Little craythur

creature

craythur = Irish whiskey

In the song "Finnegan's Wake," Tim Finnegan "had a sort o' the tipplin' way/ With a love of the liquor poor Tim was born/ And to help him on with his work each day/ He'd a drop of the craythur ev'ry morn."

While drunk, Tim falls from a ladder and dies. During his wake, he is splashed with whiskey and comes back to life.

Joyce all but quotes the song a few paragraphs later:

"They laid him brawdawn alanglast bed. With a bockalips of finisky fore his feet. And a barrowload of guenesis hoer his head."

This refers to the song's lyrics, which read:

"They wrapped him up in a nice clean sheet And laid him out across the bed, With a gallon of whiskey at his feet And a barrel of porter at his head."