Page 409 (15.23-55) "THE IDIOT (Gobbling.)... Belturbet. (She sings.)"

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THE IDIOT
(Gobbling.) Ghaghahest.

in the west? (ie, setting sun) cf Circe notesheet "idiot prophet with boiled eyes     light from the ?west."
Cyclops notesheet: "Connemara ?simpleton-- fire in the west"
"Godstruck holy fool, ?frig epipelsy" unexxed

Ptolemy's Almagest? Budapest? Bucharest?

(They release him. He jerks on. A pygmy woman swings on a rope slung between two railings, counting. A form sprawled against a dustbin and muffled by its arm and hat snores, groans, grinding growling teeth, and snores again.

 one rope, two railings = jump-rope?
another child and adult

On a step a gnome totting among a rubbishtip crouches to shoulder a sack of rags and bones. A crone standing by with a smoky oillamp rams her last bottle in the maw of his sack. He heaves his booty, tugs askew his peaked cap and hobbles off mutely. The crone makes back for her lair, swaying her lamp. A bandy child, asquat on the doorstep with a paper shuttlecock, crawls sidling after her in spurts, clutches her skirt, scrambles up. A drunken navvy grips with both hands the railings of an area, lurching heavily.

draft: "On a step a ragpicker crouches to shoulder a sack. A crone standing by with a guttering oil lamp rams a last bottle in the neck of his sack. He shoulders it and lurches off mutely, tugging his peaked cap askew on his eyes. The crone goes back in her lair, swaying her lamp. A bandylegged child, asquat on the doorstep with a paper shuttlecock, crawls sidling after her in jerks, and clutching her skirt it scrambles up. A drunken navvy grips with both hands the railings of an area, swaying heavily to and fro."

2 or 3 more adults, 1 or 2 kids (what age "gnome"?)
 
"totting" = frowned-upon practice of recycling trash

cf Bloom's "bent hag" with "naggin bottle" on p59

bandylegged

origami shuttlecock video [3min]

"navvy" slang for laborer, especially 19th century canal diggers (from ironic 'navigator', nautical motif)

At a corner two night watch in shouldercapes, their hands upon their staffholsters, loom tall. A plate crashes: a woman screams: a child wails. Oaths of a man roar, mutter, cease. Figures wander, lurk, peer from warrens. In a room lit by a candle stuck in a bottleneck a slut combs out the tatts from the hair of a scrofulous child. Cissy Caffrey's voice, still young, sings shrill from a lane.)

draft: "At a corner two night patrols, in shoulder capes, stand tall and silent, their hands at rest on their staff holsters. In an openwindowed room, lit by a candlestick in a bottleneck, a slut combs the natts out of another slut's hair. A plate is heard to crash: a woman's scream follows. Figures, male and female, continue to pass through the murk, round corners, into doorways. Heads are thrust out of windows to listen. A child is heard crying. The oaths of a man are roared out indistinctly. They die away. A girl's voice sings out, high and still young, from a lane:"

maybe 6 more adults and 2 kids

these two night watch are different from Carr and Compton, and will interact with them later, where they're further described as (police constables) 65C and 66C

"totting... tatts"
tatts

(the twins Jacky and Tommy also appear shortly)

Cissy and Edy probably had a 20min tram ride from Sandymount:


CISSY CAFFREY

I gave it to Molly
Because she was jolly,
The leg of the duck,
The leg of the duck.

dactyls

phallic euphemism, or food reward

(does she know this whole crowd can hear her?)

(Bloom, offstage, can't be hallucinating Molly's name yet here)

cf? 1908 notebook: "Dedalus: It annoyed him to hear a girl begin suddenly the first bars of a song and stop."

(Private Carr and Private Compton, swaggersticks tight in their oxters, as they march unsteadily rightaboutface and burst together from their mouths a volleyed fart. Laughter of men from the lane. A hoarse virago retorts.)

draft: "Three redcoats, swaggersticks tight in their oxters, turn about towards the voice and, without halting, emit in chorus a loud fart from their mouths. Laughter of men in the lane. A hoarse hag calls: --Signs on you, dirtyarse. More power, the Kildare girl."

Carr and Bennett owe their names to the parties in Joyce's farcical 1918 legal wrangle about who should pay for an actor's trousers. Ellmann's index cites Compton as the English Players' business manager-- but what did he do to tick Joyce off?
Joyce also considered using Haines as one of the soldiers (Circe notesheet)

swagger stick in armpit [wiki]

they're offduty and drunk

'left about face' is rarely used

'blowing a raspberry'
unseen men in the lane overhear the raspberry and laugh



THE VIRAGO
Signs on you, hairy arse. More power the Cavan girl.

vihRAHgo

"Signs on" = 'sure enough'?? [1835]
usually 'signs on it' [egs]

they both insulted her, but the reply here is singular


CISSY CAFFREY
More luck to me. Cavan, Cootehill and Belturbet. (She sings.)




here's 32 Cavan girls named Caffrey from 1901

>

mysteries: Signs on you


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