Farmer’s Mule

An old hillbilly farmer had a wife who nagged him unmercifully. From morning till night (and

sometimes later), she was always complaining about something. The only time he got any relief was

when he was out plowing with his old mule. He tried to plow a lot. One day, when he was out plowing,

his wife brought him lunch in the field. He drove the old mule into the shade, sat down on a stump,

and began to eat his lunch. Immediately, his wife began haranguing him again. Complain, nag, nag; it

just went on and on. All of a sudden, the old mule lashed out with both hind feet; caught her smack

in the back of the head. Killed her dead on the spot. At the funeral several days later, the

minister noticed something rather odd. When a woman mourner would approach the old farmer, he would

listen for a minute, then nod his head in agreement; but when a man mourner approached him, he would

listen for a minute, then shake his head in disagreement. This was so consistent, the minister

decided to ask the old farmer about it. So after the funeral, the minister spoke to the old farmer,

and asked him why he nodded his head and agreed with the women, but always shook his head and

disagreed with all the men. The old farmer said: “Well, the women would come up and say something

about how nice my wife looked, or how pretty her dress was, so I’d nod my head in agreement.”

“And what about the men?” the minister asked. “They all wanted to know if the mule was for

sale.”