An encounter

As in “The Sisters,” an unnamed storyteller (possibly the same narrator featured in that story) recalls a transformative boyhood experience. Here, the boy schemes with his friends Leo Dillon and Mahony to play hooky from their exclusive private school one day in June and walk across Dublin, and then ride a ferry boat across the River Liffey to the Pigeon House. When Dillon fails to show up, the narrator and Mahony leave without him.

After crossing the Liffey, the boys chase a stray cat across a field and encounter a stranger there. The man quizzes the narrator and Mahony on the books they’ve read, and then asks them if they have girlfriends. After a while, the man crosses the field and does something that the boys find “queer”—probably masturbating. Then he returns. When Mahony leaves to pursue the cat further, the strange man talks obsessively to the protagonist (main character) about the need for boys who misbehave to be whipped. When the stranger is done talking, the boy leaves, seeking Mahony.

Dubliners