"I don't rightly know," Mun admitted. "I wa'n't of no mind to have her, an' I know Raw'n Butt wa'n't. But she was of a mind to go, an' gol ding it, when a woman's of a mind to do somethin', they do it!"
"I would of stomped on her head if she'd fell in the mud," Harky assured his father.
"I know," Mun meditated, "an' it wa'n't a poor notion. But, gol ding it, men just don't mistreat wimmen."
"I still don't know why," said Harky.
"Nor I," Mun admitted. "They jest don't an' that's all. Your ma, she didn't weigh mor'n half what I do, but she's the only mortal critter ever made me take to the woods."
"Are women ornery all the time?" Harky questioned.
"'Bout half," Mun said. "Rest o' the time, well, they're wimmen."
"What else do you know about 'em, Pa?"
"Durn little," Mun confessed. "What ya drivin' at anyhow, Harky?"
"Melinda put a spell on us," Harky said. "But it ain't all her doing. Miss Cathby showed her how."