him a dear man, a dear person. He is a rather quaint fellow on the whole,
coy though not feebleminded in the medical sense. He has written a really
beautiful letter, a poem in itself, to the court missionary of the Reformed
Priests Protection Society which clears up everything. He is practically a total
abstainer and I can affirm that he sleeps on a straw litter and eats the most
Spartan food, cold dried grocer’s peas. He wears a hairshirt winter and summer
and scourges himself every Saturday. He was, I understand, at one time a
firstclass misdemeanant in Glencree reformatory. Another report states that he
was a very posthumous child. I appeal for clemency in the name of the most
sacred word our vocal organs have ever been called upon to speak. He is about
to have a baby.
(General commotion and compassion. Women faint. A wealthy American makes a street collection for Bloom. Gold and silver coins, blank cheques, banknotes, jewels, treasury bonds, maturing bills of exchange, I. O. U’s, wedding rings, watchchains, lockets, necklaces and bracelets are rapidly collected.)
bloom
O, I so want to be a mother.
mrs thornton
(In nursetender’s gown.) Embrace me tight, dear. You’ll be soon over it.
Tight, dear.
(Bloom embraces her tightly and bears eight male yellow and white children. They appear on a redcarpeted staircase adorned with expensive plants. All are handsome, with valuable metallic faces, wellmade, respectably dressed and wellconducted, speaking five modern languages fluently and interested in various arts and sciences. Each has his name printed in legible letters on his shirtfront: Nasodoro, Goldfinger, Chrysostomos, Maindorée, Silversmile, Silberselber, Vifargent, Panargyros. They are immediately appointed to positions of high public trust in several different countries as managing directors of banks, traffic managers of railways, chairmen of limited liability companies, vice chairmen of hotel syndicates.)
a voice
Bloom, are you the Messiah ben Joseph or ben David?
