The Mule

Duane's take

Now, I'm going to tell you what the official marker for The Mule, right there in Bailey County, has to say, and it deserves to be said properly. Most monuments in Texas celebrate generals, governors, or cattle barons. This one is for a creature with no ancestral pride and no hope for offspring.

That's how the marker puts it, plain as a post. And yet, without that creature, a whole lot of Texas history simply does not happen. The mule.

Along with the buffalo, the hound, and the longhorn, the mule made Texas history. Let that list sit with you a moment. In war, he carried cannon on his back.

Not beside it, not near it. On his back. Forts rose on the frontier because he was available to haul freight.

That's the word the marker uses: available. Not heroic, not celebrated. Available.

And somehow that's more powerful than either. Now here's a detail that stops you cold. Indians would eat horses hitched to a cart or a coach.

But tough mule meat? They let it go by. The mule was so ornery, so unappealing to the palate, that even hunger had second thoughts.

His small hooves scaled rock and steep terrain untrod by horse or ox. He went fast. He endured much.

He ate sparingly. But those big ears, the marker notes, endangered him in lake or river. Every virtue balanced by exactly one peculiar liability.

And here is where the story opens up wide. Since the beginning of the Christian era, the mule has helped all over the world to bear the burdens of mankind. Not just Texas.

Not just the frontier. The whole world, across the whole of recorded Christian time. No ancestral pride.

No offspring to carry on the name. Just the work, done faithfully, for longer than most empires lasted. Some legacies don't need a family line.

They just need to show up.

What the marker says

Without ancestral pride or hope for offspring, the mule -- along with buffalo, hound and longhorn -- made Texas history. In war he carried cannon on his back. Because he was available to haul freight, forts rose on frontiers. Indians ate horses hitched to cart or coach, but let tough mule meat go by. His small hooves scaled rock and steep untrod by horse or ox, but big ears endangered him in lake or river. He went fast, endured much, ate sparingly. Since beginning of Christian era, has helped all over world to bear burdens of mankind. (1965)