"Well, I speck I got you did time, Brer Rabbit, 'maybe I ain't but I speck I is. You been runnin' 'roun' here sassin' atter me a mighty long time, but I speck you done come ter de cen' er de row. You bin currin' up yo' capers en bouncin' 'roun' in dis naberhood ontwel you come ter b'leeve yo'se'f de boss er de whole gang. En der youer allers some'rs whar you got no bixness," ses Brer Fox. "Who ax you fer ter come en strike up a 'quaintence wid dish yer Tar-Baby? En who stuck you up dar whar you iz? Nobody in de 'roun' worril. You des tuck en jam yo'se'f on dat Tar-Baby widout waintin' fer enny invite... 'en dar you is, en dar you'll stay twel I fixes up a bresh-pile and fires her up, kaze I'm gwinteter bobbycue you dis day, sho."
"Den Brer Rabbit talk mighty 'umble,
"I don't keer w'at you do wid me, Brer Fox, so you don't fling me in dat brier-patch. Roas' me, Brer Fox, 'but don't fling me in dat brier-patch...."
"Drown me des ez deep es you please, Brer Fox, but do don't fling me in dat brier-patch...."
"Skin me, Brer Fox, 'snatch out my eyeballs, t'ar out my yeras by de roots, en cut off my legs, but do
please, Brer Fox, don't fling me in dat brier-patch...."
You know the rest. Brer Fox threw him in that briar patch, which is where Brer Rabbit wanted to be all along.
--"How Mr. Rabbit was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox,"
from Uncle Remus,, by Joel Chandler Harris.
(published 1881, now in the public domain).