A Midsummer Night's Dream (9 page)

     The
ousel cock
¹¹⁴
so black of hue,

     With orange-tawny bill,

     The
throstle
¹¹⁶
with his note so true,

     The wren with little
quill
¹¹⁷
—

TITANIA
    What angel wakes me from my flow'ry bed?

BOTTOM
    The finch, the sparrow and the lark,

     The
plain-song
¹²⁰
cuckoo grey,

     Whose note full many a man doth mark,

     And
dares not answer nay
¹²²
—

For, indeed,
who would set his wit to so foolish a bird
¹²³
? Who

would
give a bird the lie
, though he cry ‘
cuckoo
¹²⁴
' never so?

TITANIA
    I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:

Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;

So is mine eye
enthrallèd
¹²⁷
to thy shape:

And thy fair
virtue's
force
perforce
¹²⁸
doth move me

On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.

BOTTOM
    Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for

that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little

company together nowadays; the more the pity that some

honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can

gleek
¹³⁴
upon occasion.

TITANIA
    Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

BOTTOM
    Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out of

this wood, I have enough to serve mine own
turn
¹³⁷
.

TITANIA
    Out of this wood do not desire to go:

Thou shalt remain here, whether thou
wilt
¹³⁹
or no.

I am a spirit of no common
rate
¹⁴⁰
.

The summer
still
doth
tend upon
my
state
¹⁴¹
,

And I do love thee: therefore, go with me.

I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,

And they shall fetch thee jewels from the
deep
¹⁴⁴
,

And sing while thou on pressèd flowers dost sleep.

And I will purge thy mortal
grossness
¹⁴⁶
so

That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

Peaseblossom
, Cobweb,
Moth
¹⁴⁸
, Mustardseed!

PEASEBLOSSOM
    Ready.

COBWEB
    And I.

MOTH
    And I.

MUSTARDSEED
    And I.

ALL
    Where shall we go?

TITANIA
    Be kind and courteous to this gentleman.

Hop in his walks and gambol in his
eyes
¹⁵⁵
,

Feed him with
apricocks
and
dewberries
¹⁵⁶
,

With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries.

The honey-bags steal from the
humble-bees
¹⁵⁸
,

And for
night-tapers
¹⁵⁹
crop their waxen thighs

And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,

To have my love to bed and to
arise
¹⁶¹
.

And pluck the wings from painted butterflies

To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes.

Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

PEASEBLOSSOM
    Hail, mortal!

COBWEB
    Hail!

MOTH
    Hail!

MUSTARDSEED
    Hail!

BOTTOM
    I
cry your worship's mercy
¹⁶⁹
, heartily;

I beseech your worship's name.

COBWEB
    Cobweb.

BOTTOM
    I shall
desire you of more acquaintance
¹⁷²
, good

Master Cobweb:
if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with
¹⁷³

you.— Your name, honest gentleman?

PEASEBLOSSOM
    Peaseblossom.

BOTTOM
    I pray you commend me to Mistress
Squash
¹⁷⁶
, your

mother, and to Master
Peascod
¹⁷⁷
, your father. Good Master

Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance

too.— Your name, I beseech you, sir?

MUSTARDSEED
    Mustardseed.

BOTTOM
    Good Master Mustardseed, I know your
patience
¹⁸¹

well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured

many a gentleman of your house. I promise you, your

kindred hath
made my eyes water
¹⁸⁴
ere now. I desire you of

more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed.

TITANIA
    Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bower.

The moon methinks looks with a wat'ry eye,

And when she
weeps
¹⁸⁸
, weeps every little flower,

Lamenting some
enforcèd
¹⁸⁹
chastity.

Tie up my lover's tongue
¹⁹⁰
, bring him silently.

OBERON
    I wonder if Titania be awaked;

Then what it was that next came in her eye,

Which she must dote on
in extremity
³
.

Here comes my messenger.— How now, mad spirit?

What
night-rule
now about this
haunted
⁵
grove?

ROBIN
    My mistress with a monster is in love.

Near to her
close
⁷
and consecrated bower,

While she was in her
dull
⁸
and sleeping hour,

A crew of
patches
,
rude mechanicals
⁹
,

That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,

Were met together to rehearse a play

Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.

