Hey, SRS:

That's a completely new explanation of the origin of the Brer' Rabbit stories. According to everything that I've read, including the forward to the book by Julius Lester, Chandler rejected any stories that he felt he could verify as African-American in origin, and every tale he collected, he collected from black ex-slaves. There is also a trickster figure in African folk tales (as you point out, it is a common figure in folk tales of many cultures.)

I'm curious where you got the basis for claiming that these are all native American tales. I've taught classes on native Americans, and realize that they have similar folk tales, but does similarity with other cultures prove that slaves learned them from Indians, rather than re-telling tales similar to ones in their own culture?

I am decidedly NOT an expert on this kind of thing. And in a sense, the tales stand on their own. When Chandler collected them, they were definitely in the African-American tradition. If there was a native American influence, it had been assimilated into the African-American culture, as far as I can see...

Not trying to be argumentative. Just wondering on what basis you make your claim..

Jerry