This is a warning to foxes everywhwere... Beware of The Rabbit!: The cute, fun-loving little furry rodent Brer Rabbit, who appears in the classic Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, is not the innocent little victim that you have been lead to believe. Many are familiar with the Tar Baby story, made fameous by the Disney movie Song of the South, but read the real Brer Rabbit stories, and you will discover the horrible truth: Brer Rabbit gets Brer Fox killed, boils Brer Wolf to death and makes mittens out of his fur, and gets one of his kids to trick Brer Wolf's wife into cooking one of her own children! Incidentally, he also chases Brer Bear and Brer Lion out of town. We foxes must unite against the rabbit or he'll get us all!
Case in point...my favorite Brer Rabbit story:

Brer Rabbit and the Riding Horse

What? You didn't know rabbits rode foxes around?

The story goes by several other names, and has two distinct versions, but the plot is the same: To redeem his status after being tricked by Brer Fox's tar baby, Brer Rabbit boasts that Brer Fox was the riding horse for his family. He then tricks Brer Fox into putting on a saddle and bridle and carrying him to Miss Meadows (their neighbornood friends). On the way, brer Rabbit puts on spurs and rides Brer Fox proudly up to the house, regaining his status as top trickster.

In the two-part version, the story continues with Brer Fox throwing Brer Rabbit off his back on the ride home. Brer Rabbit hides in a hole, so Brer Fox has Brer Buzzard keep watch over the hole while he gets an axe. While he is gone Brer Rabbit escapes. Brer Fox returns to find Brer Rabbit is gone and goes after Brer Buzzard.

Brer Rabbit on Brer Fox Read the Story

The story is a compilation work, and the illustrations that appear on this page were taken from several different printings of this story.


Q: So was Brer Fox really the riding horse for the rabbit family?

A: Hard to say, but probably not, as it was more of an idle boast by Brer Rabbit than anything. Otherwise Brer Rabbit wouldn't have been able to fool him so easily into being ridden. But I still wonder: why would Brer Fox have a fox-sized saddle and bridle lying around?

Brer Fox tied to the horse rack
Q: Why didn't Brer Fox just remove the bridle and go on his way when Brer Rabbit tied him to the horse rack? After all, he put it on himself.

A: Good question. Maybe since he had already been tricked, he was trying to put on that he didn't mind what Brer Rabbit had done to him, plus it gave him a chance to get Brer Rabbit back on the way home.


Q: If Brer Fox's whole plan was to dispell the statement that he was ridden by Brer Rabbit's father, why did he even get dressed in saddle and bridle and let Brer Rabbit ride him?

A: Em... [squirms a bit at trying to defend his species] Classic trickery of the villian: Brer Fox was so intent on getting Brer Rabbit out of his house he was ready to do anything. Um...yeah. That's a good answer. :-)

General comments:

Your level of serious and state of mind that you read this story with will determine how to interpret it. It also depends on how "human" you wish to see the characters, from simple animals to animals that walk upright and wear clothes, to animals representing human classes. So, You can either see this story as one person getting even with an enemy by humiliating and embarassing him by treating him as a slave, or you can choose to see it as as a more light-hearted animal story where a trickster rabbit takes advantage of a wiley fox and gets a free ride and some fun out of the deal. And, perhaps there is a happy medium between the two extremes.

I am aware of both extremes of Joel Chandler Harris' works, and prefer to see this story on the light-hearted end of the spectrum. For me, I enjoy the Brer Rabbit stories for their animal characters and the simple fun the characters have with each other. Foxes naturally go about on all fours. Why shouldn't a rabbit be able to take advantage of that and hop on their backs now and then?

Brer Rabbit running from Brer Fox

Different versions of the story:

The story of Brer Rabbit and the Riding Horse has also been known as:

This story also has varients in many other cultures, including a version in African folklore where it probably originated. In it, Brer Fox is replaced by Tiger, and Brer Rabbit is replaced by Anansi, a spider. Additional parallel stories hav been documented. There is even a story similar to this in Native American Indian folklore, entitled: How Rabbit Fooled Wolf. And here's an interesting (South American?) re-mix of several animal tales using Rabbit and Tiger.

In Disney's version of this story, titles "Brer Rabbit Rides The Fox", there is no boast from Brer Rabbit to fulfill. Brer Rabbit simply rides Brer Fox to a party to have a bit of fun and play a trick on him.

Here is a very neat web page I found--it's the story from Brer Rabbit's point of view.


So, if you're ever walking through Brer Rabbit country, and happen to see a rabbit riding a bucking fox down the road, now you know the story behind it.

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All art on this page is (c) the respective artists