The Laughing Place

The Laughing Place is a traditional African American folktale, featuring Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er
Bear. It is famous for its inclusion among Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus stories.

Summary
Following Br'er Rabbit's capture, the hero leads his captors, wily Br'er Fox and dim-witted Br'er Bear, to
his "laughin' place". Out of curiosity, they let him lead the way, only for Br'er Rabbit to walk them straight
into a cavern of bees. While the antagonists are stung, Br'er Rabbit escapes.

This story can be traced to African trickster tales, particularly the hare that figures prominently in the
storytelling traditions in Western Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. In the Akan traditions of
West Africa, the trickster is usually the spider (see Anansi), though the plots of tales of the spider are often
identical with those of stories of Br'er Rabbit.[1]

In popular culture
The story was used in the 1946 film Song of the South along with "The Tar Baby" and "The Briar
Patch".[2] It is also referenced in a dark ride scene of Splash Mountain, a log flume-style attraction at
Disneyland, Orlando's Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, based on Song of the South.

The term "The Laughing Place" is also used in the Stephen King novel Misery and the second season of
the series Castle Rock.

References
1. Opala, Joseph A. "Gullah Customs and Traditions" (https://web.archive.org/web/200605170
40916/http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/05.htm). The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra
Leone-American Connection. Archived from the original (http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/05.h
tm) on 2006-05-17.
2. Brasch, Walter M. (2000). Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus, and the 'Cornfield Journalist': The Tale
of Joel Chandler Harris. Mercer University Press. pp. 74, 275.

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This page was last edited on 4 June 2022, at 06:32 (UTC).

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