Yesterday, 3 colleagues and I were on lunch break and headed for a restaurant. It was 1PM and too hot for my taste. On the way, we saw a horse tied to a tree. The horse seemed to be looking directly at us. For a moment I could have sworn it said: Help!
Nearly 45 minutes later, we came back:
Hani: The horse is still there, poor thing.
S: That’s not a horse it’s a mule (Ba3′el).
Hani: Who works harder, the mule or us?
S: We do. It’s out enjoying the fresh air, it will only have to go for a stroll.
Hani: Are you seriously envying a mule ?
W: Hey, at most they’ll whip its ass a couple of times.
H: Well, at least they could put it with a female mule (ba3′leh).
S: Mules are produced when a donkey rides a horse, they can’t mate.
W: They’re sterile.
Hani: (Thinking: where does one learn about donkey mating rituals, my youth has been wasted)
Hani: Damn, not only does it have to stand there tied up in the sun, it can’t have sex, and you were envying it!
W: It doesn’t have a penis! Why are we discussing mule penises! Who brought up this subject?
(all laughing)
I’m not tied to a tree, I sit in a cubicle. It’s a very nice air-conditioned cubicle with a comfortable chair, but still a cubicle. I’m not sterile, but I’m single, so I might as well be.
I had the urge to go to the mule owner (Abu 3awadh), buy the mule and set it free, but then he or someone else would catch it and set it to work, or send it to the glue factory, or wherever they send mules…
Still, at the restaurant we had cows (Moooooooooooo) and chickens (Bawwwwwwwwwwk) for lunch, and it tasted quite good. Our friend, the mule probably had hay,or grass. Nobody asked it what that tastes like. Yet, it doesn’t eat other living creatures. It doesn’t try to kill other mules!
Then again it’s not trying to break its restraint and leave the tree. When did it give up? Was it born without hope, or did they break it? What about us ?
19 Users Commented In This Post
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 11:31:11
@@ what a conversation! Could swear it’s from the heat :$
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 11:35:26
are you okay guys??
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 12:33:59
Chikapapi, we were somewhat hungry and dehydrated :)
Qabbani, yes we are all normal, really, trust me… :P
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 14:13:03
well, I would have never guessed that a mule can’t mate…are u sure about that?? poor creature.
but it does make sense now that i think about it…if it could, mules wouldn’t have needed that horse/donkey thing.
hehehehe
What a sad animal, i wonder if it’s the only animal without a sex drive…or does it??!!
sad sad animal yet the comparrison above is damn funny.
yes, it must’ve been the dehydration alright :D
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 14:46:18
Rasha, I verified it on several sources (encarta, britannica, and wikipedia). There are exceptions, but mules are generally sterile. All these things have funny names in English too. More details:
Mules are the product of a male donkey (also known as male ass, or jackass) and a female horse (mare). It will be smarter, stronger, steadier, and will live longer than its parents!
The product of a male horse (stallion!) and a female donkey (Jenny!) is called a hinny (no not Hani!). It has a bushier tail, and a heavier body, and is more compliant than a mule.
I’m gonna have to remember this next time I meet someone named Jenny :D
Rasha, you had to look into the animals eyes to see it. I couldn’t take a picture:
A. I didnt’ wanna scare it.
B. I’ll bet Amman has ordinances against photographing someone else’s mule!
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 14:59:32
I don’t know about the mules mating rituals..!! But are u saying they can’t mate at all ?? Then they are born without hope of doing anything loool poor thing..
You know I sometimes envy the dogs and pets in general in this country, they are treated better than humans and they call them kids and family .. God forbid you insult a dog !! I heard this morning that they have now insurance for pets to protect them when riding along in the car !!
That is the life :)
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 15:05:17
Did he/she/ say help in English or Arabic? Better yet, when you thought that the mule was in distress, what language did he seem to be uttering in order for him to get out of his ordeal?!
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 15:05:18
Noura yes, no mating!
Some cities have dog hotels, dog walkers, dog psychologists. All for something that will be loyal to you, always give you a hug, and all it wants in return is food and attention. I think it’s worth it :)
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 15:07:17
lol Hatem, it was my vivid imagination! I started thinking in English in 1993. So of course the mule used English too. It’s an educated mule :D
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 17:45:27
cracked me up that hinny :D
and see how Intellectual people encounter Intellectual creatures…Mule, fesee5…and god only knows what else :D
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 21:19:53
I wrote a comment and then erased it because I realized it doesn’t make a lot of sense in a general form.
Look at it from a different perspective. You as human are surrounded by plenty of others, some of which are better off than you are, others the same and others worse off. You have a standard on which you could evaluate your current situation, and based on that you would come into thinking whether or not you have hope and all other different emotions and thought patterns.
This mule in particular has no other reference but itself on which it can evaluate its position in this universe. It’s the only one there is in the vicinity and chances are that it is considering itself to be the king of the world, one tied to a tree.
Posted from
5-1-2008 at 21:28:44
KJ, you can always have Moogle sign the nonesensical comments.
You could be right, I may have just been projecting my thoughts onto a mule, no less!
Posted from
5-2-2008 at 13:11:23
I can’t believe im actually discussing this, but I always thought sterile means cannot produce offspring, not also unable to mate.. just wondering… hehehe
Posted from
5-3-2008 at 05:36:45
Farah
Good point, I missed that sterile doesn’t mean it can’t have sex, but just no children.
I guess in this case it won’t matter for the mule since its fate is decided by its owner Abu 3awadh (who happens to own several million JDs worth of land, and live in an old shack). So if it can’t reproduce, there’s no reason for him to give it a chance to do anything else!
Posted from
5-4-2008 at 23:48:17
Hani enta bedak tefda7na Man.
I can’t stop laughing about the Help thing, I started to remember that Mule and that sad lookup on his face, and I yes I believe he was asking for help.
loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
Posted from
5-5-2008 at 17:21:11
loool! what did you guys eat man! loool what a weird conversation this was ! loool
Posted from
5-7-2008 at 00:23:50
Wasim, great minds think alike !
Maher, Meat Biryani Khaleeji style with carmelized fried onions and raisins. It was really good :)
Posted from
5-14-2008 at 08:11:12
:), I have always envied donkeys! They dont just walk slowly, but also seem to think slowly as well! They have what it takes to contemplate life and enjoy it!
Posted from
5-15-2008 at 01:43:51
Fadi, yes and the Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sound they make is actually quite cute!
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