Ahoy, Crypto Scouts!
What a find! I came across this antique tshatshke (chachka?) while scouring the local flea market for hidden treasures (and discount alligator urine... don't ask). It's clearly an effigy of the long forgotten character of American Folklore:
BR'ER JACKALOPE!
THE HISTORY!______________
You may not have heard of him, and there's a simple explanation for that probability. When
Joel Chandler Harris collected the materials for his
Uncle Remus stories, he thought it best to leave ol' Br'er Jack out of the books. While the remaining Uncle Remus stories could be easily linked to African and Native American folklore, it's difficult to trace the origins of Br'er Jack's tales. The
jackalope's stories had been passed down through oral tradition (in hushed tones), but rarely written down.
Br'er Jackalope wasn't a trickster character, per se, like his more famous contemporary,
Br'er Rabbit. He didn't outwit his foes with smarts, but with
LUCK. Blind, stupid, simple, doo-dah, clueless luck! Ol' Br'er Jack was blessed, you see, with always "bein' in the right place, at the right time". It didn't matter what Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear did to get the best of the little horned critter, their luck (usually bad) was never as good as Br'er Jackalope's. He had two lucky rabbit's feet, down at the bottom of his rabbit legs, and besides a fist full of four-leaf clover, NOTHING is luckier. Some legends even say that when Ol' Jack had come across his cousin sleeping one day, Br'er Jackalope "borrowed" Br'er Rabbit's own rabbit feet, and kept the extras in the back pocket of his trousers for EXTRA luck!
Carrying an umbrella (although not for rain, 'cause the sun's always shinin' on Br'er Jack), he hops about the countryside, stumbling upon fortunate situation after fortunate situation. We could call him an "opportunist", however, that would give the character too much credit. He never knowingly maneuvers himself into these auspicious circumstances. Fate's just in his corner.
THE THEORY!_____________
Why is so little remembered about Br'er Jackalope? The belief is that this character was not the most appropriate for the didactic purposes of Joel Chandler Harris' books (see also:
Aesop's prototypical "The Tortoise and the Jackalope"). Despite the fact that everyday, everywhere, many people do succeed because of "bein' in the right place, at the right time" (see also: nepotism,
celebutantism, etc) it was thought that you couldn't bestow a valuable lesson to children about the phenomena. I'd argue that informing youth early on of this reality IS a valuable lesson, and will prepare them for adulthood, when dreams inevitably get squashed, regardless of effort/skill/passion.
Ultimately, the two-faced, conniving, back-stabbing trickster-varmint, Br'er Rabbit, was fast-tracked into the spotlight of Harris' antiquated book series and the
controversial adaptations that followed. Br'er Jackalope was all but forgotten. Would history have looked more favorably upon this property if Br'er Jackalope had taken center stage? We'll never know.
Cryptically yours,
*The Crypto-Scout
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