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The Talking Mule

Before Francis the Talking Mule, southern sharecroppers and slaves told this story.

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                                                                                           The Talking Mule

    Ole feller one time had uh mule.  His name wuz Bill.  Evah mawnin ole man go to ketch him, he say, "Come roun, Bill!"  So,  one mawnin when he sleep late, he havin his coffee an he sen his  son to ketch Ole Bill.  He say, "Go down dere, Boy, an bring dat mule up heah!"
    Boy, he sech a fas Aleck, he grab de bridle an wen down to de fiel to ketch Ole Bill.  When he get thar, he say, "Come roun, Bill."
    De mule he took roun at him.  So boy say agin, "Come roun, Bill.  Ain no us you rollin yo eyes at me.  Paw wants you dis mawning, so come stick yo haid in dis bridle."
    Mule he keep a-lookin at him an den he say, "Evah mawnin it's `Come roun, Bill!  Come roun, Bill!' Don hahdly git no res fo it's `Come roun, Bill!'"
    Dat boy he tho down dat bridle an away he scat to de house.  "Paw, Paw," he  say, "Dat mule he a talkin mule! He talkin!"
    Paw say, "Boy, gwan tellin them lies.  Gwan an ketch dat mule lak ah don tol ya, else ahm gonna ketch you wid sumpn on yo backside!"
    Boy he say, "Nawsuh, dat mule gon to talkin, Paw.  I ain goin neah no talkin mule."
    Ole man say to ole lady, "See whut a lie dat boy is tellin." So he gits out an goes on down to de fiel to git de mule hisself.  When he git thar, he hollar, "Come roun, Bill!"
    Ole mule he look roun an say, "Evah mawnin, it's `Come roun, Bill!'"
    Now, ole man he hav uh lil fice dog[1] go wid him evahwhuh he go, so when he lit out licty-split to de house, lil fice right behin  him.  Ole man say to de ole lady, "Dat boy ain lyin.  He tellin da  troof.  Dat mule is talkin.  I ain nevah heard a mule talk befo."
    Lil fice say, "Me neither."
    Ole man now he really skeeted.  So he jump up an start runnin agin.  Thu de woods he go, lictysplit, lak he bout to run hissef to def.  Finely, he reach a stump an sit down to ketch he bref an he say, "Lawd, Ize so tied I don know whut to do."  An lil fice he sit down in fron an he a-pantin an hasslin for his bref an he say,  "Me too."
    Dat ole man he still runnin!

[1] A fice is boisterous, noisy small mongrel -- a popular pet in the old South.

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  • Home
    • What is STORY
    • The Elements of Fiction
    • What Is A Short Story
    • Literary Theory Guide
  • Lit. 214
    • Class Presentations
  • Colonial Period
    • Native American >
      • Red Jacket's Speech
      • Story Collections
      • Lyrics, Poems and Chants
    • Spanish Explorers
    • Early Colonial >
      • New England Primer
      • Anne Bradstreet
      • Mary Rowlandson
      • John Winthrop
      • John Smith
      • Colonial Song Lyrics
    • Colonial and Revolutionary >
      • Readings >
        • Ben Franklin >
          • Advice on the Choice of a Mistress
          • Excerpts from The Autobiography
          • A Tale
        • Phyllis Wheatly >
          • Poems
        • Thomas Paine >
          • Common Sense
        • Philip Freneau >
          • Freneau Poems
        • Thomas Jefferson >
          • Writings
        • Jupiter Hammon >
          • An Evening Thought
      • Lyrics
  • Romantic Period
    • Elements of American Romanticism
    • Authors >
      • Washington Irving >
        • Irving's Place >
          • Irving's Place2
        • Irving on the Tale
        • Rip Van Winkle
        • Rip 2
        • Rip 3
        • Poetry
      • James Fenimore Cooper >
        • LOTH Silent Movie
        • Chapter 32
        • Chapter 32 B
      • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. >
        • Selected Poems
      • Ralph Waldo Emerson >
        • Selected Writings
        • Transcendentalism
      • Edgar Allen Poe >
        • Poe's Approach to Fiction
        • Life of Poe
        • Selected Poems
        • "The Raven"
        • The Black Cat
        • The Tell-Tale Heart
      • William Cullen Bryant >
        • Bryants Poems
      • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow >
        • Selected Poetry
      • Margaret Fuller
      • Fanny Fern
      • Herman Melville >
        • Moby Dick
      • Nathaniel Hawthorne >
        • Scarlett Letter Excepts
        • Young Goodman Brown
      • C. Clement Moore
    • Lyrics >
      • Folk / Gospel
      • Parlor Music
      • Music Hall
      • Stephen Foster >
        • Music
      • George Root
  • Civil War Period
    • 1850 - 1861 >
      • Harriet Anne Jacobs
      • Francis Harper
      • Frederick Douglass
      • Songs of Protest, Freedom, Sadness
    • 1861 - 1866 >
      • Julie Ward Howe
      • Emily Dickinson
      • Walt Whitman >
        • Excerpts
      • Abraham Lincoln
      • Louisa May Alcott
      • Misc. Poets
      • Warriors & Memoirs
    • Civil War Songs