The Mythology & Folklore Database
One day Brer Rabbit was going along the road studying how he was going to hold his own with Brer Fox when he saw a great big horse lying stretched out flat on his side in the pasture. He crept up, he did, to see if this horse had gone and died. He crept up, and he crept around, and by and by he saw the horse switch his tail, and then Brer Rabbit knew he wasn't dead. With that, Brer Rabbit loped back to the big road, and almost the first man he saw going by was Brer Fox.
Brer Rabbit, he took after him, and hollered, "Brer Fox! O Brer Fox! Come back! I've got some good news for you. Come back, Brer Fox," he said.
Brer Fox, he turned around, he did, and when he saw who was calling him he came galloping back, because it seemed like this was just as good a time as any to nab Brer Rabbit. But before he got within nabbing distance, Brer Rabbit, he up and said, "Come on, Brer Fox! I just found the place where you can lay in fresh meat enough to last you plumb until the middle of next year," he said.
Brer Fox, he asked where it was, and Brer Rabbit, he said, "Right over there in the pasture," and Brer Fox asked what it was, and Brer Rabbit said it was a whole horse lying down on the ground where they could catch him and tie him up.
With that, Brer Fox said, "Come on," and off they went.
When they got there, sure enough, they lay the horse all stretched out in the sun fast asleep, and then Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit had a dispute about how they were going to fix the horse so he could not get loose. One said one way and the other said another way, and so it was until after a while Brer Rabbit said, "The only plan I can think of, Brer Fox, is for you to go down there and let me tie you to the horse's tail," he said. "If I were a big man like you are," said Brer Rabbit, "you could tie me to the horse's tail, and if I didn't hold him down, then Joe's dead and Sal's a widow. I just know that you can hold him down," said Brer Rabbit. "But if you are afraid, we had just better drop this idea and study out some other plan," he said.
Brer Fox was sort of dubious about this, but it pleased him to play biggity in front of Brer Rabbit, and he agreed to the plan. Then Brer Rabbit, he took and tied Brer Fox to the horse's tail, and after he had him tied there hard and fast, he sort of stepped back, he did, and put his hands akimbo, and grinned, and then he said, "If there ever was a caught horse then it is this one that we caught. It sort of looks like we put the bridle on the wrong end."
With that Brer Rabbit cut himself a long switch and trimmed it up. When he had it fixed, he stepped up and hit the horse a rap -- pow! The horse was so surprised at this that he made one jump and landed on his feet. When he did that, there was Brer Fox dangling in the air.
Brer Rabbit, he darted out of the way and hollered, "Hold him down, Brer Fox! Hold him down! I'll stand out here and not get in your way. Hold him down, Brer Fox! Hold him down!"
Of course, when the horse felt Brer Fox hanging there on his tail, he thought something was the matter, and this made him jump and rear worse and worse, and he shook up Brer Fox just like he was a rag in the wind, and Brer Rabbit, he jumped and hollered, "Hold him down, Brer Fox! Hold him down! You've got him now! Hold your grip, and hold him down!" he said.
The horse, he jumped ,and he jumped, and he ripped, and he reared, and he snorted, and he tore. But Brer Fox kept hanging on, and Brer Rabbit kept skipping around hollering, "Hold him down, Brer Fox! You've got him where he can't get away. Hold him down, Brer Fox!" he said.
By and by, when Brer Fox got the chance, he hollered back, he did, "How in the name of goodness am I going to hold the horse down unless I get my claws in the ground?"
Then Brer Rabbit, he stood back a little further and hollered a little louder, "Hold him down, Brer Fox! Hold him down! You've got him now! Hold him down!"
By and by the horse began to kick with his hind legs, and the first thing you know, he fetched Brer Fox a lick in the stomach that fairly made him squall, and then he kicked him again, and this time he broke Brer Fox loose, and sent him a-whirling; and Brer Rabbit, he kept on a-jumping around and hollering, "Hold him down, Brer Fox!"
"Did the fox get killed, Uncle Remus?" asked the little boy.
"He wasn't exactly killed, honey," replied the old man, "but he was next door to it. He was all broken up, and while he was getting well, it sort of came across his mind that Brer Rabbit and done and played a trick on him."