Ilove the opening lines of this page: "What clashes here of wills gen wonts, oystrygods gaggin fishygods! Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax! Ualu Ualu Ualu! Quaouauh!" They evoke the sounds of primitive battles of early warriors whose cries echo throughout history in the following lines. They also recreate the sounds of gulls and fish gathering at the mouth of the river. Our early ancestors left the dregs of their existence in middens or dumps, often by rivers and the sea, only to be excavated or scratched by the gulls looking for tidbits, and this theme of excavation will run throughout the book.
The harsh sound of the call "Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek!" is symbolised by the sharp dashes on the right of the illustration while the softer sounds come from the fishy form.
In this page, we're also introduced to poor Finnegan whose appetite for drink led to his demise for, while building his "skyerscrape of most eyeful hoyth entowerly" or another of equal proportions, he had a fatal fall. What a wonderful image that building is: something like the Eiffel Tower and Bailey’s lighthouse in Howth. By the way, did you know that another iteration of Finnegan, Finn McCool was so big a giant that his head is buried in Howth and his feet in the Phoenix Park? There's an illustration for that coming up soon!