Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris

 Brer Rabbit cover, 1881

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Book summary, taken from Librivox: Many readers will already be familiar with Uncle Remus’ favorite animal characters Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox among them and some of the popular tales concerning them. (To this day, “tar baby” as an expression for a particularly sticky situation that is almost impossible to solve, has passed into the English language and common use.) Even people who have never read any of these tales will know exactly why you don’t throw a rabbit into a briar patch, mainly because Walt Disney produced his first movie ever to use professional actors with animation, called “Song of the South”, based on the Uncle Remus tales.

Joel Chandler Harris, a newsman in Georgia, grew up listening to folktales told by the local black population. Later, he published his version of these tales in a series of stories printed in the Atlanta Constitution. The tales of, and by, Harris’ chief character Uncle Remus, an old black man scrabbling to make his living in the post-Civil War South, were extremely popular and widely read. Harris’ use of innovative spelling to give the reader a sense of the black dialect was considered novel.

While this is not a book that will pass a current political correctness test, due to its use of labels for black folks which have gone out of polite conversation, Uncle Remus is a largely sympathetic look at post-war plantation life. Uncle Remus himself is a warm, folksy man of good humor and dry wit, and after finishing his animal stories, the remaining sayings and tales are a moment of history frozen in amber. (Summary by Mark for Librivox)

LEGENDS OF THE OLD PLANTATION

I. Uncle Remus initiates the Little Boy

 Brer Bear and Brer Fox, 1881

II. The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story

III. Why Mr. Possum loves Peace

IV. How Mr. Rabbit was too sharp for Mr. Fox

V. The Story of the Deluge, and how it came about

VI. Mr. Rabbit grossly deceives Mr. Fox

VII. Mr. Fox is again victimized

VIII. Mr. Fox is “outdone” by Mr. Buzzard

IX. Miss Cow falls a Victim to Mr. Rabbit

X. Mr. Terrapin appears upon the Scene

tn_UR Brer_Rabbit_and_Brer_Wolf,_1881

XI. Mr. Wolf makes a Failure

XII. Mr. Fox tackles Old Man Tarrypin

Brer Fox tackles Brer Tarrypin, 1881 no caption

XIII. The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf

XIV. Mr. Fox and the Deceitful Frogs

XV. Mr. Fox goes a-hunting, but Mr. Rabbit bags the Game

XVI. Old Mr. Rabbit, he’s a Good Fisherman

XVII. Mr. Rabbit nibbles up the Butter

XVIII. Mr. Rabbit finds his Match at last

XIX. The Fate of Mr. Jack Sparrow

XX. How Mr. Rabbit saved his Meat

XXI. Mr. Rabbit meets his Match again

Brer Rabbit and family, 1881

XXII. A Story about the Little Rabbits

XXIII. Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear

Brer Bear and Brer Frog, 1881

XXIV. Mr. Bear catches Old Mr. Bull-Frog

XXV. How Mr. Rabbit lost his Fine Bushy Tail

XXVI. Mr. Terrapin shows his Strength

XXVII Why Mr. Possum has no Hair on his Tail

XXVIII. The End of Mr. Bear

XXIX. Mr. Fox gets into Serious Business

XXX. How Mr. Rabbit succeeded in raising a Dust

XXXI. A Plantation Witch

XXXII. “Jacky-my-Lantern”

XXXIII. Why the Negro is Black

XXXIV. The Sad Fate of Mr. Fox

Plantation Proverbs

His Songs

Corn Shucking Song, 1881

Revival Hymn, Camp-Meeting Song, Corn-Shucking Song

The Plough-hands Song, Christmas Play-Song, Plantation Play-Song, Plantation Chant, Plantation Serenade

Old Plantation Play Song, 1881

De Big Bethel Church, Time Goes by Turns

A Story of the War

His Sayings
Jeems Rober’son’s Last Illness, Uncle Remus’s Church Experience, Uncle Remus and the Savannah Darkey

Turnip Salad as a Text, A Confession, Uncle Remus with the Toothache

The Phonograph, Race Improvement, In the Role of a Tartar

A Case of Measles, The Emigrants, As a Murderer

Uncle Remus and his deceitful jug, 1881

His Practical View of Things, That Deceitful Jug, The Florida Watermelon

Uncle Remus preaches to a Convert, As to Education, A Temperance Reformer

As a Weather Prophet, The Old Man’s Troubles, The Fourth of July