The farmer was sweating to keep up with the plow behind his mule as the mule surged forward through the field plowing furrows straight, deep and true.

 

His neighbor, walking along the lane, stopped and leaned on the fence to watch.  As the farmer and his surging mule came back around along the fence, the neighbor waved him down to set a spell and talk.

 

The neighbor, very much impressed with the mule, offered the farmer a generous price for the animal.  After some haggling over price, the deal was made.

 

A week later the farmer, walking along the lane spotted his neighbor and his mule standing in his neighbor’s field.  When the neighbor saw him, he hurried over.  “You sold me a defective mule!”  He said.  “I can’t get the danged animal to move!”

 

The farmer studied the situation, then said “Neighbor, what we have here is a failure to communicate.”

 

The neighbor protested that he had tried everything from reasoning with the mule to threatening him.  There just wasn’t any way to get him started!

 

With that the farmer climbed over the fence.  He cast about until he located a stout tree limb lying on the ground.  He picked it up and strode out to where the mule stood grazing.

 

The farmer went around to the front of the mule, leaned down and looked him straight in the eye, then hauled off and whacked him a good one up along side of the head as he hollered “GiddyUp, Dubya!”.  The mule reared up and took off down the field plowing a furrow straight, deep and true.

 

As the neighbor raced to catch up with his receding mule and plow, he hollered back “How come he listened to you and not me?!?”

 

As the neighbor climbed back over the fence he hollered “He’s a stubborn mule.  You jest gotta git his attention, that’s all.”