A wee girl from Belfast once went to visit her "country cousins" in a "sticky-out dress" and black patent shoes. Her name was Mary and her cousins were so contrary that they threw her into a silage pit. Yesterday the President, Mrs McAleese, had her revenge when she told children how she found out about things on the farm years ago.
It was an appropriate occasion for such a tale, the start of the Agri-Aware educational programme for primary schools, in St Michael's Junior School in Ballyfermot.
Agri-Aware represents the farming, food and agribusiness sectors and aims to improve the understanding of agriculture among the public, particularly those in cities.
Agri-Aware packs will go to 3,500 schools throughout the country to break down the barriers of ignorance. And parked behind the school was the Agri-Aware mobile farm, which will tour schools.
Yesterday there was a cow with a newborn calf, newborn chickens and lamb triplets. Some of the children carried a lamb to Mrs McAleese. Was it a boy lamb or a girl lamb? she wanted to know. The children decided to call the lamb Harry.
The President spoke of the tendency for city people to become distant from the farming community. There was a time when many city people had "country cousins", and could spend holidays with them on farms. She said that was now becoming less possible, and she was glad that Agri-Aware was bridging that gap and remaking the links.
She recalled a story about another Mary, Queen Mary in England, who was being evacuated from London during the second World War 55 years ago.
"As she was approaching Badminton, where she was to stay, she said, `So that's what hay looks like'," the President said.
She hoped the day would never come in Ireland when city people could not identify hay.