In "The Priest's Soul" (Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland, 1887) which Yeats's The Hour-Glass is based on, the character that convinced the Priest of the existence of the soul was a child from a far country. The counterpart is Teigue (a fool) in The Hour-Glass. Both could see God and have innocence in common. Dream plays an impotant part in the play. A pupil's dream made him decide to challenge Wise Man to an argument by bringing forward the words written on Babylon wall by a beggar. The fact that Wise Man had dreamed of the same words twice that morning began to trouble him. Dream bridges the gap between realistic thoughts and spiritual life. Why "the two fools"? Teigue was the only one that could see God, but at the very end, Wise Man could believe in God and died. Such men as could see God were 'fools' according to Wise Man at the beginning of the play. If Teigue were a fool who could see God, Wise Man is now another.
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