- Pa (Anse Bundren) and his neighbor Vernon Tull are sitting on the porch together chewing tobacco. Darl approaches and takes a drink of water from the bucket.
- Pa asks where Jewel is. Before answering, Darl reminisces internally about his love for water from a wood bucket. When he was younger, he used to sneak out to the porch at midnight and watch the stars in the water bucket. After puberty struck, he enjoyed the simple pleasure of self-awareness of certain body parts.
- Darl returns to reality and marvels over how beaten up his father’s working boots are, and how his toes are essentially destroyed from working so hard in poorly made shoes his whole life.
- Only now does he answer pa’s question: Jewel is down at the barn, harnessing the team.
- Darl imagines Jewel struggling with one particularly difficult horse, attributing great prowess to his brother in the process.
- We hear Jewel speaking to the horse, either through Darl’s imaginings or recollection. He crassly orders the animal to eat the hay he’s offering it.