[7] In the South, a rain is called a "season," not only by the negroes, but by many white farmers.
[8] It is a far-away sound that might be identified with one of the various undertones of silence, but it is palpable enough (if the word may be used) to have attracted the attention of the humble philosophers of the old plantation.
[12] To pine or long for anything. This is a good old English word, which has been retained in the plantation vocabulary.
[13] A corruption of "aye, aye." It is used as an expression of triumph and its employment in this connection is both droll and picturesque.
[14] Southern readers will recognize this and "han'-roomance" as terms used by negroes in playing marbles,—a favorite game on the plantations Sunday afternoons. These terms were curt and expressive enough to gain currency among the whites.
[28] If, as some ethnologists claim, the animal myths are relics of zoÖtheism, there can scarcely be a doubt that the practice here described by Uncle Remus is the survival of some sort of obeisance or genuflexion by which the negroes recognized the presence of the Rabbit, the great central figure and wonder-worker of African mythology.
[33] During slavery, the ringing of the nine-o'clock bell in the towns and villages at night was the signal for all negroes to retire to their quarters.
[34] A mixture of "complacent" and "placid." Accent on the second syllable.
[35] A version of this story makes Brother Rabbit capture a swarm of bees. Mr. W. O. Tuggle, of Georgia, who has made an exhaustive study of the Creek Indians, has discovered a variant of the legend. The Rabbit (Chufee) becomes alarmed because he has nothing but the nimbleness of his feet to take him out of harm's way. He goes to his Creator and begs that greater intelligence be bestowed upon him. Thereupon the snake test is applied, as in the negro story, and the Rabbit also catches a swarm of gnats. He is then told that he has as much intelligence as there is any need for, and he goes away satisfied.
[46] This story, the funniest and most characteristic of all the negro legends, cannot be satisfactorily told on paper. It is full of action, and all the interest centres in the gestures and grimaces that must accompany an explanation of Brother Rabbit's method of disposing of the mosquitoes. The story was first called to my attention by Mr. Marion Erwin, of Savannah, and it is properly a coast legend, but I have heard it told by three Middle Georgia negroes.
[61] Based on a characteristic negro saying. For instance: "Where's Jim?" "You can't keep up wid dat nigger. Des let night come, en he's runnin' fum hen-roost to river-bank." In other words, stealing chickens and robbing fish baskets.
[64] No doubt this means that Brother Rabbit's proposition was pleasant and plausible.
[65] Wild; fierce; dangerous; courageous. The accent is on the second syllable, ser-vi-gous; or, ser-vi-gus, and the g is hard. Aunt Tempy would have said "vigrous."
[66] A plantation saying. It means if hard times get harder. A briefer form is "w'en shove 'come push"—when the worst comes to the worst.
[67] That is to say, put him on the block, and sell him.
[82] Mrs. H. S. Barclay, of Darien, who sends this story, says it was told by a native African woman, of good intelligence, who claimed to be a princess. She had an eagle tattoed on her bosom—a sign of royalty.