Topical Guide 730
Mark Dorset
Legends: “The Tar Baby”
Legendary Figures: The Tar Baby
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 41:
Like the Tar Baby, I just sat and said nothing.
The Tar-Baby is the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881; it is about a doll made of tar and turpentine used by the villainous Br’er Fox to entrap Br’er Rabbit. The more that Br’er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes.
In modern usage, tar-baby refers to a problematic situation that is only aggravated by additional involvement with it. […]
The ‘Tar Baby’ story comes from the oral tradition of black slaves on the old plantations of the American South, one of many Uncle Remus stories. It features Br’er Fox, who constructs a doll out of a lump of tar and dresses it with some clothes. When Br’er Rabbit comes along he addresses the tar “baby” amiably but receives no response. Br’er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the tar baby’s lack of manners, punches it and, in doing so, becomes stuck. The more Br’er Rabbit punches and kicks the tar baby out of rage, the worse he gets stuck. […]
Variations on the tar-baby legend are found in the folklore of more than one culture. In the Journal of American Folklore in 1943, Aurelio M. Espinosa discussed various different motifs within 267 versions of the tar-baby story that were ostensibly ‘in his possession.’ […] The next year, Archer Taylor added a list of tar baby stories from more sources around the world, citing scholarly claims of its earliest origins in India and Iran. Espinosa later published documentation on tar baby stories from a variety of language communities around the world. […]
A very similar West African tale is told of the mythical hero Anansi the Spider. In this version, Anansi creates a wooden doll and covers it over with gum, then puts a plate of yams in its lap, in order to capture the she-fairy Mmoatia […]. Mmoatia takes the bait and eats the yams, but grows angry when the doll does not respond and strikes it, becoming stuck in the process.[…]
The tar-baby theme is present in the folklore of various tribes of Meso-America and of South America: it is found in such stories as the Nahuatl (of Mexico) “Lazy Boy and Little Rabbit” (González Casanova 1946, pp. 55–67), Pipil (of El Salvador) “Rabbit and Little Fox” (Schultes 1977, pp. 113–116), and Palenquero (of Colombia) “Rabbit, Toad, and Tiger” (Patiño Rosselli 1983, pp. 224–229). In Mexico, the tar baby story is also found among Mixtec, Zapotec, and Popoluca.
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, and Where Do You Stop?
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.