Three Little Ladies Rabbitry, Jersey Wooly
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Br'er Rabbit

Br'er Rabbit was the ultimate trickster. The Br'er Rabbit stories are tied in with former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Br'er is actually short for Brother. Br'er is the hero of the Uncle Remus stories, all of which were Southern United States Folk Stories.

Many people who have studied the stories of Br'er Rabbit believe that Br'er represented Black slaves who overcame their adversaries, the white slave owners. Although Br'er wasn't always successful in his endeavors he still became a folk hero. Although because of his lack of good behavior and his trickery some have classified him as a villain.

Theodore Roosevelt knew the Br'er Rabbit stories very well. They were written down by his uncle, Robert. His Aunt would often read the stories to him. Theodore later stated that he was brought up on the Br'er Rabbit stories.

There is plenty of folk lore on where the actually Uncle Remus stories originated. Many suspect they originated from Central and Southern African storytelling. It was Joel Chandler Harris, who finally wrote down and published many of the stories in the 19th century.

Walt Disney further popularized the stories with the movie Song of the South which was based on three of the Br'er Rabbit stories, The Laughing Place, The Tar Baby and the Briar Patch. Splash Mountain, the thrill ride at Walt Disney World is themed around the Br'er Rabbit stories.

Br'er rabbit was not the trickiest of the tricksters. He was outsmarted by non other than, Terrapin the Turtle. I won't ruin that story for you, you can read that in The Trickster Tricked.

Rob Usakowski
Three Little Ladies Rabbitry