“Well, think I’ll throw you in that t h o r n y b r i a r patch,” B r u h Fox said. “How you like that?” “Oh, mercy, don’t do that!” cried Doc Rabbit.

“Whatever you do with me, don’t dare throw me in those t h o r n y b r i a r s !"

“That’s what I’ll do, then,” B r u h Fox said.

And that’s what Brother Fox did. He sure did. Took Doc Rabbit by the short hair and threw him— W h i p p i t! W h a p p i t!—right in the b r i a r patch.

“Hot lettuce pie! This is where I want to be,” Doc Rabbit hollered for happiness. He was square in the middle of the b r i a r patch. “Here is where my mama and papa had me born and raised. Safe at last!”

“Didn’t know rabbits have they homes in the b r i a r s,” B r u h Fox said, scratching his tail.

He knows it now.

—“Doc Rabbit, B r u h Fox, and the Tar Baby,”
Virginia Hamilton

Which statement summarizes the lesson in the fable “Doc Rabbit, B r u h Fox, and Tar Baby”?

You get what you pay for.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Slow and steady wins the race.