The Mule-Bone

her. Dave You heard her say it is all I can do to lift up dese feets and put ’em down. Where I’m going to git any time to wrassle wid any hoes and shovels? You kin git round better’n me. You done won Daisy⁠ ⁠… I give in. I ain’t going to bite no fren’ of mine in de back. Daisy Both of you niggers can git yo’ hat an’ yo’ heads and git on down de road. Neither one of y’all don’t have to have me. I got a good job and plenty men beggin for yo’ chance. Jim Dat’s right, Daisy, you go git you one them mens whut don’t mind smelling mules⁠ ⁠… and beating de white folks to de barn every morning. I don’t wanta be bothered wid nothin’ but dis box. Dave And I can’t strain wid nothin’ but my feets. Daisy walks slowly away in the direction from which she came. Both watch her a little wistfully for a minute. The sun is setting. Dave Guess I better be gittin’ on back⁠ ⁠… it’s most dark. Where you goin’ Jim? Jim I don’t know, Dave. Down de road, I reckon. Dave Whyncher come on back to town. ’Tain’t no use you proguein’ up and down de railroad track when you got a home. Jim They done lawed me way from it for hittin’ you wid dat bone. Dave Dat ain’t nothin’. It was my head you hit. An’ if I don’t keer whut dem old ugly-rump niggers got to do wid it? Jim They might not let me come in town. Dave Seizing Jim’s arm and facing him back toward the town. They better! Look here, Jim, if they try to keep you out dat town we’ll go out to dat swamp and git us a mule bone a piece and come into town and boil dat stew down to a low gravy. Jim You mean dat, Dave? Dave nods his head eagerly. Us wasn’t mad wid one ’nother nohow. Beligerently. Come on, less go back to town. Dem mallet-heads better leave me be, too. Picks up a heavy stick. I wish Lum would come tellin’ me ’bout de law when I got all dis law in my hands. And de rest o’ dem gator-faced jigs, if they ain’t got a whole sto’ o’ mule bones and a good determination, they better not bring no mess up. Come on, boy. They start back together toward town, Jim picking a dance tune on his guitar, and Dave cutting steps on the ties beside him, singing, prancing and happily, they exit, right, as the curtain falls.

Endnotes

1. Loins. ↩

Colophon

The Mule-Bone
was published in 1931 by
Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.

This ebook was produced for
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The cover page is adapted from
Two Negro Musicians,
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