— ^|aYou have Could you^a|, of course, dear Shaun, read this ^|astrange^{a| |a}language in the^a| letter for his majesty?

— Y I, replied Shaun, ^|ahave cd play it^a|. ^|aIt is awful in its handwriting. A piece of scribble.^a|

Letter written by Sheme, brother of Shaun, for Alp, mother of Shaun, all about Hek, father of Shaun.

— Dear Shaun, I said, since you came to the use of language have you millions of times used worse language than that used by ^|ayour ^|btwin^b| brother^a| Shem.

— ^|aI wd not like to swear but^a| I doubt it, Shaun replied. ^|aShe was put up to it by him.^a|

— You could come near it, dear Shaun, I suppose? I asked.

— No-one could, Shaun replied^|a, for it is incendiary^a|.

— But I suppose you could
{ms, 006}
use ^|aworse^a| yourself yourself, dear Shaun, if you only took the trouble of so doing?

— Undoubtedly so, ^|a& by the powers of war^a| I could do it ^|aany time I liked ^|bwith my left hand tied^b|a| much worse than ^|amy any^{a| |a}twin^a| brother Shem only I would never take the trouble ^|aof doing it^a|, was Shaun's reply ^|aAnd by all I hold sacred I swear ^|ban oath by the name of Shaun^{b| |b}that^b| I ^|bnever will permit will commit to the flames^b| any incendiary ^|bwhoever tries^b| to set a mother of mine on fire.^a|

Mind you he was in the deepest ^|aof sluggish^a| earnest ^|athough his jaw was too heavy to talk^a| but ^|ain looking up to find h what age he was by the polar star^a| he overbalanced by weight of the barrel and rolled ^|abackwards ^|bin a curious mode of motion^b|a| a fairish way ^|abehind the times^a| in the ^|aInchicore^a| direction ^|aof Delgany^a| before being ^|arighted ^|bset put^b| right^a|.

^|aWell, dear Shaun, Thou art passing hence, dear unread, from friends and parents dear,^{a| |a}but^a| may the moss of all peace & prosperity ^|aunread gather^{a| |a}your you^a| rolling home! May the foggy dews bediamond your hoops!? May the fireplug of filiality safeguard your bunghole! ^|aWe know you were loth to leave ^|bus. us but,^{b| |a}&^a| sure, you will turn up some day when your pocket is empty. Anyway may the grass grow quickly under your feet or the daisies grow lightly over your toes.º^a|