The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)

by William Shakespeare

  By saying that I do not and cannot love you?

  HELENA

  And even for that do I love you the more.

  Even that makes me love you more.

  I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,

  I am your pet dog, Demetrius:

  The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:

  Though you beat me, I still come to you.

  Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,

  Use me like a dog, turn me away, hit me,

  Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,

  Ignore me – just allow me,

  Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

  Though I am unworthy, to follow you.

  What worser place can I beg in your love,--

  Is there any lower place in your life –

  And yet a place of high respect with me,--

  And yet I would be honored to be treated this way –

  Than to be used as you use your dog?

  Than to be used, to be your dog?

  DEMETRIUS

  Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit;

  Don’t tempt me to be even more hateful to you.

  For I am sick when I do look on thee.

  I feel sick when I look at you.

  HELENA

  And I am sick when I look not on you.

  And I feel sick when I do not look at you.

  DEMETRIUS

  You do impeach your modesty too much,

  You are risking your reputation of modesy

  To leave the city and commit yourself

  By leaving the city and trusting

  Into the hands of one that loves you not;

  Someone who does not love you

  To trust the opportunity of night

  And to leave yourself vulnerable at night

  And the ill counsel of a desert place

  In the secrecy of a deserted place, far from town,

  With the rich worth of your virginity.

  When your valuable virginity could be taken away.

  HELENA

  Your virtue is my privilege: for that

  I know you are virtuous, and that protects me.

  It is not night when I do see your face,

  Anyway, your face is so bright when I look at it

  Therefore I think I am not in the night;

  That I do not think it is night time.

  Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,

  This forest, too, is not deserted

  For you in my respect are all the world:

  Because having you nearby is the same as having the whole world.

  Then how can it be said I am alone,

  So how can you say I am alone

  When all the world is here to look on me?

  When the whole world is here with me?

  DEMETRIUS

  I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,

  I’ll run away and hide in the brush,

  And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

  Leaving you to the wild animals.

  HELENA

  The wildest hath not such a heart as you.

  The wildest one is not as mean as you.

  Run when you will, the story shall be changed:

  Run away then, the classic myth will be reversed:

  Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;

  Apollo will fly instead, and Daphne will chase him,

  The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind

  The dove will chase the griffin, the deer

  Makes speed to catch the tiger; bootless speed,

  Will run fast after the tiger, with unmatched speed

  When cowardice pursues and valour flies.

  What is cowardly will chase what is brave, which runs away.

  DEMETRIUS

  I will not stay thy questions; let me go:

  I will not listen to your questions, let me leave –

  Or, if thou follow me, do not believe

  Or, if you follow me, know

  But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

  That I will do evil things to you in the forest.

  HELENA

  Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,

  Already in the temple and in the town and in the field

  You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!

  You do evil things to me! Bad Demetrius!

  Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:

  Your evil treatment insults women

  We cannot fight for love, as men may do;

  Who cannot fight for love like men do,

  We should be wood and were not made to woo.

  Instead we should be the ones courted, not the courters.

  Exit DEMETRIUS

  I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,

  I’ll follow you and the evil you give will be heaven and joy to me,

  To die upon the hand I love so well.

  Even joy to be killed by someone I love so much.

  Exit

  OBERON

  Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,

  Good luck, young girl. Before Demetrius leaves the forest,

  Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love.

  You will be running from him, and he will be chasing you.

  Re-enter PUCK

  Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

  Do you have the flower? Hello, wandering Puck.

  PUCK

  Ay, there it is.

  Yes, here it is.

  OBERON

  I pray thee, give it me.

  Please, give it to me.

  I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

  There is a bank I know where wild thyme

  Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

  And oxlip and violet flowers grow,

  Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

  Shaded by overgrowths of honeysuckle

  With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:

  And musk-roses and sweet briars:

  There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

  Sometimes Titania sleeps there at night

  Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;

  Attracted to the flowers after her dancing and frolicking.

  And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,

  There, the snake covers her in a blanket of its shed skin

  Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:

  And the fairies wrap themselves in the wide weeds,

  And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,

  It is there that I will place this potion on her eyes

  And make her full of hateful fantasies.

  And make her fall madly in love.

  Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:

  Now you take some of it as well, and look for

  A sweet Athenian lady is in love

  A sweet Athenian lady who is in love

  With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;

  With a young man who does not love her. Put this on his eyes,

  But do it when the next thing he espies

  But do it so that the next thing he sees

  May be the lady: thou shalt know the man

  Is the woman. You will know the man

  By the Athenian garments he hath on.

  By his Athenian clothing.

  Effect it with some care, that he may prove

  Make sure you apply the potion so that he

  More fond on her than she upon her love:

  Will love her more than she loves him,

  And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

  And then meet me before the first crowing of the rooster.

  PUCK

  Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.

  Don’t worry, my king, I will do everything you ask.

  Exeunt

  Another part of the wood.

  Enter TITANIA, with her train

  TITANIA

  Come
, now a roundel and a fairy song;

  Come and we will dance and sing,

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

  And then, for a little while after,

  Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,

  Some of you will kill worms infecting the flowers

  Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,

  And some fight the bats to take their leathery wings

  To make my small elves coats, and some keep back

  So I can make coats from them for small elves, and some of you

  The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders

  Will chase off that noisy owl that hoots every night

  At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;

  At our festivities. Now, sing me to sleep,

  Then to your offices and let me rest.

  And then go to work and let me rest.

  The Fairies sing

  FIRST FAIRY

  You spotted snakes with double tongue,

  You forked tongue snakes

  Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;

  And porcupines, go away;

  Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,

  Newts and lizards, do not do anything wrong,

  Come not near our fairy queen.

