Brer Rabbit and the Gingercakes

by Nancy I. Sanders

There was a time when Brer Rabbit watched Brer Polecat being king. My, but wasn’t Brer Polecat proud! Strutting around, nose held high! Waving his striped tail in the air like he was mighty fine. Mighty fine, indeed!

Brer Rabbit, naturally, got tired of Brer Polecat and his kinging. So Brer Rabbit took it upon himself to make a new law.

Calling all the animals around him, Brer Rabbit made an announcement. “With Brer Polecat as our king and all, we need to show him the honor and respect due to him in his high position.”

“How we gonna do that?” Brer Bear asked.

“From now on, when Brer Polecat walks by, all the animals got to pinch their noses closed and shut their eyes. It’s the law. Out of respect for the king and all.”

By and by, here came Brer Polecat strutting around, waving his tail in the air. Sure enough, Brer Wolf and Brer Buzzard pinched their noses and shut their eyes. All the animals did—except Brer Rabbit, that is.

He pinched his nose. But Brer Rabbit knew his eyes were so big and round that he couldn’t shut them the whole way closed like the other folks could. He figured that there might be a time this would come in handy and he could keep an eye on Brer Polecat, just in case he tried to get away with something. That time came sooner than even Brer Rabbit suspected!

One day soon, about two days later, Brer Rabbit got a hankering for gingercakes. Mmm, mmm, mmm! Brer Coon sure could make a tasty stack of gingercakes! Brer Rabbit’s mouth watered and away he hopped lippety lip over yonder to Brer Coon’s.

He bought himself a nice tall stack of gingercakes. He started to take a bite when suddenly he remembered he forgot something.

“Brer Coon!” he hollered.

“Yessir?” Brer Coon hollered back.

“Got any garlic for these here gingercakes?”

“Garlic?” Brer Coon asked. “I never heard of putting garlic on gingercakes!”

“Well, it’s the only way I like them.”

“Don’t have none.”

“Guess I’ll just have to run home and get some then,” Brer Rabbit said, and off he went.

No sooner had Brer Rabbit left than in walked Brer Polecat. Remembering the new law, Brer Coon pinched his nose and shut his eyes up tight.

This suited Brer Polecat just fine. Mighty fine indeed! And before you could say jack rabbit, Brer Polecat gobbled down that stack of gingercakes and headed on his way.

Brer Rabbit came running back, lickety split, with the garlic in his hand. But where were his gingercakes?

“Brer Coon!” he hollered.

“Yessir?” Brer Coon hollered back.

“What happened to my gingercakes?”

Brer Coon allowed he hadn’t seen a thing. No sirree! Brer Rabbit’s nose sniff, sniff, sniffed the air. Something sure smelled funny about all this. And Brer Rabbit had an idea who that something was.

Brer Rabbit ordered himself another stack of gingercakes. He sprinkled garlic all over them. Now you may not like garlic on your gingercakes. And I know I don’t like garlic on my gingercakes. But that’s exactly how Brer Rabbit liked his. Mmm, mmm, mmm!

He was just about to dig in and take a great big bite, when suddenly in walked Brer Polecat.

Remembering the new law, Brer Coon pinched his nose, then shut his eyes up tight.

Brer Rabbit pinched his nose, too. He shut his eyes as far as they could go, which wasn’t very far. But that suited Brer Rabbit just fine.

Brer Polecat, enjoying his kinging and all, reached out to take the stack of gingercakes.

“Stop!” Brer Rabbit cried.

Brer Polecat stood up tall. He straightened his crown which had slipped just a teeny bit. He looked real stern-like at Brer Rabbit. “Why aren’t your eyes closed?” he demanded.

“They are closed,” Brer Rabbit explained. “Least ways, my eyes are as closed as they can go.”

Brer Polecat looked over at Brer Coon. His eyes were still shut tight. Brer Polecat looked back at Brer Rabbit. And now Brer Rabbit knew that Brer Polecat knew that he had to watch how he did his kinging. With Brer Rabbit watching him and all.

And that suited Brer Rabbit just fine! Mighty fine indeed!