There was every kind of news
in the paper: accidents, shipwrecks, sports, and politics.
--Now it is all about politics in the papers, he said. Do your people
talk about that too?
--Yes, Stephen said.
--Mine too, he said.
Then he thought for a moment and said:
--You have a queer name, Dedalus, and I have a queer name too, Athy.
My name is the name of a town. Your name is like Latin.
Then he asked:
--Are you good at riddles?
Stephen answered:
--Not very good.
Then he said:
--Can you answer me this one? Why is the county of Kildare like the
leg of a fellow's breeches?
Stephen thought what could be the answer and then said:
--I give it up.
--Because there is a thigh in it, he said. Do you see the joke? Athy
is the town in the county Kildare and a thigh is the other thigh.
--Oh, I see, Stephen said.
--That's an old riddle, he said.
After a moment he said:
--I say!
--What? asked Stephen.
--You know, he said, you can ask that riddle another way.
--Can you? said Stephen.
--The same riddle, he said. Do you know the other way to ask it?
--No, said Stephen.
--Can you not think of the other way? he said.
He looked at Stephen over the bedclothes as he spoke. Then he lay back
on the pillow and said:
--There is another way but I won't tell you what it is.
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