THESEUS This fellow doth not stand upon points.
LYSANDER He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he
knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
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enough to speak, but to speak true.
HIPPOLYTA Indeed he hath played on this prologue like
a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.
THESEUS His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing
impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?
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Enter, with a trumpeter before them, BOTTOM as PYRAMUS,
FLUTE as THISBE, SNOUT as WALL,
STARVELING as MOONSHINE and SNUG as LION.
PROLOGUE Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
This beauteous lady Thisbe is certain.
This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
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Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder;
And through Wall’s chink, poor souls, they are content
To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,
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By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus’ tomb, there, there to woo.
This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisbe, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright;
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And as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisbe’s mantle slain;
Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
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He bravely broach’d his boiling bloody breast;
And Thisbe, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest.
Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
At large discourse, while here they do remain.
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Exeunt Prologue, Pyramus, Thisbe, Lion
and Moonshine.
THESEUS I wonder if the lion be to speak?
DEMETRIUS No wonder, my lord; one lion may when many asses do.
WALL In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
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And such a wall as I would have you think
That had in it a crannied hole, or chink,
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe,
Did whisper often, very secretly.
This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone doth show
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That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
THESEUS Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?
DEMETRIUS It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
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discourse, my lord.
Enter PYRAMUS.
THESEUS Pyramus draws near the wall; silence!
PYRAMUS O grim-look’d night! O night with hue so black!
O night, which ever art when day is not!
O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,
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I fear my Thisbe’s promise is forgot!
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
That stand’st between her father’s ground and mine;
Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.
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[Wall stretches out his fingers.]
Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
But what see I? No Thisbe do I see.
O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss,
Curs’d thy stones for thus deceiving me!
THESEUS The wall, methinks, being sensible, should
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curse again.
PYRAMUS No, in truth sir, he should not. ‘Deceiving
me’ is Thisbe’s cue: she is to enter now, and I am to
spy her through the wall. You shall see it will fall pat
as I told you: yonder she comes.
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Enter THISBE.
THISBE O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
My cherry lips have often kiss’d thy stones,
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
PYRAMUS I see a voice; now will I to the chink,
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To spy and I can hear my Thisbe’s face.
Thisbe?
THISBE My love thou art, my love I think!
PYRAMUS Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace;
And like Limander am I trusty still.
THISBE And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.
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PYRAMUS Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
THISBE As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
PYRAMUS O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall.
THISBE I kiss the wall’s hole, not your lips at all.
PYRAMUS Wilt thou at Ninny’s tomb meet me straightway?
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THISBE ‘Tide life, ‘tide death, I come without delay.
Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe, severally.
WALL Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. Exit.
THESEUS Now is the mure rased between the two
neighbours.
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DEMETRIUS No remedy my lord, when walls are so
wilful to hear without warning.
HIPPOLYTA This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
THESEUS The best in this kind are but shadows; and the
worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.
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HIPPOLYTA It must be your imagination then, and not
theirs.
THESEUS If we imagine no worse of them than they of
themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here
come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.
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Enter LION and MOONSHINE.
LION You ladies, you whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know that I as Snug the joiner am
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A lion fell, nor else no lion’s dam;
For if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, ’twere pity on my life.
THESEUS A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience.
DEMETRIUS The very best at a beast, my lord, that e’er
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I saw.
LYSANDER This lion is a very fox for his valour.
THESEUS True; and a goose for his discretion.
DEMETRIUS Not so, my lord, for his valour cannot carry
his discretion; and the fox carries the goose.
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THESEUS His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his
valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well: leave
it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.
MOONSHINE This lantern doth the horned moon present –
DEMETRIUS He should have worn the horns on his head.
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THESEUS He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible
within the circumference.
MOONSHINE This lantern doth the horned moon present;
Myself the Man i’th’ Moon do seem to be.
THESEUS This is the greatest error of
all the rest; the
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man should be put into the lantern. How is it else the
Man i’the Moon?
DEMETRIUS He dares not come there for the candle; for
you see it is already in snuff.
HIPPOLYTA I am aweary of this moon. Would he would
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change!
THESEUS It appears by his small light of discretion that
he is in the wane; but yet in courtesy, in all reason, we
must stay the time.
LYSANDER Proceed, Moon.
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MOONSHINE All that I have to say is, to tell you that the
lantern is the moon; I the Man i’th’ Moon; this thorn-
bush my thorn-bush; and this dog my dog.
DEMETRIUS Why, all these should be in the lantern, for
all these are in the moon. But silence: here comes
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Thisbe.
Enter THISBE.
THISBE This is old Ninny’s tomb. Where is my love?
LION O –! The Lion roars. Thisbe,
dropping her mantle, runs off.
DEMETRIUS Well roared, Lion!
THESEUS Well run, Thisbe!
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HIPPOLYTA Well shone, Moon! Truly, the moon shines
with a good grace.
The Lion worries the mantle, and exit.
THESEUS Well moused, Lion!
DEMETRIUS And then came Pyramus –
LYSANDER And so the lion vanished.
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Enter PYRAMUS.
PYRAMUS Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
For by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisbe sight.
But stay! O spite!
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But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here?
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
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Thy mantle good,
What! Stain’d with blood?
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates, come, come!
Cut thread and thrum:
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Quail, crush, conclude, and quell.
THESEUS This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad.
HIPPOLYTA Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.
PYRAMUS O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame,
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Since lion vile hath here deflower’d my dear?
Which is – no, no – which was the fairest dame
That liv’d, that lov’d, that lik’d, that look’d with cheer.
Come tears, confound!
Out sword, and wound
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The pap of Pyramus;
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop: [Stabs himself.]
Thus die I, thus, thus, thus!
Now am I dead,
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Now am I fled;
My soul is in the sky.
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon, take thy flight!
Exit Moonshine.
Now die, die, die, die, die.[Dies.]
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DEMETRIUS No die, but an ace for him; for he is but
one.
LYSANDER Less than an ace, man; for he is dead, he is
nothing.
THESEUS With the help of a surgeon he might yet
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recover, and prove an ass.
HIPPOLYTA How chance Moonshine is gone, before
Thisbe comes back and finds her lover?
THESEUS She will find him by starlight.
Enter THISBE.
Here she comes, and her passion ends the play.
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HIPPOLYTA Methinks she should not use a long one for
such a Pyramus; I hope she will be brief.
DEMETRIUS A mote will turn the balance, which
Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better: he for a man,
God warrant us; she for a woman, God bless us!
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LYSANDER She hath spied him already with those sweet
eyes.
DEMETRIUS And thus she means, videlicet –
THISBE Asleep, my love?
What, dead, my dove?
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O Pyramus, arise!
Speak, speak! Quite dumb?
Dead, dead? A tomb
Must cover thy sweet eyes.
These lily lips,
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This cherry nose,
These yellow cowslip cheeks,
Are gone, are gone!
Lovers, make moan;
His eyes were green as leeks.
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O Sisters Three,
Come, come to me,
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 398