The Fable of Keir Rabbit
Britain's Prime Minister could learn two very important lessons from an old Uncle Remus folktale.
There is an old Uncle Remus story which, like all great folktales, is worth an occasional revisit.
This one tells of Brer Rabbit who one day comes across a baby sitting by the side of the road. Brer tries to talk to the baby but getting no reply, grows angry and, as was the fashion between rabbits and uncommunicative babies at the time, throws a punch. Except the baby is no baby but a device made by Brer Fox, fashioned from molasses and tar. This is the “tar baby,” designed to trap Brer Rabbit who quickly becomes stuck and at the mercy of the Fox. As the Fox considers various tortures for his captive, Brer Rabbit begins to plead “please don’t throw me into the briar patch”. The Fox, wanting to inflict as much pain as possible on Brer Rabbit, does just that, which is precisely what Brer Rabbit had hoped. Impervious to the thorns, Brer Rabbit manages to escape because, as he taunts the Fox from afar, he had been “born and bred in the briar patch.”
Well, it might not be the next Kung Fu Panda (number 11, if my count is right) but it does teach two important lessons. The first: don’t pick unnecessary fights with random babies. The second: you are strongest when on home turf.
Both are lessons our Prime Minister desperately needs to remember.