, dating from the early 19th Century says it is also known as white plantain, and that the American variety was used by the "aborigines" in America, or Native Americans, and taught to the settlers, see http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/g/gnapha21.html

Miss Coon – is she part of Miss Meadows and the girls, an establishment referenced in Chapter VI, Mr. Rabbit Grossly Deceives Mr. Fox, in the neighborhood? Or an independent contractor?