Covered.
LOL. Sure. Okay ...
"Please don't throw us into the briar patch, Brer Fox!" LOL ...
"I've got you this time, Brer Rabbit," said Brer Fox, jumping up and shaking off the dust. "You've sassed me for the very last time. Now I wonder what I should do with you?"
Brer Rabbit's eyes got very large. "Oh please Brer Fox, whatever you do, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"Maybe I should roast you over a fire and eat you," mused Brer Fox. "No, that's too much trouble. Maybe I'll hang you instead."
"Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"If I'm going to hang you, I'll need some string," said Brer Fox. "And I don't have any string handy. But the stream's not far away, so maybe I'll drown you instead."
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"The briar patch, eh?" said Brer Fox. "What a wonderful idea! You'll be torn into little pieces!"
Grabbing up the tar-covered rabbit, Brer Fox swung him around and around and then flung him head over heels into the briar patch. Brer Rabbit let out such a scream as he fell that all of Brer Fox's fur stood straight up. Brer Rabbit fell into the briar bushes with a crash and a mighty thump. Then there was silence.
Brer Fox cocked one ear toward the briar patch, listening for whimpers of pain. But he heard nothing. Brer Fox cocked the other ear toward the briar patch, listening for Brer Rabbit's death rattle. He heard nothing.
Then Brer Fox heard someone calling his name. He turned around and looked up the hill. Brer Rabbit was sitting on a log combing the tar out of his fur with a wood chip and looking smug.
"I was bred and born in the briar patch, Brer Fox," he called. "Born and bred in the briar patch."
And Brer Rabbit skipped away as merry as a cricket while Brer Fox ground his teeth in rage and went home.
How it was
first told...
HOW MR. RABBIT WAS TOO SHARP FOR MR. FOX
"Uncle Remus, " said the little boy one evening, when he had found the old
man with little or nothing to do, "did the fox kill and eat the rabbit when
he caught him with the Tar-Baby?"
"Law, honey, ain't I tell you 'bout dat?" replied the old darkey, chuckling
slyly. "I 'clar ter grashus I ought er tole you dat, but ole man Nod wuz
ridin' on my eyelids twel a leetle mo'n I'd a dis'member'd my own name, en
den on to dat here come yo' mammy hollerin' atter you.
"W'at I tell you w'en I fus' begin? I tole you Brer Rabbit wuz a monstus
soon beas'; leas'ways dat's w'at I laid out fer ter tell you. Well, den,
honey, don't you go en make no udder kalkalashuns, kaze in dem days Brer
Rabbit en his fambly wuz at de head er de gang w'en enny racket wuz en han',
en dar dey stayed. 'Fo' you begins fer ter wipe yo' eyes 'bout Brer Rabbit,
you wait en see wha'bouts Brer Rabbit gwineter fetch up at. But dat's needer
yer ner dar.
"W'en Brer Fox fine Brer Rabbit mixt up wid de Tar-baby, he feel mighty
good, en he roll on de groun' en laff. Bimeby he up'n say, sezee:
"'Well, I speck I got you did time, Brer Rabbit,' sezee; 'maybe I ain't but
I speck I is. You been runnin' 'roun' here sassin' atter me a mighty long
time, but I speck you done come ter de cen' er de row. You bin currin' up
yo' capers en bouncin' 'roun' in dis naberhood ontwel you come ter b'leeve
yo'se'f de boss er de whole gang. En der youer allers some'rs whar you got
no bixness,' ses Brer Fox, sezee. 'Who ax you fer ter come en strike up a
'quaintence wid dish yer Tar-Baby? En who stuck you up dar whar you iz?
Nobody in de 'roun' worril. You des tuck en jam yo'se'f on dat Tar-Baby
widout waintin' fer enny invite,' sez Brer Fox, sezee, 'en dar you is, en
dar you'll stay twel I fixes up a bresh-pile and fires her up, kaze I'm
gwinteter bobbycue you dis day, sho,' sez Brer Fox, sezee.
"Den Brer Rabbit talk mighty 'umble,
"'I don't keer w'at you do wid me, Brer Fox,' sezee, 'so you don't fling me
in dat brier-patch. Roas' me, Brer Fox,' sezee, 'but don't fling me in dat
brier-patch,' sezee.
"'I ain't got no string,' sez Brer Fox, sezee, 'en now I speck I'll hatter
drwon you,' sezee.
"'Drown me des ez deep es you please, Brer Fox," sez Brer Rabbit, sezee,
'but do don't fling me in dat brier-patch, ' sezee.
"'Dey ain't no water nigh,' sez Brer Fox, sezee, 'en now I speck I'll hatter
skin you,' sezee.
"'Skin me, Brer Fox,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'snatch out my eyeballs, t'ar
out my yeras by de roots, en cut off my legs,' sezee, 'but do please, Brer
Fox, don't fling me in dat brier-patch,' sezee.
"Co'se Brer Fox wnater hurt Brer Rabbit bad ez he kin, so he cotch 'im by de
behime legs en slung 'im right in de middle er de brierpatch. dar wuz a
considerbul flutter whar Brer Rabbit struck de bushes, en Brer Fox sorter
hang 'roun' fer ter see w'at wuz gwinter happen. Bimeby he hear somebody
call im, en way up de hill he see Brer Rabbit settin' crosslegged on a
chinkapin log koamin' de pitch outen his har wid a chip. Den Brer Fox know
dat he bin swop off mighty bad. Brer Rabbit wuz bleedzed fer ter fling back
some er his sass, en he holler out:
"'Bred en bawn in a brier-patch, Brer Fox--bred en bawn in a brier-patch!'
en wid dat he skip out des ez lively as a cricket in de embers."