Stage 2: Georgia ctd...

Well my time is almost coming to a close here in Georgia, I am heading to New York tomorrow morning to see what the Big Apple holds in store and am sad to be leaving this beautiful area, though very excited to be seeing New York at long last.

The Easter weekend was basically filled with long lazy days in the hot summer weather and good food, so not much news as such to report. I did spend some time looking around more historical towns and old plantation areas, though they were not much different from Washington which I have already described.

I also went to have a look at the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton, which is just down the road from here. Those of us who are Old Skool will remember the stories from our childhoods about Brer Rabbit and the escapades he and his friends got up to in the Georgia woods. The Uncle Remus Museum is a commemorative old log cabin containing bits and pieces documenting the life and literary work of Joel Chandler Harris, the author of the Uncle Remus storiea. The stories themselves were originally written in the mixed up Southern language of the slaves who told the stories to their children, based on old African folk tales from their native lands (something along the lines of "How the leopard got his spots..."). The African animals were replaced with the local animals of the Georgia forests, hence Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf etc. Read this. for more information on the museum.

Here is a sample - you have to read it with a thick Southern accent for it to make sense! From "The wonderful tar baby story":

“He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho’s you born—Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool ’im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got ’im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w’at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot ’er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see what de news wuz gwine ter be. En he didn’t hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin’ down de road—lippity-clippity, clippity -lippity—dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin’ ’long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz ’stonished. De Tar Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low."

posted by Cat Murray @ 17:34