The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;

  And sometime lurk I in a gossip’s bowl

  In very likeness of a roasted crab,

  And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,

  And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.

  The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale

  Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;

  Then slip I from her bum. Down topples she,

  And ’tailor’ cries, and falls into a cough,

  And then the whole choir hold their hips, and laugh,

  And waxen in their mirth, and sneeze, and swear

  A merrier hour was never wasted there.—Enter Oberon the King of Fairies at one door, with his train, and Titania the Queen at another, with hers

  But make room, fairy: here comes Oberon.

  FAIRY

  And here my mistress. Would that he were gone.

  OBERON

  I’ll 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 lord?

  TITANIA

  Then I must be thy lady; but I know

  When thou hast stol’n away from fairyland

  And in the shape of Corin sat all day,

  Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love

  To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here

  Come from the farthest step of India,

  But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,

  Your buskined 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 credit with Hippolyta,

  Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?

  Didst not thou lead him through the glimmering night

  From Perigouna whom he ravished,

  And make him with fair Aegles break his faith,

  With Ariadne and Antiopa?

  TITANIA

  These are the forgeries of jealousy,

  And never since the middle summer’s spring

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

  By paved fountain or by rushy brook,

  Or in the beached margin of the sea

  To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,

  But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.

  Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,

  As in revenge have sucked up from the sea

  Contagious fogs which, falling in the land,

  Hath every pelting river made so proud

  That they have overborne their continents.

  The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain,

  The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn

  Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard.

  The fold stands empty in the drowned field,

  And crows are fatted with the murrain flock.

  The nine men’s morris is filled up with mud,

  And the quaint mazes in the wanton green

  For lack of tread are undistinguishable.

  The human mortals want their winter cheer.

  No night is now with hymn or carol blessed.

  Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,

  Pale in her anger washes all the air,

  That rheumatic diseases do abound;

  And thorough this distemperature we see

  The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts

  Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,

  And on old Hiems’ thin and icy crown

  An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds

  Is, as in mock’ry, set. The spring, the summer,

  The childing autumn, angry winter change

  Their wonted liveries, and the mazèd world

  By their increase now knows not which is which;

  And this same progeny of evils comes

  From our debate, from our dissension.

  We are their parents and original.

  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 henchman.

  TITANIA Set your heart at rest.

  The fairyland buys not the child of me.

  His mother was a vot‘ress of my order,

  And in the spiced Indian air by night

  Full often hath she gossiped by my side,

  And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands,

  Marking th’embarkèd traders on the flood,

  When we have laughed to see the sails conceive

  And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind,

  Which she with pretty and with swimming gait

  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 boy 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

  Perchance till after Theseus’ wedding day.

  If you will patiently dance in our round,

  And see our moonlight revels, go with us.

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

  OBERON

  Give me that boy and I will go with thee.

  TITANIA

  Not for thy fairy kingdom.—Fairies, away.

  We shall chide downright if I longer stay.

  Exeunt Titania and her train

  OBERON

  Well, go thy way. Thou shalt not from this grove

  Till I torment thee for this injury.—

  My gentle puck, come hither. Thou rememb’rest

  Since once I sat upon a promontory

  And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back

  Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath

  That the rude sea grew civil at her song

  And certain 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 certain aim he took

  At a fair vestal thronèd by the west,

  And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow

  As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.

  But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft

  Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat‘ry moon,

  And the imperial vot’ress passed on,

  In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

  Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell. 165

  It fell upon a little western flower—

  Before, milk-white; now, purple with love’s wound—

  And maidens call it love-in-idleness.

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

  The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid

  Will make or man or woman madly dote

  Upon the next live creature that it sees.

  Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again

  Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

  ROBIN

  I’ll put a girdle 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 then 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 from off 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.

  Enter Demetrius, Helena following him

  DEMETRIUS

  I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.

  Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia?

  The one I’ll slay, the other slayeth me.

  Thou told’st me they were stol’n unto this wood,

  And here am I, and wood 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 adamant,

  But yet you draw not iron; for my heart

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

  And I shall have no power to follow you.

  DEMETRIUS

  Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?

  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 you the more.

  I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,

  The more you beat me I will fawn on you.

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

  Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,

  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 use your dog? 210

  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 impeach your modesty too much,

  To leave the city and commit yourself 215

  Into the hands of one that loves you not;

  To trust the opportunity of night,

  And the ill counsel of a desert place,

  With the rich worth of your virginity.

  HELENA

  Your virtue is my privilege, for that 220

  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, 225

  When all the world is here to look on me?

  DEMETRIUS

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

  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: 230

  Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase.

  The dove pursues the griffin, the mild hind

  Makes speed to catch the tiger: bootless speed,

  When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

  DEMETRIUS

  I will not stay thy questions. Let me go; 235

  Or if thou follow me, do not believe

  But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

  HELENA

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

  You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius,

  Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. 240

  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 upon the hand I love so well.

  ⌈Exit Demetrius, Helena following him⌉

  OBERON

  Fare thee well, nymph. Ere he do leave this grove

  Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.Enter Robin Goodfellow the puck

  Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

  ROBIN

  Ay, there it is.

  OBERON I pray thee give it me.

  I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

  Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, 250

  Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,

  With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.

  There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

  Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight;

  And there the snake throws her enamelled skin,

  Weed 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.

  A sweet Athenian lady is in love 260

  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 on 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 severally

  2.2 Enter Titania, Queen of Fairies, with her train

  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 reremice 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.

  She lies down. Fairies sing

  ⌈FIRST FAIRY⌉

  You spotted snakes with double tongue,

  Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; 10

  Newts and blindworms, do no wrong;

  Come not near our Fairy Queen.

  ⌈CHORUS⌉ ⌈dancing⌉

  Philomel with melody,

  Sing in our sweet lullaby;

  Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby. 15

  Never harm

  Nor spell nor charm

  Come our lovely lady nigh.

  So good night, with lullaby.

  FIRST FAIRY

  Weaving spiders, come not here;

  Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence;

  Beetles black, approach not near;

  Worm nor snail do no offence.

  ⌈CHORUS⌉ ⌈dancing⌉

  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.

  Titania sleeps

  SECOND FAIRY

  Hence, away. Now all is well.

  One aloof stand sentinel.

  Exeunt all but Titania ⌈and the sentinel⌉ Enter Oberon. He drops the juice 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 wak’st, it is thy dear.

  Wake when some vile thing is near. Exit

  Enter Lysander and Hermia

  LYSANDER

  Fair love, you faint with wand’ring in the wood,

  And, to speak truth, 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.

  ⌈She lies down⌉

  LYSANDER<
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  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 interchainèd 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 humane 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.

  He lies down

  HERMIA

  With half that wish the wisher’s eyes be pressed.

  They sleep apart.

  Enter Robin Goodfellow the puck

  ROBIN

  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.

  He drops the juice on Lysander’s eyelids

  When thou wak’st, 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