Week 7:Tar Baby Wins
Tar Baby Wins
There once was this Rabbit called Brer Rabbit and a Fox called Brer Fox. They had this ongoing game where they would trick and outsmart each other with schemes they each devised. There was a particular day where Fox was tired of Brer Rabbit outsmarting him and starting scheming up a plan to show Brer-Rabbit who he really is. He gathered material and started working hard to trick Brer Rabbit. His final creation, which he made from tar mixed with turpentine, was called Tar-baby. He put a hat on this doll-like creature and placed her on the side of the road that he knows Brer-Rabbit takes. He hid in the bushes waiting for his plan to come to fruition.
It did not take long for Brer Fox to hear the bold confident steps of Brer Rabbit. When Brer Rabbit passed by Tar-baby he looked surprised to see this figure with a hat just sitting on the side of the road. He got on his hind legs and looked at Tar-baby and then said,
" Good morning! Pleasant weather we are having!" Tar-baby stayed in silence.
The Brer Fox remained hidden in the bushes watching Brer rabbit with Tar-baby.
Brer Rabbit tried again to converse with the stranger saying " How are you doing today?" He received the same outcome - Tar- baby's silence.
" Are you deaf because I can talk louder?" asked Brer Rabbit, still receiving silence. This made Brer Rabbit really angry and he yelled, " You are a rude and stuck up and I will take care of that here and now if it is the last thing ill do! If you don't take off your hat and give me a proper greeting, ill give you a good pounding."
Still receiving silence from Tar-baby he made a fist and hit her right on the head but when he pulled back his arm he couldn't escape from Tar-baby's grasp.
" If you don't let me go, I'll hit you again!" said Brer-Rabbit and he struck her with his other hand, receiving the same ending and silence. Fox still remained in silence watching it all happen. Then Brer Rabbit gave her a head bud and his head got stock along with his hands.
Fox seeing his plan had worked, stepped out of the bushes and said " Hey Brer Rabbit, you okay? You look a little stuck there." He then fell to the floor rolling and laughing at Brer-Rabbit's circumstance. He laughed so much his belly hurt and he couldn't stop rolling on the floor laughing. He then rolled the top of his head right into Tar-baby. Realizing that Brer Fox had gotten stuck Brer Rabbit pushed Tar-baby forward to where she would fall over Brer Fox. Brer Fox without thinking put both his arms up and got them stuck too. Both of them were stuck all day with only Tar-baby as a company. They realized that they had to work together to escape Tar-baby's grasp. So they devised a plan, as Brer Fox pulled Tar-baby toward him, Brer Rabbit pulled the opposite way until Brer Rabbit's hair was ripped off and his head was free. Then he was able to gnaw both his hands-free and did the same for Brer Fox.
They both were exhausted from being stuck all day together that they decided they needed a break from each other and their tricks. So they made a truce to not see or scheme any more plans for a very long time.
Authors note: I kept the story mostly the same but told it in my own wording. I did change the ending to the fox getting stuck and a truce between them. I didn't want to change much of the story because I liked it as it was. I thought it was clever to make a figure out of tar and how Rabbit got stuck. I also figured it would be a humorous ending to see both of them stuck.
Bibliography: This story is part of the Brer Rabbit unit. Story source: Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris (1881)
There once was this Rabbit called Brer Rabbit and a Fox called Brer Fox. They had this ongoing game where they would trick and outsmart each other with schemes they each devised. There was a particular day where Fox was tired of Brer Rabbit outsmarting him and starting scheming up a plan to show Brer-Rabbit who he really is. He gathered material and started working hard to trick Brer Rabbit. His final creation, which he made from tar mixed with turpentine, was called Tar-baby. He put a hat on this doll-like creature and placed her on the side of the road that he knows Brer-Rabbit takes. He hid in the bushes waiting for his plan to come to fruition.
It did not take long for Brer Fox to hear the bold confident steps of Brer Rabbit. When Brer Rabbit passed by Tar-baby he looked surprised to see this figure with a hat just sitting on the side of the road. He got on his hind legs and looked at Tar-baby and then said,
" Good morning! Pleasant weather we are having!" Tar-baby stayed in silence.
The Brer Fox remained hidden in the bushes watching Brer rabbit with Tar-baby.
