Brer Rabbit is a trickster who outsmarts larger and stronger animals, such as Brer Fox and Brer Bear....
Brer Rabbit is perhaps related to the Hare trickster of Africa...
Many stories about Brer Rabbit originated in African folklore and were brought to America by slaves....
He is a mischievous figure appearing in various forms in the folktales and myythos of many different peoples...
Brer Rabbit was made famous by Joel Chandler Harris in his Uncle Remus tales. A tale that obviously owes something to a similar tale about the African trickster Ananse and a “Gum Doll” is that of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby.
The story reminds us that tricksters themselves sometimes become the victims of tricks.
In this tale, Brer Fox makes a life-size figure out of sticky tar and places it on the road.
Brer Rabbit greets the tar baby several times but gets no reply. Annoyed, he hits the tar baby and gets stuck in the tar.
Brer Fox seizes him and wonders about a punishment. Brer Rabbit begs him to do anything he wants except throw him into the briar patch.
Brer Fox, of course, does exactly that. Brer Rabbit, however, easily escapes because, as he says, "I was born and raised in the briar patch." Brer Rabbit is successful in tricking Brer Fox...
Note:
Many Native American cultures have oral traditions that involve animals that speak. Throughout eastern North America, it was typically the rabbit, which was the "trickster." However, the Uncle Remus Tales exactly match the ancient children's stories of the Creek Indians of Georgia, the Carolinas and Alabama...
Excerpted from:
Post Image: http://bit.ly/HDR2D6
This image illustrates the lastest 'evolutionarised' appearance of the Brer Rabbit...
Old ancounters described him similar to the following:
Mhd.Shadi Khudr's insight:
Earth-cracking Bonus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiqNXMGlcsE