Spook and Flitter - An excerpt from my auto-biography, "Turning Points."

            Besides the chickens, a cow or two, a horse, and some pigs, we had two mules.  The mules were the real workers.  Dad used them to pull the wagon to bring crops in from the fields (corn, hay, tobacco).  They were also the ones used to pull the plow to break up the soil for planting.  I will never forget Spook and Flitter.  Farmers seemed to prefer mules over horses when it comes to work.  I think mules are liked for their heartiness and can stand the toil.  Mules are hybrids…the offspring of a donkey and a horse.  They are sterile, therefore do not produce offspring.  Mules are also known for their stubbornness, much like people in that regard.  I recall the story that my father told more than once.  I took it for the truth, for he told it as the truth.

           

The story goes that a farmer, someone Dad knew or knew of, had a mule hitched up to his wagon bringing in from the field a load of hay for the barn loft.  The mule balked and refused to move.  The farmer shouted at the mule, but the mule would not move.  The farmer hit the mule with his fists, but the mule would not budge.  The farmer hit the mule upside the head with a piece of timber, but still the mule refused to move.  Finally the farmer hit on the idea of taking some of the hay and starting a small fire under the mule.  This he did, and sure enough, the mule moved.  But, he only moved a few feet and stopped.  Now the fire was under the wagon which caught on fire.  With the wagon on fire the frightened mule headed for the barn.  Once inside the barn the burning wagon caught the barn on fire and burned it to the ground.  Perhaps being around a team of mules for the first six years of life is where I get my stubbornness.