A Midsummer Night's Dream Read online

  STARVELING Here, Peter Quince.

  QUINCE Robin Starveling, you must play Thisbe's mother.52

  Tom Snout, the tinker.

  SNOUT Here, Peter Quince.

  QUINCE You, Pyramus' father; myself, Thisbe's father; Snug

  the joiner, you, the lion's part: and I hope there is a play

  fitted57.

  SNUG Have you the lion's part written? Pray you, if it be,

  give it me, for I am slow of study.

  QUINCE You may do it extempore60, for it is nothing but

  roaring.

  BOTTOM Let me play the lion too: I will roar that I will do any

  man's heart good to hear me. I will roar that I will make the

  duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.'

  QUINCE If you should do it too terribly, you would fright the

  duchess and the ladies that they would shriek, and that were

  enough to hang us all.

  ALL That would hang us, every mother's son.

  BOTTOM I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the

  ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion70

  but to hang us: but I will aggravate71 my voice so that I will

  roar you as gently as any sucking dove. I will roar an 'twere72

  any nightingale.

  QUINCE You can play no part but Pyramus, for Pyramus is a

  sweet-faced man, a proper75 man, as one shall see in a

  summer's day; a most lovely gentlemanlike man: therefore

  you must needs play Pyramus.

  BOTTOM Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to

  play it in?

  QUINCE Why, what you will.

  BOTTOM I will discharge it in either your81 straw-colour beard,

  your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain82 beard, or

  your French-crown-coloured83 beard, your perfect yellow.

  QUINCE Some of your French crowns84 have no hair at all,

  and then you will play bare-faced. But,

  Passes out the parts

  masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you,

  request you and desire you, to con87 them by tomorrow night,

  and meet me in the palace wood a mile without the town by

  moonlight. There will we rehearse, for if we meet in the city

  we shall be dogged with company, and our devices90 known. In

  the meantime I will draw a bill91 of properties, such as our play

  wants. I pray you fail me not.

  BOTTOM We will meet, and there we may rehearse more

  obscenely and courageously. Take pains, be perfect94. Adieu.

  QUINCE At the duke's oak we meet.

  BOTTOM Enough. Hold or cut bow-strings.96

  Exeunt

  Act 2 [Scene 1]

  running scene 3

  Enter a Fairy at one door and Robin Goodfellow [Puck] at another

  ROBIN How now, spirit, whither wander you?

  FAIRY Over hill, over dale,

  Through bush, through brier,

  Over park, over pale4,

  Thorough5 flood, thorough fire,

  I do wander everywhere,

  Swifter than the moon's sphere7;

  And I serve the fairy queen,

  To dew her orbs9 upon the green.

  The cowslips tall her pensioners10 be,

  In their gold coats spots you see,

  Those be rubies, fairy favours12,

  In those freckles live their savours13.

  I must go seek some dewdrops here,

  And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

  Farewell, thou lob16 of spirits, I'll be gone:

  Our queen and all her elves come here anon17.

  ROBIN The king doth keep his revels here tonight:

  Take heed the queen come not within his sight,

  For Oberon is passing fell and wrath20,

  Because that she as her attendant hath

  A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king.

  She never had so sweet a changeling23,

  And jealous Oberon would have the child

  Knight of his train, to trace25 the forests wild.

  But she perforce26 withholds the loved boy,

  Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy.

  And now they never meet in grove or green,

  By fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen29,

  But they do square30, that all their elves for fear

  Creep into acorn cups and hide them there.

  FAIRY Either I mistake your shape and making quite32,

  Or else you are that shrewd33 and knavish sprite

  Called Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he

  That frights the maidens of the villagery35,

  Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern36,

  And bootless37 make the breathless housewife churn,

  And sometime make the drink to bear no barm38,

  Mislead39 night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?

  Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,

  You do their work and they shall have good luck.

  Are not you he?

  ROBIN Thou speak'st aright;

  I am that merry wanderer of the night.

  I jest to Oberon and make him smile

  When I a fat and bean-fed46 horse beguile,

  Neighing in likeness of a filly47 foal,

  And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl48,

  In very likeness of a roasted crab49,

  And when she drinks, against her lips I bob

  And on her withered dewlap51 pour the ale.

  The wisest aunt52, telling the saddest tale,

  Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me,

  Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,

  And 'tailor'55 cries, and falls into a cough.

