In “The Wonderful Tar Baby Story,” Uncle Remus told about the one time Brer Fox outsmarted Brer Rabbit. Brer Fox mixes tar with turpentine to create a “Tar Baby” and sets his creation in the road. Brer Rabbit comes by and gets increasingly offended when the Tar Baby fails to acknowledge him. Brer Rabbit gets so incensed he decides to “bus’ you wide open,” only to get stuck, head, arms, legs, and all, in the tar. Oddly, Uncle Remus never tells us how (or whether) Brer Rabbit ended up as Brer Fox’s dinner. As EE News said recently, “Coal’s survival...