That is all. We are almost a democracy, and that is the reason
that I have always studied your history with care. I have studied your
state papers and your hymns. I have made a special study of them, and I
have come to the opposite conclusion from you as to 'Yankee Doodle.' It
seems to me to be the work of a great poet and prophet."
"What do you mean?" asked Sam.
"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 attache, 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.
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