Think I might have told this before but I think it' worth re-telling.
An elderly couple farmed a rough piece of land on The Burren (about ten miles north of here)
The farm was about four miles outside of Lisdoonvarna and the only time either of them ever got out was the occasional time she cycled in to do the shopping.
One morning the man got up to find his wife dressed up in her Sunday clothes, ready to go out - the told him she was going to Lisdoon to have her hair done.
He began to think it was some sort of an occasion, an anniversary maybe, so he decided to use it to his advantage to try and make a romantic night of it, which they had long given up - too tired after a hard day's work.
He set about cleaning the house from top to bottom, dusted everything, shined the brass doorknobs... till the house was spotless.
Then he got out the best china, laid the table ready for a meal and placed candles round the room.
Finally, he changed all the linen on the bed, more candles, got some flowers from the field and placed them in a jar beside the bed, with a couple between the sheets.
Just as he was having a final look around he spotted a chest under the bed he had never noticed before, which he drew out and opened, only to find if was crammed full of paper money and right on the top, two hen's eggs.
When she came back from Lisdoon, he confronted her, demanding to know about the content of the chest.
She looked flustered and finally said, "Pat, I have a confession; I've been unfaithful to you, and each time, I was so ashamed that I took an egg from the hen-coop and placed it in the box to remind me of my sin".
He was stunned, but after a little thought, he finally said, "Well, after nearly fifty years of marriage, I suppose two lapses is understandable; but what about the money?"
She said, "well each time the number of eggs reached ten, I took them into Lisdoon, sold them in the market and put the money aside for a rainy day".
Jim Carroll