The Wonderful Tar-Baby
Brer Fox fashions a doll made of tar and turpentine and sets it in the road to trap Brer Rabbit. When Brer Rabbit greets the silent Tar-Baby and receives no reply, he grows angry and strikes it, getting his paw stuck. He strikes with the other paw, then kicks, and finally butts with his head—each limb becoming hopelessly ensnared in the sticky tar. Brer Fox emerges from hiding, delighted at his capture, but Brer Rabbit's clever pleading ultimately allows him to escape when he begs not to be thrown into the briar patch—the one place he was born and bred to thrive.