Author's Note: I am choosing to put this at the beginning because I think it will really help whoever is having to read this! I chose to rewrite The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story (from the Brer Rabbit unit) from the story Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings written in dialect by Joel Charles Harris in 1881. I attempted to write in similar dialect, which was an extreme challenge. In the original story, Brer Fox makes a baby out of tar and Brer Rabbit comes up and tries to talk to him. He ends up getting mad and hitting him and getting his hands stuck. My story was the same up until this point, but then I made Tar-Baby come to life and teach the rival pair of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox a lesson by leaving them with their hands stuck together with tar at the end!
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Brer Fox was tired o Brer Rabbit playin all dose tricks on him all da time, he got 'im an idea. He know Brer Rabbit was gon be com hiss away, so Brer Fox got hisself som dat tar en made a baby.
First he crafted some dem legs en arms, en den he placed dem onto da body. He made a lil baby face en even put a hat he got from ol Sis Hen on topo da baby. He quickly placed da Tar-Baby on da sido road jussin time. Brer Fox hid in da bushes behind da Tar-Baby so he could see er'din happen.
Brer Rabbit was com down da road when he see da Tar-Baby sitting der.
"Mawnin fren! Goodun wedder today righ?" No response from de Tar-Baby. Brer Fox lay low in de bushes silent.
"I said mawnin' to yer..." Brer Rabbit sezzee. "Can you not talk er nuttin?" No response from de Tar-Baby. Brer Fox lay low still.
"Are yer deaf? Do yer need me to talk louder? I kin if yer wan'!" yelled Brer Rabbit. Tar-Baby sez nuttin. Menwill, Brer Fox still lay low.
"Are yer one o dem rich ones? Are yer too gerduh talk to simple folk like me?" sezzee him. Tar-Baby jus sat der silent. Brer Fox lay low even still.
“I’m gon lern yer a lesson, yes I am. You need ter lerna talk to ‘spectubble folk like me!” So Brer Rabbit reared back as far he cud, tryin ter lern Ter-Baby a lesson by stickin him a good un.
SLAM! An jus like dat Brer Rabbit wen an got his hand stuck right der in da Tar-Baby. He got so mad dat he slam his other fist righ in de odder side o dat Tar-Baby. Whadduyer know dat Brer Rabbit gon get his odder fist stuck too! Menwill, Brer Fox is tryin ter keep all his chuckles inside as he watch all dis happen.
Brer Rabbit had his last nerve and reared back ter smack de Tar-Baby right in der head with his own. Jus as he was bout ter do dis, Tar-Baby stood up. Brer Fox watch in ‘stonishmunt. Tar-Baby stood a whole head higher den Brer Rabbit.
Tremblin’ Brer Rabbit sez, “Tar-Baby, I’m sorry I din know yer wer listnin der whole time ter me. Why din you respond?”
“I know yer wuz gon try to hit me cuz I know bout yer temper. Dis way after yer hit me I would have yer hands all tied up!” sezzee Tar-Baby. And lo and behold he wuz right! Brer Rabbit couldn’t move his hands cuz dey were all caught up in de tar.
Jus den Brer Fox comes out of de bushes. “How did dis happen, Tar-Baby? I was tryin ter play a trick on ‘im and yer gon played one on me!” sezzee.
Den Tar-Baby grabbed Brer Fox and pulled ‘im over ter where Brer Rabbit was. Tar-Baby took bo der hands and sum of his ver own tar and put it right der in tween and ‘roun der hands. Den he wriggled loose from both Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox.
Tar-Bab walked away from bo dem and left dem standin der in middle of de road, walking han-in-han an hatin err secon of it.
Brer Rabbit and Tar-Baby
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
WOW! I can’t believe you pulled this language off so well. That is very impressive!!! It’s like reading a different language almost, so I couldn't imagine writing it. I also really appreciated the author’s note at the beginning, if you left it after the story then this story would have been even more confusing. I also really liked how you changed the end. Very creative! Great Job.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE how you kept with the dialect as it was told in the original story! This just makes the retelling such a more lively read, and so entertaining, too! I really enjoyed reading this - not only was it fun, but at the end errbody learned a lesson. Although I wonder what happened to tar-baby after he left Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox? And did they ever get the tar off of their hands? I demand a sequel! But really, overall this story was SO much fun to read. I got my eye on your storybook project now, mmhmm.
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ReplyDeleteYou definitely have a way with writing stories in a different dialect. That was incredible that you could do that! I like how you kept to the original story, but decided to create a completely new ending. I also agree with Catherine about putting your author's note at the beginning for us. It does make the story much less confusing and gives everyone a hint as to what the story is about and how it will read. I appreciate the "heads up", so to speak. This would be a great story to develop even further to tell us what happens to all the characters after the Tar-Baby sticks the rabbit & fox together.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the story was a success in my opinion and I look forward to reading more of your stories. I have no suggestions for improvements, which is saying something in itself. Good job!