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?