The shallowest thick-skin of that
barren sort
¹³
,

Who Pyramus presented in their sport,

Forsook
his
scene
¹⁵
and entered in a brake,

When I did him at this advantage take:

An ass's
noll
¹⁷
I fixèd on his head.

Anon his Thisbe must be answerèd,

And forth my
mimic
¹⁹
comes. When they him spy,

As wild geese that the creeping
fowler
²⁰
eye,

Or
russet-pated choughs
,
many in sort
²¹
,

Rising and cawing at the gun's
report
²²
,

Sever
themselves and madly
sweep
²³
the sky,

So, at his sight, away his fellows fly.

And at our stamp here o'er and o'er one falls;

He ‘murder' cries and help from Athens calls.

Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong,

Made senseless things begin to do them wrong.

For briars and thorns at their apparel snatch,

Some sleeves, some hats, from
yielders
³⁰
all things catch.

I led them on in this distracted fear,

And left sweet Pyramus translated there:

When in that moment, so it came to pass,

Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.

OBERON
    This falls out better than I could devise.

But hast thou yet
latched
³⁶
the Athenian's eyes

With the love juice, as I did bid thee do?

ROBIN
    I took him sleeping — that is finished too —

And the Athenian woman by his side,

That, when he waked,
of force
⁴⁰
she must be eyed.

OBERON
    Stand
close
⁴¹
. This is the same Athenian.

ROBIN
    This is the woman, but not this the man.

DEMETRIUS
    O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?

Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

HERMIA
    Now I but
chide
, but I should
use
⁴⁵
thee worse,

For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse,

If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,

Being o'er shoes
⁴⁸
in blood, plunge in the deep,

And kill me too.

The sun was not so
true
⁵⁰
unto the day

As he to me. Would he have stol'n away

From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon

This
whole
earth may be
bored
⁵³
and that the moon

May through the
centre
⁵⁴
creep, and so displease

Her brother's
noontide with
th'Antipodes
⁵⁵
.

It cannot be but thou hast murdered him,

So should a murderer look, so
dead
⁵⁷
, so grim.

DEMETRIUS
    So should the murdered look, and so should I,

Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty:

Yet you, the murderer, looks as bright, as clear,

As yonder
Venus
in her glimm'ring
sphere
⁶¹
.

HERMIA
    What's this
to
⁶²
my Lysander? Where is he?

Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

DEMETRIUS
    I'd rather give his carcass to my hounds.

HERMIA
    Out, dog! Out,
cur
⁶⁵
! Thou driv'st me past the bounds

Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?

Henceforth be never
numbered
⁶⁷
among men.

O,
once
⁶⁸
tell true, tell true even for my sake!

Durst
thou
a
⁶⁹
looked upon him being awake?

And hast thou killed him sleeping? O
brave touch
⁷⁰
!

Could not a
worm
⁷¹
, an adder, do so much?

An adder did it, for with
doubler
⁷²
tongue

Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.

DEMETRIUS
    You
spend
your
passion
on a
misprised mood
⁷⁴
.

I am not guilty of Lysander's blood,

Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.

HERMIA
    I pray thee tell me then that he is well.

DEMETRIUS
    An if I could, what should I get
therefor
⁷⁸
?

HERMIA
    A privilege never to see me more;

And from thy hated presence part I so:

See me no more, whether he be dead or no.

DEMETRIUS
    There is no following her in this fierce
vein
⁸²
:

Here therefore for a while I will remain.

So sorrow's heaviness doth
heavier
⁸⁴
grow

For
⁸⁵
debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe,

Which now in some slight measure it will pay,

If for
his tender
here I
make some stay
⁸⁷
.

OBERON
    What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken
quite
⁸⁸

And laid the love juice on some true love's sight:

Of thy
misprision
⁹⁰
must perforce ensue

Some true love turned, and not a false turned true.

ROBIN
    Then fate o'errules, that,
one man holding troth
⁹²
,

A million fail,
confounding
oath
on
⁹³
oath.

OBERON
    About the wood go swifter than the wind,

And Helena of Athens
look
⁹⁵
thou find.

All
fancy-sick
she is and pale of
cheer
⁹⁶
,

With
sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear
⁹⁷
.

By some
illusion
⁹⁸
see thou bring her here.

I'll charm his eyes
against
⁹⁹
she doth appear.

ROBIN
    I go, I go, look how I go,

Swifter than arrow from the
Tartar's bow
¹⁰¹
.