Gemini.Finnegans.Wake.07
How bootifull and how truetowife of her, when strengly forebidden, to steal our historic presents from the past postpropheticals so as to will make us all lordy heirs and ladymaidesses of a pretty nice kettle of fruit. She is livving in our midst of debt and laffing through all plores for us (her birth is uncontrollable), with a naperon for her mask and her sabboes kickin arias (so sair! so solly!) if yous ask me and I saack you. Hou! Hou! Gricks may rise and Troysirs fall (there being two sights for ever a picture) for in the byways of high improvidence that’s what makes lifework leaving and the wor;d’s a cell for citters to cit in. Let young wimman run away with the story and let young min talk smooth behind the butteler’s back. She knows her knight’s duty while Luntum sleeps. Did ye save any tim? says he. Did I wat? with a grin says she. And we all like a marriedann because she is mercenary. Though the length of the land lies under liquidation(floote!) and there’s nare a hairbrow nor an eyebush on this glaubrous phace of Herrschuft Whatarwelter she;ll loan a vesta and hire some peat and sarch the shores her cockles to heat and she’ll do all a turfwoman can to piff the business on. Paff. To puff the blaziness on. Poffpoff. And even if Humpty shell fall frumpty times as awkward again in the beardsboosoloom of all our grand remonstrancers there’ll be iggs for the brekkers come to mournhim, sunny side up with care. So true is it that therewhere’s a turnover the tay is wet too and when you think you ketch sight of a hind make sure but you’re cocked by a hin.
As Wednesday night offers a moment of midweek reflection, this paragraph steps back to praise and explain the actions of the female scavenger, Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP). It’s a beautiful tribute to her resilience and her essential role in the cycle of life.
The True Wife of History
The paragraph opens by celebrating her as bootifull and truetowife. Her great act is to steal our historic presents from the past—to take the broken debris of history and transform it into a future inheritance for all of us. She finds value in the wreckage and turns a messy “kettle of fish” into a fruitful one. 🍎 She laughs through her tears and continues her work while the great empires (Gricks, Troysirs, Luntum/London) rise, fall, and sleep.
The Power of the Practical
Even when the world is a wasteland, her practical nature ensures survival. The paragraph paints a vivid picture:
Though the length of the land lies under liquidation(floote!) and there’s nare a hairbrow nor an eyebush on this glaubrous phace of Herrschuft Whatarwelter she;ll loan a vesta and hire some peat and sarch the shores her cockles to heat and she’ll do all a turfwoman can to piff the business on. Paff.
Even when the great man (Herrschuft Whatarwelter, or Mr. World-of-Water) is a barren, lifeless landscape, she, like a common Irish turfwoman, will find a way to make a fire (piff the business on. Paff.) and find food. She creates warmth and life from the ruins.
The Promise of the Eggs 🍳
The most powerful image here explains her ultimate function. It’s a direct response to the fall of HCE/Humpty Dumpty:
And even if Humpty shell fall frumpty times as awkward again… there’ll be iggs for the brekkers come to mournhim, sunny side up with care.
This is her magic. She doesn’t just put Humpty back together again. She takes his shattered fragments (iggs/eggs) and cooks them for breakfast. She transforms the disaster of the male fall into a nurturing, optimistic meal for the community that comes to mourn him. His ruin literally becomes the substance for a new day.
The Hind and the Hen
The paragraph concludes with a wise proverb:
…when you think you ketch sight of a hind make sure but you’re cocked by a hin.
The female principle is complex. When you think you see her as one thing—a graceful, wild deer (hind)—you might be fooled (cocked) by her other side: the practical, domestic, egg-laying hen (hin). She is both, and it is this combination of wildness and pragmatism that allows her to ensure that life, no matter how many times it falls, will always go on.
06/08/2025, P.12.17, to be continued.