Complete Plays, The

by William Shakespeare

  Titania

  Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;

  Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;

  Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,

  Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,

  To make my small elves coats, and some keep back

  The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders

  At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;

  Then to your offices and let me rest.

  The Fairies sing

  You spotted snakes with double tongue,

  Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;

  Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,

  Come not near our fairy queen.

  Philomel, with melody

  Sing in our sweet lullaby;

  Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:

  Never harm,

  Nor spell nor charm,

  Come our lovely lady nigh;

  So, good night, with lullaby.

  Weaving spiders, come not here;

  Hence, you long-legg’d spinners, hence!

  Beetles black, approach not near;

  Worm nor snail, do no offence.

  Philomel, with melody, &c.

  Fairy

  Hence, away! now all is well:

  One aloof stand sentinel.

  Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps

  Enter Oberon and squeezes the flower on Titania’s eyelids

  Oberon

  What thou seest when thou dost wake,

  Do it for thy true-love take,

  Love and languish for his sake:

  Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,

  Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

  In thy eye that shall appear

  When thou wakest, it is thy dear:

  Wake when some vile thing is near.

  Exit

  Enter Lysander and Hermia

  Lysander

  Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

  And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:

  We’ll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,

  And tarry for the comfort of the day.

  Hermia

  Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;

  For I upon this bank will rest my head.

  Lysander

  One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;

  One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.

  Hermia

  Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,

  Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

  Lysander

  O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!

  Love takes the meaning in love’s conference.

  I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit

  So that but one heart we can make of it;

  Two bosoms interchained with an oath;

  So then two bosoms and a single troth.

  Then by your side no bed-room me deny;

  For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

  Hermia

  Lysander riddles very prettily:

  Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,

  If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.

  But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy

  Lie further off; in human modesty,

  Such separation as may well be said

  Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,

  So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:

  Thy love ne’er alter till thy sweet life end!

  Lysander

  Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;

  And then end life when I end loyalty!

  Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!

  Hermia

  With half that wish the wisher’s eyes be press’d!

  They sleep

  Enter Puck

  Puck

  Through the forest have I gone.

  But Athenian found I none,

  On whose eyes I might approve

  This flower’s force in stirring love.

  Night and silence.— Who is here?

  Weeds of Athens he doth wear:

  This is he, my master said,

  Despised the Athenian maid;

  And here the maiden, sleeping sound,

  On the dank and dirty ground.

  Pretty soul! she durst not lie

  Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

  Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

  All the power this charm doth owe.

  When thou wakest, let love forbid

  Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:

  So awake when I am gone;

  For I must now to Oberon.

  Exit

  Enter Demetrius and Helena, running

  Helena

  Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.

  Demetrius

  I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.

  Helena

  O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.

  Demetrius

  Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.

  Exit

  Helena

  O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!

  The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.

  Happy is Hermia, wheresoe’er she lies;

  For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.

  How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:

  If so, my eyes are oftener wash’d than hers.

  No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

  For beasts that meet me run away for fear:

  Therefore no marvel though Demetrius

  Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.

  What wicked and dissembling glass of mine

  Made me compare with Hermia’s sphery eyne?

  But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!

  Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.

  Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.

  Lysander

  [Awaking] And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.

  Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,

  That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.

  Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word

  Is that vile name to perish on my sword!

  Helena

  Do not say so, Lysander; say not so

  What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?

  Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.

  Lysander

  Content with Hermia! No; I do repent

  The tedious minutes I with her have spent.

  Not Hermia but Helena I love:

  Who will not change a raven for a dove?

  The will of man is by his reason sway’d;

  And reason says you are the worthier maid.

  Things growing are not ripe until their season

  So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;

  And touching now the point of human skill,

  Reason becomes the marshal to my will

  And leads me to your eyes, where I o’erlook

  Love’s stories written in love’s richest book.

  Helena

  Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?

  When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?

  Is’t not enough, is’t not enough, young man,

  That I did never, no, nor never can,

  Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius’ eye,

  But you must flout my insufficiency?

  Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,

  In such disdainful manner me to woo.

  But fare you well: perforce I must confess

  I thought you lord of more true gentleness.

  O, that a lady, of one man refused.

  Should of another therefore be abused!

  Exit

  Lysander

  She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there:

  And never mayst thou come Lysander near!

  For as a surfeit of the sweetest things

  The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,
/>
  Or as the heresies that men do leave

  Are hated most of those they did deceive,

  So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,

  Of all be hated, but the most of me!