  And then the whole quire56 hold their hips and laugh,

  And waxen in their mirth and neeze57 and swear

  A merrier hour was never wasted58 there.

  But, room, fairy! Here comes Oberon59.

  FAIRY And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!

  Enter the King of Fairies [Oberon] at one door with his train, and the Queen [Titania] at another with hers

  OBERON Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

  TITANIA What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence.

  I have forsworn his bed and company.

  OBERON Tarry, rash wanton, am not I thy lord64?

  TITANIA Then I must be thy lady65: but I know

  When thou hast stol'n away from fairy land,

  And in the shape of Corin67 sat all day,

  Playing on pipes of corn and versing68 love

  To amorous Phillida69. Why art thou here,

  Come from the farthest step70 of India?

  But that, forsooth, the bouncing71 Amazon,

  Your buskined72 mistress and your warrior love,

  To Theseus must be wedded; and you come

  To give their bed joy and prosperity?

  OBERON How canst thou thus for shame, Titania,

  Glance at my credit76 with Hippolyta,

  Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?

  Didst not thou lead him through the glimmering78 night

  From Perigenia whom he ravished?

  And make him with fair Aegles80 break his faith,

  With Ariadne and Antiopa81?

  TITANIA These are the forgeries of jealousy,

  And never since the middle summer's spring83

  Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead84,

  By paved fountain or by rushy85 brook,

  Or in the beached margent86 of the sea,

  To dance our ringlets87 to the whistling wind,

  But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport88.

  Therefore the winds, piping89 to us in vain,

  As in revenge, have sucked up from the sea

  Contagious91 fogs, which falling in the land


  Hath every petty river made so proud92

  That they have overborne their continents93.

  The ox hath therefore stretched94 his yoke in vain,

  The ploughman lost95 his sweat, and the green corn

  Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard96.

  The fold97 stands empty in the drowned field,

  And crows are fatted with the murrion98 flock,

  The nine men's morris99 is filled up with mud,

  And the quaint mazes in the wanton green100

  For lack of tread are undistinguishable.

  The human mortals want their winter here102:

  No night is now with hymn or carol blessed.

  Therefore the moon, the governess of floods104,

  Pale in her anger, washes105 all the air,

  That rheumatic diseases106 do abound.

  And through this distemperature107 we see

  The seasons alter; hoary-headed108 frosts

  Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,

  And on old Hiems'110 thin and icy crown

  An odorous chaplet111 of sweet summer buds

  Is, as in mockery, set. The spring, the summer,

  The childing113 autumn, angry winter, change

  Their wonted liveries, and the mazed114 world

  By their increase115 now knows not which is which;

  And this same progeny of evils comes

  From our debate, from our dissension117:

  We are their parents and original118.

  OBERON Do you amend it then, it lies in you.

  Why should Titania cross her Oberon?

  I do but beg a little changeling boy

  To be my henchman122.

  TITANIA Set your heart at rest:

  The fairy land buys not the child of me.

  His mother was a votress125 of my order,

  And in the spiced Indian air by night

  Full127 often hath she gossiped by my side,

  And sat with me on Neptune's128 yellow sands,

  Marking th'embarked traders on the flood129,

  When we have laughed to see the sails conceive

  And grow big-bellied with the wanton131 wind,

  Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait132

  Following -- her womb then rich with my young squire --

  Would imitate, and sail upon the land,

  To fetch me trifles, and return again

  As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.

  But she, being mortal, of that boy137 did die:

  And for her sake do I rear up her boy,

  And for her sake I will not part with him.

  OBERON How long within this wood intend you stay?

  TITANIA Perchance141 till after Theseus' wedding day.

  If you will patiently dance in our round142

  And see our moonlight revels, go with us;

  If not, shun me, and I will spare144 your haunts.

  OBERON Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.

  TITANIA Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away.

  We shall chide downright147, if I longer stay.

  Exeunt [Titania and her train]

  OBERON Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from148 this grove

  Till I torment thee for this injury.

  My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb'rest

  Since once I sat upon a promontory151,

  And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back

  Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath153

  That the rude154 sea grew civil at her song,

  And certain155 stars shot madly from their spheres

  To hear the sea-maid's music.

  ROBIN I remember.

  OBERON That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,

  Flying between the cold moon and the earth,

  Cupid all armed; a certain160 aim he took

  At a fair vestal161 throned by the west,

  And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,

  As163 it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.

