Ans. When Oedipus accuses Teiresias of complicity in the murder of Laius, the latter is compelled to give a reply. Teiresias denies the charge that he is in league with Creon to overthrow him. He says Oedipus may be having eyes in the physical. sense, but he is actually blind, he is unable to see the facts. He is not aware of the identity of his parents. Teiresias foretells that Oedipus will be driven out of Thebes, and that he will be deprived of his eyesight. Teiresias adds that Oedipus will utter agonies of. cries on learning the implications of his marriage, and he will find himself equal with his own children. Oedipus asks Teiresias who his parents were. In reply Teiresias says that this very day will unfold the secret of his birth and his destruction. Oedipus says that Teiresias is talking in riddles, but Teiresias says he should be able to solve the riddle since he showed such power in solving the riddle of Sphinx. Out of rage Oedipus tells Teiresias to leave his presence. But Teiresias says he will go only when he has completed what he has to say. Then he goes on to say that the man for whom he has “ordered hue and cry”, the killer of Laius is here, in the city. He is a Theban born. He came seeing, but he will go away blind from the land. He is now rich, but will become a beggar. He will have stick-in-hand, and will go groping his way to a land of exile. He is brother, and father at once, to the children he is bringing up. He is son and, at the same time, husband to the woman who bore him. He is father-killer, and father-sup planter. Then Teiresias told Oedipus to go inside the palace, and think on what he has said.
