Tar-Baby

Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby, drawing by E.W. Kemble from The Tar-Baby, by Joel Chandler … Hawthorn Books, Inc.

sticky tar doll, the central figure in black American folktales popularized in written literature by the American author Joel Chandler Harris. Harris' “Tar-Baby” (1879), one of the animal tales told by the character Uncle Remus, is but one example of numerous African-derived tales featuring the use of a wax, gum, or rubber figure to trap a rascal.

In Harris' version, the doll is made by Brer Fox and placed in the roadside to even a score with his archenemy Brer Rabbit. Brer Rabbit speaks to the Tar-Baby, gets angry when it does not answer him, strikes it, and gets stuck. The more he strikes and kicks the figure, the more hopelessly he becomes attached.

The sticky-figure motif is also common in American Indian tales.

Copyright © 1994-2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.