…nothing is more glorious or more worthy of praise than to revive the knowledge of ancient authors--
Brother Michael O'Clery

"Fish sticks and beans"--A late aside

Readers will recall the description of the Irish language by Arland Ussher, quoted early in this second part of The Bards of Ireland, and his admonition that:

"the student has to speak and think in unit-sentences rather than unit-words"

One latter-day grandnephew took this to apply in the strictest sense. A child of uncommon wisdom, his seemingly prolonged delay in learning to speak caused his parents and siblings to worry that he might never talk. They eagerly awaited his first words. They waited, and they waited, until one day at the evening meal, while all were eating and chatting, at a sudden break in the conversation a new voice broke in, clear, distinct, articulate, grammatical:

"Fish sticks and beans before bedtime are nice."

Although spoken in another tongue, this avuncular annalist is proud to repeat his first words, spoken in a unit sentence, and send them forth to a waiting cyber world. To spare him any embarrassment, I shall only record his first name, David.

© Seán Mac an Bháird
Ceanada 2000 A.D.