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/