Jake

Jake was a mule and lazy as could be
Lying around all day under the old oak tree.
Pa needed old Jake to help plow a field
He told my ma, old Jake just won’t yield.

Pa worked half a day trying to get Jake up
Ma came out of the house with something in a cup
Pa ask what she was going to do “what you got there?”
He reply was a “little lye, he’ll get up I swear.“

She got a great big corn cob, had a little plan
Rubbed some lye on his rump and away he ran
He was bucking and kicking, jumping left and right
Kicking at everything that was in his sight.

Ma said “I will teach that stubborn mule, he’s got to mind me”
Old Jake just continued on his jumping, kicking spree
He kicked down the old fence, tore up the flower bed
Kicked down the chicken coop his rump real red.

Ran as fast as he could to the old water tank
Jumped right in with great relief and down he sank
Pa said, “We need to get him out of there as fast as we can”
But in his mind Jake had another plan.

He stayed in the water the rest of the day
The fields not plowed yet I am sorry to say
Ma and pa went to the house, didn’t know how to swim
Had to leave old Jake, the sky was getting dim.

They went to bed that night, was tired as they could be
Got up the next morning and what did they see
There was old Jake under the tree content
Ma got a cup of lye, she was hell bent.