“‘He must be a wonder,’ ses I.
“‘A wonder he is surely,’ ses he. ‘He starts at five o’clock in the morning and sings all day.’
“‘If that’s so,’ ses I, ‘I’ll be outside your door with my ear to the keyhole at quarter to five, so that I can’t miss the first note to break the silence and tell us that day is come.’
“‘And herself is going to stay up all night, lest she might miss even the flutter of his wings, when he wakes from his sleep,’ ses Lareen.
“Well, when the morrow came, I was at Lareen’s door at the peep o’ day, listening to the sweetest music that was ever heard in town or city, in lonely glen or by the cobbled seashore when the storm does be raging and huge breakers dash themselves to pieces on the treacherous rocks. Wonderful indeed was the song of the linnet with the crown of gold, and musicians came from all parts of the world to hear him, and all listened with great attention and took down in a book each note as he uttered it. And when they returned home, they made operas, oratorios, and symphonies from the melodies they heard in Lareen’s kitchen. And selections were made for the violin, ‘cello, and organ, and played at classical concerts where the well-fed fashionable people, who have no more love for art or music than a tinker’s donkey, pay for being bored to death. And thus it was that the fame of Lareen’s linnet grew until the King of Spain heard all about him, and immediately he sailed away from the shores of his native country with more money in his pocket than all the kings of Europe could earn in ten thousand years. And when, after a weary journey, he found himself seated by the fire talking to Lareen, all of a sudden he up and ses: ‘Lareen,’ ses he, ‘I’ll give you a golden guinea for every mistake you have made since you came to the use of reason, if you will give me the linnet with the crown of gold,’ ses he.
“‘And did you accept his offer?’ ses I.
“‘No, I did not,’ ses he.
“‘You damn fool,’ ses I. ‘Sure, if you only got a half sovereign inself for every mistake you made since you were born, you would have been made a millionaire on the spot.’
“‘And how do you know I have made so many mistakes?’ ses he.
“‘Why, you omadhaun,’ ses I, ‘don’t you know as yet that nearly everything we do is some kind of a mistake or other, but we don’t know it until we are told so by some one else?’