The mule-bone

"The Mule-Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life in Three Acts" by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston is a play written in 1930. In the town of Eatonville, Florida, two best friends—one a guitarist, the other a dancer—come to blows over the affections of a woman. When one strikes the other with a mule bone, a trial divides the community along religious lines, forcing the town to debate an unusual question: can a mule bone be considered a weapon?

The mule-bone, by Langston Hughes. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #19435.