Gator and Rabbit were squabbling. "There are more of us than there are of you," said Rabbit.
"No!" said Gator. "More of us than you!"
"Make a line here across the river," said Rabbit, "and I'll count."
The gators made a line, and the rabbits hopped from one gator to the next.
"One. Two. Three. Four."
Then, when they were all across, Rabbit laughed. "We didn't care about counting! We just wanted to get to the cabbage patch over here."
But Gator was fast, and he bit Rabbit's tail before Rabbit got away, and that's why Rabbit's tail is short.
Inspired by: Every Tongue Got to Confess, stories collected by Zora Neale Hurston (from a manuscript thought lost, but now found and published).
Notes: This story is on p. 250, "De Alligator and De Rabbits" which Hurston heard from Catherine Williams.
The Gators were a bit thick. It's very lucky only the tail went and not the rest of Rabbit!
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