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“Den dey all put out en lef’ Brer Tarrypin at de branch, en w’en dey got good en gone, he dove down inter de water, he did, en tie de bed-cord hard en fas’ ter wunner deze yer big clay-roots, en den he riz up en gin a whoop.

“Brer B’ar he wrop de bed-cord roun’ his han,’ en wink at de gals, en wid dat he gin a big juk, but Brer Tarrypin ain’t budge. Den he take bof han’s en gin a big pull, but, all de same, Brer Tarrypin ain’t budge. Den he tu’n ‘roun’, he did, en put de rope cross his shoulders en try ter walk off wid Brer Tarrypin, but Brer Tarrypin look like he don’t feel like walkin’. Den Brer Wolf he put in en holp Brer B’ar pull, but des like he didn’t, en den dey all holp ‘im, en, bless grashus! w’iles dey wuz all a pullin’, Brer Tarrypin, he holler, en ax um w’y dey don’t take up de slack.

“Den w’en Brer Tarrypin feel um quit pullin’, he dove down, he did, en ontie de rope, en by de time dey got ter de branch, Brer Tarrypin, he wuz settin’ in de aidge er de water des ez natchul ez de nex’ un, en he up’n say, sezee:

“‘Dat las’ pull er yone wuz a mighty stiff un, en a leetle mo’n you’d er had me,’ sezee. ‘You er monstus stout, Brer B’ar,’ sezee, ‘en you pulls like a yoke er steers, but I sorter had de purchis on you,’ sezee.

“Den Brer B’ar, bein’s his mouf ‘gun ter water atter de sweetnin,’ he up’n say he speck de candy’s ripe, en off dey put atter it!”

“It’s a wonder,” said the little boy, after a while, “that the rope didn’t break.”

“Break who?” exclaimed Uncle Remus, with a touch of indignation in his tone–“break who? In dem days, Miss Meadows’s bed-cord would a hilt a mule.”

This put an end to whatever doubts the child might have entertained.

FOOTNOTE:
[A] Help; helped.