{
 "id": "james-mcintyre/mule-and-bear-fight",
 "title": "Mule and Bear Fight",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "James McIntyre",
 "poet_slug": "james-mcintyre",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems of James McIntyre",
 "book_slug": "poems-of-james-mcintyre",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 85,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1889,
  "venue": "Poems of James McIntyre (1889)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_11791"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/james-mcintyre_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_09542",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36068",
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_11791"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 41,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "We have a favorite old mule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A big load he can easy pull;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He is a quiet and gentle beast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No trouble with him in the least.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Once we left him in the wood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he got into surly mood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For a big bear did round him fool",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Till kicked by hind feet of our mule.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "One caulk it struck in its neck",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enough the joint of it to break;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bear was quite stunned with the blow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And soon lay helpless in the snow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I unhitched mule from the sleigh.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So as to give the beast fair play;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I knew the bear would soon come round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And that our mule would stand his ground.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The bear now raised upon his haunches,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But mule a blow at him he launches;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With both hind feet to lay him low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the bear he dodged the blow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The bear then threw his arms round mule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he strove him down to pull,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But all in vain, the bear with feet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He could not with the mule compete.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For he gave bear no time to pause,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But with his hoofs he broke his jaws,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the great bear he soon laid low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His blood all scatter’d o’er the snow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I truly think the mule takes pride,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each winter o’er the large bear’s hide;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He looks at it often in the sleigh,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then merry he doth trot away.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}