"Up Micawber!"

(130.20-132.20)  It's round three of our trek through the first question of the Wake's sixth chapter.  Once again, I'll jump straight into my top five items from today's portion of the catalog.

• "he has twenty four or so cousins germinating in the United States of America and a namesake with an initial difference in the once kingdom of Poland" -- This references the statement (attributed by McHugh to Dillon Cosgrave) that there are 24 Dublins in the United States.  One -- Dublin, Ohio -- is about 20 miles from where I live, and it just had its annual Irish Festival last weekend.  (I didn't go, but I don't think I missed much discussion of Finnegans Wake.)  McHugh notes that the namesake with the "initial difference" is Lublin, Poland.
• "taught himself skating and learned how to fall" -- Here's an example of the Wake being relatively simple, for once.  I'm not catching any puns or double-meanings in "skating," but fall certainly refers not only to falling while skating, but also to falling through sin and the ultimate falling to death.  So, even in simplicity, there's rich depth.
• "burning body to aiger air on melting mountain in wooing wave" -- McHugh notes that "aiger air" refers to "a nipping and an eager air" in Hamlet.  He also points out that it encompasses the French "aigre," which translates to "chill" or "bitter."  I highlight this selection mostly because it incorporates the four elements -- here fire, wind, earth, and water -- which are continually popping up on these pages.  This also follows the book's shifting focuses, from HCE (the "burning body") to ALP (the "wooing wave").
• "we go into him sleepy children, we come out of him strucklers for life" -- We start out life as sleeping babies, and we go out of it struggling against death.  This selection immediately follows the "burning body" phrase, and I think this immediate proximity serves to further emphasize HCE's story, and the Wake itself, as the story of all human life.
• "Miraculone, Monstrucceleen" -- Here's a more complex one. From "Miraculone," McHugh extracts the Italian "miraculone" ("big miracle") and "culone ("big arse").  From "Monstrucceleen" he draws the Italian "uccellino" ("little bird").  This is the devious Joyce playfully accentuating HCE's dueling natures.  He's a giant miracle, and a giant ass.  And he's a monster, but he's also a gentle bird.