"Brer Rabbit, Brer Coon, and the Frogs"Among the animals Brer Rabbit was the best at trickifying, but he had to share the title of best fisherman with Brer Coon. Brer Rabbit liked to set his line for fish, and Brer Coon liked to set his for frogs. One summer, though, Brer Rabbit was having all the luck. He pulled in a mess of fish every day, while Brer Coon couldn't catch a frog to save his soul.
"Brer Rabbit? How come you catching so many fish?" Brer Rabbit shrugged. "I don't know. I just bait my hook, drop it in, and, before I can blink, I got a fish."
"Maybe so. But ever since then every time you show your face at the creek, I hear the frogs sing, 'Here he come! There he goes! Hit him in the eye! Mash him and smash him!' That's what they say to one another." Brer Rabbit smiled. "Well, you and me been friends for a long time. You ain't never bared your sharp teeth at me, so I believe I'll help you out." "Appreciate it, Brer Rabbit. I sho' do that." "Tell you what you do. Get on that sandbar out there between the creek and the river. When you get out there, stagger around like you sick. Then whirl around and around and fall down like you dead. After you fall down, jerk your legs once or twice and lie still. And I mean still! If a fly lights on your nose, let him stay there. Don't blink your eyes; don't twitch your tail. Just lie there until you hear from me, and when I say move, you move!" Brer Coon did just like Brer Rabbit told him. After Brer Coon had been lying there for a while, Brer Rabbit called out, "Coon dead! Coon dead!" Frogs popped up from everywhere! "Coon dead!" Brer Rabbit repeated. "Coon dead!" One frog said: "Don't believe it! Don't believe it!" The frogs got to croaking back and forth, disputing the matter. Brer Rabbit sat there on the bank scratching his fleas like he don't care what the frogs think. The frogs decided to investigate and hopped over to Brer Coon. He looked dead. That he did. There was a fly crawling up inside his nose and he didn't even twitch. Brer Rabbit called out, "Y'all been wanting to get rid of Brer Coon. This is your time, Cousin Frogs. Just bury him deep in the sand." The Big Frog said, "How we going to do it?" "How we going to do it?" There must've been a hundred of them that went to digging. Sand flew out of there so fast, it looked like a storm in the Saharry Desert. Brer Coon didn't twitch. The frogs kept digging until Brer Coon was in a nice hole. "This deep enough?" Big Frog wanted to know. "This deep enough?" "Yes I can. Yes I can." The frogs made some more sand fly. "This deep enough?" "This deep enough?" "Can you jump out?" The frogs dug and dug and dug. "This deep enough?" "This deep enough?" "No I can't. No I can't. Come help me. Come help me." Brer Rabbit laughed and hollered out, "RISE UP, BRER COON! RISE UP, AND GET YOUR MEAT!" |
Brer Rabbit scratched his fleas. "You must've forgot about that time you caught King Frog?"
"Can you jump out?" Brer Rabbit asked.