The Days When the Animals Talked.
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Authors
Faulkner, William J.
Issue Date
1977
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
I learned more from this book than its good fables. I learned that the great American author is William Harrison Faulkner. The book has a clear ethnic agenda, signalled in the cover's giving black hands to Brer Rabbit and white hands to Brer Wolf. Fable motifs and material play frequently through the twenty-two folktales in Part II of the book. Brer Possum and Brer Snake (99) is a combination of the Aesopic Frozen Snake and The Brahmin and the Caged Tiger. It has a great moral: Don't you ever trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you! Brer Rabbit and Brer Cooter Race (132) is the Aesopic TH but with the hedgehog twist, namely, that all those in one species look alike to those of other species. Brer Rabbit Rescues His Children (168) has the motif of tracks going in but not coming out. There are three planting tales with strong fable elements (102, 106, 110). The respective tricks in the three are eating the peanuts (like the monkey with the cat) instead of planting them, agreeing to give the tops, and agreeing to give tops and bottoms. How the Cow Went Under the Ground (152) is not only a good fable; it illustrates well the motif of repression that Faulkner, himself a Black, finds frequent in these stories. Other good stories, though not fables, in this section include Brer Tiger and the Big Wind (89) and Brer Rabbit Keeps His Word (95).
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Publisher
Follett
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DOI
Identifier
2058 (Access ID)