Mules and Men

Hurston arrives in Eatonville, a small, primarily Black township in central Florida. A group of local people who know Hurston from her childhood are sitting on the porch of the town store. When Hurston tells the locals of her plan to collect folklore, they are uncertain if anyone would ever want to read them but agree to share their “lies.” Two local men share a couple of humorous stories—one about a bullfrog scaring John, and another about John ironically bragging about the flood he died in and comparing it to the biblical character Noah—with her before inviting her to a “toe-party” that night. A toe-party is a gathering wherein the women guests hide behind a sheet, revealing only their toes underneath, and the men “buy” the woman they want to dance with for a small amount of money. At the party, there is much dancing, eating, and “woofing”—a slang term for speaking, bragging, or flirting without true intent to follow through). Many of the partygoers drink “coon dick,” a type of homemade raw liquor, and become very drunk before the night’s end.