Harris, Uncle Remus stories (selections) (1881)

Uncle Remus was the fictional narrator of a collection of short stories, collected by the white newspaperman Joel Chandler Harris.

As you probably learned when you read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the key to understanding the dialect is to read the story aloud. "Brer" is short for "brother," "bimeby" means "by and by," and the rest you'll just have to work out on your own.

Uncle Remus Initiates the Little Boy
The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story
Why the Negro is Black

Each of the above stories has a brief analysis that you might find useful. See the Uncle Reums page at the University of Virginia.

Before we're finished with "The Duke" and "The King"

Man who took dead boy's identity sentenced

A man who assumed the name of a dead baby in order to live the life of a bogus aristocrat for more than 20 years was sentenced to 21 months in jail Tuesday.