“I don’t quite understand,” said Padna.
“Well,” said Micus, “don’t you see, when the last man was buried, some one else died, and as there will be always some one dying, there will be always some one to be buried in the Land of Peace and Plenty.”
“All the water is boiled out of the kettle,” said Padna.
“There’s plenty more in the well,” said Micus.
The Linnet with the Crown of Gold
“What’s troubling you at all? You’re not looking yourself to-day,” said Padna Dan to his friend Micus Pat, as he cut a switch from a blackthorn tree on the road to Mallow on a May morning.
“There’s many a thing that troubles a man that he doesn’t like to talk about,” said Micus, “and many a thing that he talks about that doesn’t trouble him at all.”
“Maybe some one died who owed you money,” said Padna.
“Well, as you seem to be anxious to know, it was the way that some one died, but the devil a ha’penny did he owe me, no more than yourself or the Pope of Rome,” said Micus.