email from JKS Weerasekera
A painter by the name of Murphy, while not
a brilliant scholar, was a gifted portrait artist.
Over a
short number of years, his fame grew and soon people from all over Ireland were
coming to the town of Miltown Malbay, in County Clare, to get him to paint
their likenesses.
One day, a
beautiful young English woman arrived at his house in a stretch limo and asked
if he would paint her in the nude.
This being
the first time anyone had made such a request he was a bit
perturbed, particularly when the woman told him that money was no object;
in fact, and she was willing to pay up to £10,000.
Not wanting
to get into any marital strife, he asked her to wait while he went into the
house to confer with Mary, his wife.
They talked
much about the Rightness and Wrongness of it.
It was hard
to make the decision but finally his wife agreed, on one condition.
In a
few minutes he returned.
"T'would be me pleasure to paint yer portrait, missus," he said "The wife says it's okay. "I'll paint you in the nude all right;
But I have
to at least leave me socks on, so I have a place to wipe me brushes."
Got to love the Irish!
