Old Uncle Remus tells about the time Brer Fox grabs ahold of the horse's tail and hangs on . . . when Brer Rabbit jumps up and hollers out: "'Hold 'im down, Brer Fox! You got 'im now, sho'! Hold yo' grip and hold 'im down!' says he. "De Hoss, he jump and he hump! And he rip and he rear, and he snort and he tear! But Brer Fox hangs on, and still Brer Rabbit skips 'round and hollers: "'Hold 'im down, Brer Fox! You got 'im whar he can't neither back nor squall! Hold 'im down, Brer Fox!' says he. "Bimeby de Hoss going ter kick with his hind legs, and de fus' news you know, he fetches Brer Fox a lick in de stomach dat fa'rly makes 'im squall, and den he kick 'im ag'in and dis time he breaks Brer Fox loose and sends 'im a-whirlin'! And Brer Rabbit, he keeps on a-jumpin' 'round and hollerin' "'Hold 'im down, Brer Fox!'" Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908), journalist and author, achieved his greatest renown for humorous folktale retellings, in his Uncle Remus stories.

Author Biography

Joel Chandler Harris (1848 - 1908) was an American journalist, fiction writer and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years. He spent most of his adult life in Atlanta working as an associate editor at the Atlanta Constitution. Harris led two professional lives: as the editor and journalist known as Joe Harris, he supported a vision of the New South with the editor Henry W. Grady (1880-1889), stressing regional and racial reconciliation after the Reconstruction era. As Joel Chandler Harris, fiction writer and folklorist, he wrote many 'Brer Rabbit' stories from the African-American oral tradition and helped to revolutionize literature in the process. James Weldon Johnson called the Uncle Remus collection "the greatest body of folklore America has produced."