I first read Zoras most renowned work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in 2010 when I found it on a publishers reading list of 20th century novels. Much later I found this book on a high school reading list for the 1950s. Why I still have this list no one knows, including me. Mules and Men is listed under a caption Songs and Ballads: neither of which is the focus of the book (although several are reproduced in the Appendix). The book is divided into two parts: Folk Tales which is a mixture of fictionalized non-fiction and tall talesotherwise known as liesthe lyin part dominating) and Hoodoo, her research into Afro-American superstition. Much like Uncle Remus, the Folk Tales dialog is in the vernacular of its day. It takes some gettin used to. But, unlike the Harris classic, the lyin lacks the moral message. None the less, most are amusing as her characters vie to tell the most outrageous lie.

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