  And stay away from Queen Titania.

  FAIRIESPhilomel, with melody

  Dear nightingale, melodiously

  Sing in our sweet lullaby;

  Sing with us in this lullaby.

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

  Never harm,

  Let no harm

  Nor spell nor charm,

  Or spell or enchantment

  Come our lovely lady nigh;

  Come to our lovely queen here.

  So, good night, with lullaby.

  Now goodnight, and sweet dreams.

  FIRST FAIRY

  Weaving spiders, come not here;

  Spiders weaving your webs, stay away,

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

  All of you long-legged spinners of webs, stay back!

  Beetles black, approach not near;

  Black beetles, do not come near,

  Worm nor snail, do no offence.

  And worm and snail, do nothing wrong.

  FAIRIES

  Philomel, with melody

  Dear nightingale, melodiously

  Sing in our sweet lullaby;

  Sing with us in this lullaby.

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

  Never harm,

  Let no harm

  Nor spell nor charm,

  Or spell or enchantment

  Come our lovely lady nigh;

  Come to our lovely queen here.

  So, good night, with lullaby.

  Now goodnight, and sweet dreams.

  FAIRY

  Hence, away! now all is well:

  Stop, and let us go! Everything is well.

  One aloof stand sentinel.

  One of you stay here to guard.

  Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps

  Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids

  OBERON

  What thou seest when thou dost wake,

  Whatever you see when you wake up

  Do it for thy true-love take,

  You will believe is your true love.

  Love and languish for his sake:

  Love, and feel the pain of love for the sake of the orphan boy,

  Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,

  Whether it is a snow leopard, or a cat, or a bear

  Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

  Or a leopard, or a bristled boar –

  In thy eye that shall appear

  In your eye it will appear,

  When thou wakest, it is thy dear:

  When you wake, as your beloved:

  Wake when some vile thing is near.

  So I hope you wake when something nasty is near.

  Exit

  Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA

  LYSANDER

  Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

  My love, you look weak from walking so much in this forest,

  And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:

  And to tell the truth, I have gotten lost.

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

  We should rest now, Hermia, if you think that’s a good idea,

  And tarry for the comfort of the day.

  And wait for daylight.

  HERMIA

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

  I agree with you, Lysander: find yourself a bed,

  For I upon this bank will rest my head.

  because I will rest against this bank.

  LYSANDER

  One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;

  It will be a pillow for both of us,

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

  One pillow, for one bed, for one heart shared by two people with one truth.

  HERMIA

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

  No, good Lysander, please, my love,

  Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

  Find a place farther away, do not sleep so close to me.

  LYSANDER

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

  Oh my dear, please recognize my good intentions!

  Love takes the meaning in love's conference.

  Those in love should understand each other.

  I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit

  What I mean is that my heart is tied to yours

  So that but one heart we can make of it;

  So that we have, in essence, one heart:

  Two bosoms interchained with an oath;

  Two people bound with a single oath,

  So then two bosoms and a single troth.

  Two people who share one truth.

  Then by your side no bed-room me deny;

  So do not deny me space to sleep beside you–

  For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

  By lying there, I will not lie to your honor and disrespect you.

  HERMIA

  Lysander riddles very prettily:

  Lysander speaks very nicely:

  Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,

  I would betray my manners and honor

  If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.

  If I were to imply that Lysander was a liar.

  But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy

  But, my friend, for love and politeness,

  Lie further off; in human modesty,

  Lie farther away. It is modest

  Such separation as may well be said

  For such separation to be between

  Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,

  A virtuous bachelor and a virtuous maid,

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

  So be distant. And now, goodnight sweet friend:

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

  I hope your love never changes until your dear life ends!

  LYSANDER

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

  I say amen to that prayer,

  And then end life when I end loyalty!

  And I hope my life ends if I should be disloyal to you!

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

  I will sleep over here, sleep well and be rested!

  HERMIA

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

  You too, Lysander, sleep well also!

  They sleep.

  Enter PUCK

  PUCK

  Through the forest have I gone.

  I have gone through the entire forest

  But Athenian found I none,

  But have not found the Athenian

  On whose eyes I might approve

  Whose eyes I must drug

  This flower's
force in stirring love.

  With this flower’s potion to enchant him.

  Night and silence.--Who is here?

  Only night and silence – but who is this?

  Weeds of Athens he doth wear:

  He wears Athenian clothing:

  This is he, my master said,

  It must be him, the one my master told me about,

  Despised the Athenian maid;

  Who turned away the Athenian girl.

  And here the maiden, sleeping sound,

  And here is the girl, sound asleep

  On the dank and dirty ground.

  On the wet and dirty ground.

  Pretty soul! she durst not lie

  Pretty girl! She should not lie

  Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

  Near this cold and rude man.

  Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

  Scoundrel, I put on your eyes

  All the power this charm doth owe.

  The full force of this potion.

  When thou wakest, let love forbid

  I hope, when you wake up, that love keeps

  Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:

  Your eyes open.

  So awake when I am gone;

  Now wake after I leave–

  For I must now to Oberon.

  I must return to King Oberon.

  Exit

  Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running

  HELENA

  Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.

  Wait, Demetrius, even if you kill me!

  DEMETRIUS

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

  I beg you, leave and do not keep following me.

  HELENA

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

  Oh please do not leave me alone in the dark!

  DEMETRIUS

  Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.

  Stay at your own risk then – I can continue alone.

  Exit

  HELENA

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

  I am out of breath from chasing after Demetrius!

  The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.

  The more I pray for him, the less I receive in return.

  Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;

  Hermia is blessed, wherever she is,