Gemini.Finnegans.Wake.25
The movibles are scrawling in motions, marching, all of them ago, in pitpat and zingzang for every busy eerie whig’s a bit of a torytale to tell. One’s upon a thyme and two’s behind their lettice leap and there’s among the strubbely beds. And the chicks picked their teeths and the dombkey he begay began. You can ask your ass if he believes it. And so cuddy me only wallops have heels. That one of a wife with folty barnets. For then was the age when hoops ran high. Of a noarch and a chopwife; of a pomme full grave and a fammy of levity; or of golden youths that wanted gelding; or of what the mischievmiss made a man do. Malmarriedad he was reversogassed by the frisque of her frasques and her prytty pyrrhique. Maye faye, she’s la gaye this snaky woman! Fron this trippiery toe expectungpelick! Veil, volantine, valentine eyes. She’s the very besch Winnie blows Nay on good. Flou inn, Flow ann. Hohore! So it’s sure it was her not we! But lay it easy, gentle mien, we are in rearing of a norewhig. So weenybeenyveenyteeny. Comsy see! Het wis if ee newt. Lissom! lissom! I am doing it. Hark, the corne entreats! And the larpnotes prittle.
This paragraph is a whirlwind of storytelling, giving us a rapid-fire series of short, conflicting tales that all revolve around the eternal conflict between men and women, before signaling the start of a new narrative.
A World of Competing Stories
The paragraph opens by stating that the world is full of moving figures (The movibles are scrawling in motions) and that every person (whig) has a competing story (torytale) to tell. It then presents a list of the kinds of tales we are about to hear, which sound like distorted fables or Bible stories:
- Of a great patriarch and his difficult wife (
a noarch and a chopwife). - Of a mismatched couple: a grave man and a lighthearted woman (
a pomme full grave and a fammy of levity). - And, most importantly, of temptation:
what the mischievmiss made a man do.
The War of the Sexes
The core of the paragraph is a classic “he said, she said” marital battle. The Malmarriedad (the badly-married dad, HCE) is defeated in an argument by his wife. She is described as a tempting and dangerous snaky woman with alluring valentine eyes.
After her victory, the male voice immediately tries to shift the blame for the original sin, in an echo of Adam blaming Eve in the Garden of Eden:
So it’s sure it was her not we!
A New Story Begins
After running through all these old, tired stories of blame and conflict, the paragraph ends with a hush and a sense of a new beginning. We are told to lay it easy, because we are in rearing of a norewhig (in the hearing of a new story).
The start is tiny and quiet (So weenybeenyveenyteeny), and the reader is invited to Comsy see! (Come and see!). The final lines are the sounds of this new story just beginning to unfold:
Hark, the corne entreats! And the larpnotes prittle.
The horn calls us to attention, and the first notes from the harp begin to play, signaling that the main performance is about to start. 🎶
24/08/2025, P.21.04, to be continued.