  And, all my powers, address your love and might

  To honour Helen and to be her knight!

  Exit

  Hermia

  [Awaking] Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best

  To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!

  Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!

  Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:

  Methought a serpent eat my heart away,

  And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.

  Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!

  What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?

  Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;

  Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.

  No? then I well perceive you are not nigh

  Either death or you I’ll find immediately.

  Exit

  ACT III

  SCENE I. THE WOOD. TITANIA LYING ASLEEP.

  Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling

  Bottom

  Are we all met?

  Quince

  Pat, pat; and here’s a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house; and we will do it in action as we will do it before the duke.

  Bottom

  Peter Quince,—

  Quince

  What sayest thou, bully Bottom?

  Bottom

  There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisby that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that?

  Snout

  By’r lakin, a parlous fear.

  Starveling

  I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.

  Bottom

  Not a whit: I have a device to make all well. Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put them out of fear.

  Quince

  Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be written in eight and six.

  Bottom

  No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.

  Snout

  Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?

  Starveling

  I fear it, I promise you.

  Bottom

  Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to bring in — God shield us!— a lion among ladies, is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to look to ’t.

  Snout

  Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.

  Bottom

  Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion’s neck: and he himself must speak through, saying thus, or to the same defect,—‘Ladies,’— or ‘Fair-ladies — I would wish you,’— or ‘I would request you,’— or ‘I would entreat you,— not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am a man as other men are;’ and there indeed let him name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.

  Quince

  Well it shall be so. But there is two hard things; that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for, you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.

  Snout

  Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?

  Bottom

  A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanac; find out moonshine, find out moonshine.

  Quince

  Yes, it doth shine that night.

  Bottom

  Why, then may you leave a casement of the great chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon may shine in at the casement.

  Quince

  Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, did talk through the chink of a wall.

  Snout

  You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?

  Bottom

  Some man or other must present Wall: and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.

  Quince

  If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down, every mother’s son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin: when you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake: and so every one according to his cue.

  Enter Puck behind

  Puck

  What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,

  So near the cradle of the fairy queen?

  What, a play toward! I’ll be an auditor;

  An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.

  Quince

  Speak, Pyramus. Thisby, stand forth.

  Bottom

  Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,—

  Quince

  Odours, odours.

  Bottom

  — odours savours sweet:

  So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.

  But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,

  And by and by I will to thee appear.

  Exit

  Puck

  A stranger Pyramus than e’er played here.

  Exit

  Flute

  Must I speak now?

  Quince

  Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.

  Flute

  Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,

  Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,

  Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew,

  As true as truest horse that yet would never tire,

  I’ll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny’s tomb.

  Quince

  ‘Ninus’ tomb,’ man: why, you must not speak that yet; that you answer to Pyramus: you speak all your part at once, cues and all. Pyramus enter: your cue is past; it is, ‘never tire.’

  Flute

  O,— As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire.

  Re-enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass’s head

  Bottom

  If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine.

  Quince

  O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray, masters! fly, masters! Help!

  Exeunt Quince, Snug, Flute, Snout, and Starveling

  Puck

  I’ll follow you, I’ll lead you about a round,

  Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:

  Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,

  A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;

  And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,

  Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.

  Exit

  Bottom

  Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to make me afeard.

  Re-enter Snout

  Snout

  O Bottom, thou art changed! what do I see on thee?

  Bottom

  What do you see? you see an asshead of your own, do you?

  Exit Snout

  Re-enter Quince

  Quince

  Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated.

  Exit

  Bottom

  I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.

  [Sings] The ousel cock so
black of hue,

  With orange-tawny bill,

  The throstle with his note so true,

  The wren with little quill,—

  Titania

  [Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?

  Bottom

  [Sings] The finch, the sparrow and the lark,

  The plain-song cuckoo gray,

  Whose note full many a man doth mark,

  And dares not answer nay;—

  for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry ‘cuckoo’ never so?

  Titania

  I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:

  Mine ear is much enamour’d of thy note;

  So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;

  And thy fair virtue’s force perforce 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 now-a-days; the more the pity that some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek 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.

  Titania

  Out of this wood do not desire to go:

  Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.

  I am a spirit of no common rate;

  The summer still doth tend upon my state;

  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,

  And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;

  And I will purge thy mortal grossness so

  That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

  Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!

  Enter Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and 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;

  Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,

  With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;

  The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,

  And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs

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

  To have my love to bed and to arise;

  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