  But I might164 see young Cupid's fiery shaft

  Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon;

  And the imperial votress passed on,

  In maiden meditation, fancy-free167.

  Yet marked I where the bolt168 of Cupid fell.

  It fell upon a little western flower,

  Before milk-white, now purple170 with love's wound,

  And maidens call it love-in-idleness171.

  Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once:

  The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid

  Will make or174 man or woman madly dote

  Upon the next live creature that it sees.

  Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again

  Ere the leviathan177 can swim a league.

  ROBIN I'll put a girdle178 round about the earth

  In forty minutes.

  [Exit]

  OBERON Having once this juice,

  I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,

  And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.

  The next thing when she waking looks upon,

  Be it on lion, bear, or wolf or bull,

  On meddling monkey or on busy ape,

  She shall pursue it with the soul of love.

  And ere I take this charm off from her sight,

  As I can take it with another herb,

  I'll make her render up her page to me.

  But who comes here? I am invisible,

  And I will overhear their conference.

  He stands aside

  Enter Demetrius, Helena following him

  DEMETRIUS I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.

  Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

  The one I'll stay, the other stayeth194 me.

  Thou told'st me they were stolen into this wood;

  And here am I, and wood196 within this wood,

  Because I cannot meet my Hermia.

  Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.

  HELENA You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant199;

  But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

  Is true as steel. Leave you201 your power to draw,

  And I shall have no power to follow you.

  DEMETRIUS Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair203?

  Or rather do I not in plainest truth

  Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you?

  HELENA And even for that do I love thee the more.

  I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,

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

  Use me but209 as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me,

  Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave210,

  Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

  What worser place can I beg in your love --

  And yet a place of high respect with me --

  Than to be used as you do use your dog?

  DEMETRIUS Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,

  For I am sick when I do look on thee.

  HELENA And I am sick when I look not on you.

  DEMETRIUS You do impeach218 your modesty too much,

  To leave the city and commit yourself

  Into the hands of one that loves you not,

  To trust the opportunity of night

  And the ill counsel of a desert222 place

  With the rich worth of your virginity.

  HELENA Your virtue is my privilege: for that224

  It is not night when I do see your face,

  Therefore I think I am not in the night.

  Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,

  For you in my respect are all the world.

  Then how can it be said I am alone,

  When all the world is here to look on me?

  DEMETRIUS I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes231,

  And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

  HELENA The wildest hath not such a heart as you.

  Run when you will, the story shall
be changed:

  Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase235;

  The dove pursues the griffin, the mild hind236

  Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootless237 speed,

  When cowardice pursues and valour flies.

  DEMETRIUS I will not stay239 thy questions, let me go;

  Or if thou follow me, do not believe

  But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

  [|Exit Demetrius|]

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

  You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!

  Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex244:

  We cannot fight for love, as men may do;

  We should be wooed and were not made to woo.

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

  To die upon248 the hand I love so well.

  Exit

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

  Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love.

  Enter [Robin] Puck

  Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

  ROBIN Ay, there it is.

  Shows the flower

  OBERON I pray thee give it me.

  I know a bank where the wild thyme blows254,

  Where oxlips255 and the nodding violet grows,

  Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine256,

  With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine257:

  There sleeps Titania sometime258 of the night,

  Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight:

  And there the snake throws260 her enamelled skin,

  Weed261 wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

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

  And make her full of hateful fantasies.

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

  Gives him some juice

  A sweet Athenian lady is in love

  With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes,

  But do it when the next thing he espies

  May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man

  By the Athenian garments he hath on.

  Effect it with some care, that he may prove

  More fond on271 her than she upon her love;

  And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

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

  Exeunt

  [Act 2 Scene 2]

  running scene 4

  Enter Queen of Fairies [Titania] with her train

  TITANIA Come, now a roundel1 and a fairy song;

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

  Some to kill cankers3 in the musk-rose buds,

  Some war with reremice for their leathern4 wings,

  To make my small elves coats, and some keep back

  The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders

  At our quaint7 spirits. Sing me now asleep,

  Then to your offices8 and let me rest.

  She lies down on a bank

  Fairies sing

  FIRST FAIRY You spotted snakes with double9 tongue,

  Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen.

  Newts and blind-worms11, do no wrong,

  Come not near our fairy queen.

  CHORUS Philomel13, with melody

  Sing in our sweet lullaby,

  Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby.

  Never harm,