ABOUT BULLS AND BOYS

ABOUT BULLS AND BOYS

when my second brother was around the age of seven
he had an insatiable curiosity
and
he was absolutely positive that one of us knew the answer to all of his questions
and he could never slow down in the asking,
working with him as my chore partner
was a common thing
one morning when we were helping our dad build a new loading chute
for the cattle we were taking to dixon to the sale
he asked
“hey , which is stronger the cow or the bull?”
as this was probably close the millionth question
asked that day
my dad in a weary voice replied
“i don’t know son, tie their tails together and see”
a blessed quiet ensued
only to be shredded by bellows from the bull and a cow
and my brother shouting
“the cow is, the cow is,
she pulled the bulls tail plumb off”

i remember dad completely astonished
so angry and trying not to laugh
while yelling
“what possessed you to do that?”
my brother just looked up and said
“well i asked which was the strongest and you told me to...

that is how we had one bull with no tail
a rather large vet bill
and a heavy lesson in understanding that young children often take what we say very literally...

Reviews

[dan]

jeannemarie, Now when you weave these fascinating yarns about when you were younger I can't tell if they are indeed true or cooked up in your storyteller's heart. I'm a suburban-raised city boy who only say cows at the County Fair and some of them were wearing colored ribbons and some had numbers written on them in whitewash. My wife and I would love to have you as a neighbor for a lot of sitting-on-the-porch bull sessions. We would have more questions than your little brother in all likelihood. Thank you for the heartwarming and amusing tail...er, I mean tale. take care...dan

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed the story. You made me laugh. Some lessons can be costly. Thank you for sharing the excellent poetry.
Coyote

[Perkele.7885]

Is that a boy's first lesson in developing a good solid line of bulls**t?

[jeannemarie coulter]

just a story from my childhood from which several lessons were learned...

[....................]

oh yes, be careful what you say to and around children as they are quite literal in their understanding of the world around them... this is an awesome story, Jeannemarie...

[Gee]

Lol,boys eh !!!.....................

[marcus]

boys will be boys! Interesting story!

[wordman]

a great story,reminded me of a boy in north carolina where my sister lived
we had a boy there that would ware you out with questions