Brer Rabbit tried again to converse with the stranger saying " How are you doing today?" He received the same outcome - Tar- baby's silence.
" Are you deaf because I can talk louder?" asked Brer Rabbit, still receiving silence. This made Brer Rabbit really angry and he yelled, " You are a rude and stuck up and I will take care of that here and now if it is the last thing ill do! If you don't take off your hat and give me a proper greeting, ill give you a good pounding."
Still receiving silence from Tar-baby he made a fist and hit her right on the head but when he pulled back his arm he couldn't escape from Tar-baby's grasp.
" If you don't let me go, I'll hit you again!" said Brer-Rabbit and he struck her with his other hand, receiving the same ending and silence. Fox still remained in silence watching it all happen. Then Brer Rabbit gave her a head bud and his head got stock along with his hands.
Fox seeing his plan had worked, stepped out of the bushes and said " Hey Brer Rabbit, you okay? You look a little stuck there." He then fell to the floor rolling and laughing at Brer-Rabbit's circumstance. He laughed so much his belly hurt and he couldn't stop rolling on the floor laughing. He then rolled the top of his head right into Tar-baby. Realizing that Brer Fox had gotten stuck Brer Rabbit pushed Tar-baby forward to where she would fall over Brer Fox. Brer Fox without thinking put both his arms up and got them stuck too. Both of them were stuck all day with only Tar-baby as a company. They realized that they had to work together to escape Tar-baby's grasp. So they devised a plan, as Brer Fox pulled Tar-baby toward him, Brer Rabbit pulled the opposite way until Brer Rabbit's hair was ripped off and his head was free. Then he was able to gnaw both his hands-free and did the same for Brer Fox.
They both were exhausted from being stuck all day together that they decided they needed a break from each other and their tricks. So they made a truce to not see or scheme any more plans for a very long time.
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| Tar baby, Brer Rabbit, and Brer Fox |
Authors note: I kept the story mostly the same but told it in my own wording. I did change the ending to the fox getting stuck and a truce between them. I didn't want to change much of the story because I liked it as it was. I thought it was clever to make a figure out of tar and how Rabbit got stuck. I also figured it would be a humorous ending to see both of them stuck.
Bibliography: This story is part of the Brer Rabbit unit. Story source: Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris (1881)
Hey Emily!
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun story! I enjoyed that the trickster fell pray to his own tricks! I also enjoyed that they were able to help each other out of the mess. That was a good twist on the ending! I suggest rereading this story and just doing some polishing on the wording and sentence structure in some areas. There are a few run-on sentences and places where if you implemented some more emotion evoking words, the story could really take flight. Other than that, I think this was a really great story!
Hi Emily! I really enjoyed your story, it was very fun. I also really liked the small change you included with the twist at the end, it kept the story very true to the original but with more of a spark in my opinion. I do agree with the other comment that maybe you should reread the story, but to me the issue is not the sentence structures but rather the names of the characters. I know you kept the same names, but perhaps you could use more pronouns, epithets or nicknames, just to make it easier to read since the names get repeated so much. In any case, this was still a great story!
ReplyDeleteHi Emily! I really enjoyed your version of this story! It was very fun to read. I like that you added a different ending. It’s always fun to see how retellings will vary person to person. It was a nice change! It’s cool that you kept the theming and spirit from the original. I’m excited to see what other writings you do! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteHey Emily,
ReplyDeleteI liked your version of the story! It was nice to see both of the tricksters be made fools of as they both got outwitted by their own pranks. I would suggest looking over the story a bit more though, as there were a few grammar and spelling errors like run-on sentences and typos. Otherwise, you did a great job!
Hey Emily!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this story as it a perfect representation of an old comic I used to read when I was younger called "Spy vs Spy" where each spy would try and prank the other , but end up being foiled by their own prank. Overall, I love the idea of these dueling tricksters and felt it was a refreshing, almost cartoon like, take on the story. Great Job!
Hi Emily!
ReplyDeleteI like that you changed the ending and had it result in a truce! That's great! I also really like the writing in general. I actually haven't read this story before so I'm glad that your author's note told us that you changed the ending. Great work so far! I'm excited to see what else you'll write this semester!
Have a good one!
Tricia