diff --git a/lisp/org.el b/lisp/org.el
index 9e156c20a..14ca84aee 100644
--- a/lisp/org.el
+++ b/lisp/org.el
@@ -5145,9 +5145,10 @@ Support for group tags is controlled by the option
   "Return the contents of FILE, as a string."
   (if (or (not file)
 	  (not (file-readable-p file)))
-      (if noerror
-	  (message "Cannot read file \"%s\"" file)
-	(error "Cannot read file \"%s\"" file))
+      (if (not noerror)
+	  (error "Cannot read file \"%s\"" file)
+	(message "Cannot read file \"%s\"" file)
+	(sit-for 3))
     (with-temp-buffer
       (insert-file-contents file)
       (buffer-string))))