an old farmer & his mule

[MRCN RCE]

An old farmer had a wife who nagged him unmercifully. Frommorning till night (and sometimes later), she was always complainingabout something. The only time he got any relief was when he was outplowing with his old mule. He tried to plow a lot.One day, when he was out plowing, his wife brought him lunch in thefield. He drove the old mule into the shade, sat down on a stump, andbegan to eat his lunch. Immediately, his wife began haranguing himagain. Complain, nag, nag; it just went on and on.All of a sudden, the old mule lashed out with both hind feet; caught hersmack in the back of the head. Killed her dead on the spot.At the funeral several days later, the minister noticed something ratherodd. When a woman mourner would approach the old farmer, he would listenfor a minute, then nod his head in agreement; but when a man mournerapproached him, he would listen for a minute, then shake his head indisagreement. This was so consistent, the minister decided to ask theold farmer about it.So after the funeral, the minister spoke to the old farmer, and asked himwhy he nodded his head and agreed with the women, but always shook hishead and disagreed with all the men.The old farmer said: "Well, the women would come up and say somethingabout how nice my wife looked, or how pretty her dress was, so I'd nod myhead in agreement.""And what about the men?" the minister asked."They wanted to know if the mule was for sale."