Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear

I thought I would also start including some African American stories that have clear African story elements, so here's "How Brother Rabbit Saved Brother B'ar's Life" from Uncle Remus and the Little Boy by Joel Chandler Harris, which features the popular motifs of "pulling on the root" and "propping up the rock." I've removed the Uncle Remus frame material and modified the eye-dialect, as well as making other changes. You can compare Harris's version in this PDF. 

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Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear

This story starts when Brer Bear was all riled up and chasing Brer Rabbit, and Brer Rabbit was running, headed right for a hollow tree where he could hide from Brer Bear, but before Brer Rabbit got inside that hollow tree, Brer Bear caught him by the behind leg and held him, he held him tight.

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Brer Rabbit was struggling to get inside that hollow tree, and Brer Bear was pulling with all his might, and then Brer Rabbit got himself braced himself against the inside of the tree, and there he stayed no matter how hard Brer Bear pulled.

Then Brer Rabbit stuck his head way up inside the tree and started laughing, his laugh echoing all around inside the tree there, and then he said, "You think you got me, don't you? Well, you ain't got me, not even close! You can pull and you can tug but you are pulling and tugging on a root of this here tree, and it's not going anywhere except right into the ground."

"That's no root!" growled Brer Bear. "I've got your leg!"

Brer Rabbit laughed. "You are surely a fool, Brer Bear, not able to tell the difference between the root of a tree and the leg of a rabbit. I'll prove it to you. Go get yourself a rock and bang on it. If it's my leg, you know I'll shout, but a root's got nothing to say. Go ahead, find yourself a nice big rock and try."

Brer Bear let go and  turned round to look for a nice big rock, and as soon as he let go, Brer Rabbit pulled himself all inside the hollow. Meanwhile, Brer Bear grabbed a rock but when he turned back around to start banging with it, there wasn't anything to bang on. No leg, no root, nothing to bang. "Where'd that root go, Brer Rabbit?" he asked.

Brer Rabbit, he just laughed from inside the tree and said, "Well now, I didn't think you were ever coming back, and the more I looked at that root, the more I thought it might whittle down to make a nice toothbrush, so I broke it off to take home to my old woman. She'll like it fine for her toothbrush."

"And she's welcome to it!" Brer Bear said, feeling sure Brer Rabbit had tricked him somehow. "Give her my regards, and I'll be leaving you now." Of course, Brer Bear wasn't really leaving. He was just going to go hide, waiting for Brer Rabbit to come out of that tree.

Time went by, and Brer Rabbit sure wanted to come out of that hollow tree and go home, but he suspected Brer Bear was lying in wait there for him. So he crept out real slow, and then he looked all round, and then he made a dash for the open, but sure enough old Brer Bear was right there just as Brer Rabbit suspected, and when Brer Rabbit made his dash, Brer Bear made one too, and he was so quick about it that Brer Rabbit had to run under a hanging rock to keep Brer Bear from snatching him. So Brer Rabbit ran right under that rock, and Brer Bear was reaching and grabbing, and Brer Rabbit was mighty afraid Brer Bear was going to get him after all, so he shouted, ""Look out there, Brer Bear! I feel this rock falling down! It's gonna crush me, and it's gonna crush your paw too. I'll be dead, and you'll be trapped, and what good is that going to do us? You and your temper is going to be the ruin of us both!"

Brer Rabbit paused for dramatic effect, and Brer Bear, he didn't say anything. 

Then Brer Rabbit shouted, "Oh no! It's a-coming down right on me! Don't you feel it sinking down, Brer Bear? I've led a good life and I don't mind ending my life right here and now, but I'd feel bad if you got squashed flat as a pancake just because you're trying to get hold of me here."

Brer Rabbit paused again, and Brer Bear, he didn't say anything.

Then Brer Rabbit started up shouting again. "Hey there, Brer Bear, are you listening to me? I've got an idea. I've got a fine idea. Why don't you run get a pole to hold the rock up with? That's just what we need. Go get a pole, prop up the rock, and then you'll be able to grab me safe and sound. But hurry! Hurry, Brer Bear! This rock is coming down for sure."

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And so Brer Bear, thinking that was a good idea, he ran off for to get a pole to prop up the rock with.

But when he came back, Brer Rabbit was gone, long gone, and the rock was standing there strong. It wasn't falling down after all. But Brer Bear put the pole in there and propped it up, just in case. That was the thing about Brer Rabbit: you could never be a hundred percent sure whether he was telling truth or lies, or maybe some of both.