James Joyce

Ulysses James Joyce

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirrorand a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him on themild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned: -Introibo ad altare Dei. Halted, he peered down the dark winding stairs and called out coarsely: -Come up, Kinch! Come up, you fearful jesuit!Solemnly he came forward and mounted the round gunrest. He faced about and blessed gravelythrice the tower, the surrounding land and the awaking mountains. Then, catching sight of StephenDedalus, he bent towards him and made rapid crosses in the air, gurgling in his throat and shakinghis head. Stephen Dedalus, displeased and sleepy, leaned his arms on the top of the staircase andlooked coldly at the shaking gurgling face that blessed him, equine in its length, and at the lightuntonsured hair, grained and hued like pale oak. Buck Mulligan peeped an instant under the mirror and then covered the bowl smartly.-Back to barracks! he said sternly. He added in a preacher's ton