"Let us consider it seriously," said Chung Tu. "Have you a copy of it?"
"No," said Sam, laughing.
"Then please repeat it for us, and I will write it down."
Sam began to recite, but he found it difficult to keep his face straight:
"'Yankee Doodle went to town,
Riding on a pony.
He stuck a feather in his crown
And called him macaroni.'"
"That is not like my version," said the attaché, pulling a piece of paper from the pocket of his silk jacket. "Here is mine," and he read it solemnly and with emphasis:
"'Yankee Doodle came to town,
A-riding on a pony.
He stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.'
"Which reading is correct?" he asked of Cleary.
"I'm sure I don't know," said Cleary, laughing.
"How careless you are of your country's literature! In Porsslania we would carefully guard the sayings of our ancestors and preserve them from alteration. You have what you call the 'higher criticism.' You should direct it to the correction of this most important poem. I have studied the matter as carefully and accurately as a foreigner can, and I am satisfied that my version is the most authentic. Come now, let us study it. Take the first two lines: