When I was a little girl I loved listening to Uncle Remus stories. There were such interesting characters, all of which were animals--Bre'r Rabbit, Bre'r Fox, Bre'r Bear. My favorite story was Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby. Bre'r Fox was Bre'r Rabbit's mortal enemy. He was always trying to catch Bre'r Rabbit. One day Bre'r Rabbit made a rabbit out of tar, and of course, along came Bre'r Fox. Like most villains, Bre'r Fox wasn't too bright, so he couldn't tell that the tar baby wasn't really Bre'r Rabbit.
Bre'r Rabbit was hiding nearby and when Bre'r Fox approached, Bre'r Rabbit pleaded with Bre'r Fox not to throw him in the briar patch. In probably one of the first literary instances of reverse psychology, that is exactly what Bre'r Fox did. Another case of Bre'r Fox being outsmarted by a rabbit!
I hadn't thought of that since I was a young girl - a child that is. Memories of trying to figure out those guys.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my 'health(y)' blog. I am trying to do better but it is so hard to be disciplined. Why do we all struggle with this? Hope you have a good day.
Thanks for recalling the memories. Another reverse psychology one was Mark Twain's 'Whitewashing the Fence', where Tom Sawyer tries to convince his friends that is was a very special job and they wouldn't be clever enough to do it. Naturally, they had to prove that they were, and the fence was finished in no time at all, with Tom watching on.
ReplyDeleteThank you also for the comments re my new granddaughter. I've just spent a week with her and she really is like a beautiful doll.
Hello, Alice! Thanks for your comments. And yes, the fence scene from Tom Sawyer was another great one.
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