luck of the Irish

Found, out in the front pasture, by the Sicilian.

I've never actually seen a four-leaf clover in real life, only those pressed into medallions sold in Shannon Airport which (as everyone knows) are so easy to fake. I used to do it as a child all the time: pick two clovers, rip all but one leaf off one, hold the two stems together and - voilà! - a four-leaf clover.

The king said he used to find them all the time. We were walking outside in the evening, wine glass in hand, summer storm pending. He bent down to examine a clover patch, brushing his hands over it and ruffling the leaves. He plucked one.

"There you go!"

My first four-leaf clover.

Ever.

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Later, he admitted that it usually took him hours to find one, if at all. . . . Yes, it's a magical place! Which brings me to the saying: 'the luck of the Irish'. I wonder where they got that? Stop for just a moment to think of the Irish history! Not exactly 'lucky'. But wait a minute, maybe that's the point and I've just never realized it: their luck is as common as the four-leaf clover? Sheesh! And here I always thought that the Irish were supposed to be 'lucky'!