The stories, based on the African-American oral storytelling tradition were revolutionary in their use of dialect and in featuring a trickster  hero  called Br’er (”Brother”) Rabbit, who uses his wits against adversity, though his efforts do not always succeed. The frog is the trickster character in traditional tales in Central and Southern Africa. The stories, which began appearing in the Atlanta Constitution  in 1879, were popular among both Black and White readers in the North and South, not least because they presented an idealized view of race relations soon after the Civil War  The first published Brer Rabbit stories were written by President Theodore Roosevelt’s uncle, Robert Roosevelt. Paul Reuben wrote, “Joel Chandler Harris was a white man, born of poor parents, who at thirteen left home and became an apprentice to Joseph Addison Turner, a newspaper publisher and plantation owner. It is at this plantation, Turnwold, that Harris first heard the black folktales that were to make him famous.” In Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson describes Harris as a “painfully shy newsman” who had a pronounced stammer and was very self-conscious about his illegitimate birth.

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Many years ago, in an enchanted land, on the highest peaks of Skanderna lived a great King. He was a vibrant King with a surge of human compassion. He wanted nothing more than to live his life free from the cares of an unjust world. His bravery showed true courage and he held a chivalric sentiment for honor, justice and righteousness. He was a fierce protector of his people, matchless in majestic refinement and a relentless hunter.

This great King would rise with the sun and hunt in the forest with his men until the sun rose the next morning. The King protected his people from many wild beasts. He was noted in the land as a good aim with his bow and arrow. He had killed many a wild beast. The King’s huntsmen and all of the people praised him, telling stories of his many heroic deeds. They said that their King was the greatest hunter in the land. The King liked to hear his huntsmen praises, that he never returned to his castle from a hunt empty handed. They boasted to the King’s people that he was the fiercest slayer of wild beast in the kingdom. And during those times many a wild beast roamed the land. 

Then one day it happened…………….

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