The Epaminondas character is a young black boy, and the stories are based on folk tales from the Southern states of the U.S., similar to Helen Bannerman's The Story of Little Black Sambo, which was originally written about a boy from Southern India but was later illustrated in many printings with characterizations of African Americans.

The stories' texts focus on and derive their humor from the problem of miscommunication between adults and children. This same concept of ridiculous/comical scenarios due to simple misunderstandings is also the basis for the famous Amelia Bedelia book series.