de rabbit he laughed an’ he say, “Dis
am life; some go up and some go
down.”In the most famous Brer Rabbit story,
Brer Fox traps Rabbit by building a
baby doll out of tar. Brer Rabbit tries to
engage the tar baby and instead gets
stuck, and the more he tries to free
himself from the tar, the more hopelessly
entangled he becomes. “I don’t care
what you do wid’ me, Brer Fox,” Rabbit
pleads to the gloating Fox, “but don’t
fling me in dat briar-patch.” Brer Fox, of
course, does just that—and Rabbit, who
was born and bred in the briar patch,
uses the thorns to separate himself from