The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

Till o’er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep

  With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep.

  Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye—

  Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,

  To take from thence all error with his might,

  And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.

  When they next wake, all this derision

  Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,

  And back to Athens shall the lovers wend

  With league whose date till death shall never end.

  Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,

  I’ll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;

  And then I will her charmed eye release

  From monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.

  ROBIN

  My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,

  For night’s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,

  And yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger,

  At whose approach ghosts, wand’ring here and there,

  Troop home to churchyards; damned spirits all

  That in cross-ways and floods have burial

  Already to their wormy beds are gone,

  For fear lest day should look their shames upon.

  They wilfully themselves exiled from light,

  And must for aye consort with black-browed night.

  OBERON

  But we are spirits of another sort.

  I with the morning’s love have oft made sport,

  And like a forester the groves may tread

  Even till the eastern gate, all fiery red,

  Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams

  Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.

  But notwithstanding, haste, make no delay;

  We may effect this business yet ere day. Exit

  ROBIN

  Up and down, up and down,

  I will lead them up and down.

  I am feared in field and town.

  Goblin, lead them up and down.

  Here comes one.

  Enter Lysander

  LYSANDER

  Where art thou, proud Demetrius? Speak thou now.

  ROBIN ⌈shifting place⌉

  Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?

  LYSANDER

  I will be with thee straight.

  ROBIN ⌈shifting place⌉ Follow me then

  To plainer ground. ⌈Exit Lysander⌉

  Enter Demetrius

  DEMETRIUS ⌈shifting place⌉ Lysander, speak again.

  Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?

  Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?

  ROBIN ⌈shifting place⌉

  Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,

  Telling the bushes that thou look’st for wars,

  And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child,

  I’ll whip thee with a rod. He is defiled

  That draws a sword on thee.

  DEMETRIUS ⌈shifting place⌉ Yea, art thou there?

  ROBIN ⌈shifting place⌉

  Follow my voice; we’ll try no manhood here. Exeunt

  3.3 ⌈Enter Lysander⌉

  LYSANDER

  He goes before me, and still dares me on;

  When I come where he calls, then he is gone.

  The villain is much lighter heeled than I;

  I followed fast, but faster he did fly,

  That fallen am I in dark uneven way,

  And here will rest me.He lies down

  Come, thou gentle day;

  For if but once thou show me thy grey light,

  I’ll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. He sleeps

  Enter Robin Goodfellow and Demetrius

  ROBIN ⌈shifting place⌉

  Ho, ho, ho, coward, why com’st thou not?

  DEMETRIUS

  Abide me if thou dar‘st, for well I wot

  Thou runn’st before me, shifting every place,

  And dar’st not stand nor look me in the face.

  Where art thou now?

  ROBIN ⌈shifting place⌉ Come hither, I am here.

  DEMETRIUS

  Nay, then thou mock’st me. Thou shalt buy this

  dear

  If ever I thy face by daylight see.

  Now go thy way. Faintness constraineth me

  To measure out my length on this cold bed.He lies down

  By day’s approach look to be visited. He sleeps

  Enter Helena

  HELENA

  O weary night, O long and tedious night,

  Abate thy hours; shine comforts from the east

  That I may back to Athens by daylight

  From these that my poor company detest;

  And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye,

  Steal me a while from mine own company.

  She lies down and sleeps

  ROBIN

  Yet but three? Come one more,

  Two of both kinds makes up four.

  ⌈Enter Hermia⌉

  Here she comes, curst and sad.

  Cupid is a knavish lad

  Thus to make poor females mad.

  HERMIA

  Never so weary, never so in woe,

  Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers,

  I can no further crawl, no further go.

  My legs can keep no pace with my desires.

  Here will I rest me till the break of day.

  She lies down

  Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray.

  She sleeps

  ROBIN On the ground sleep sound.

  I’ll apply to your eye,

  Gentle lover, remedy.

  He drops the juice on Lysander’s eyelids

  When thou wak‘st thou tak’st

  True delight in the sight

  Of thy former lady’s eye,

  And the country proverb known,

  That ‘every man should take his own’,

  In your waking shall be shown.

  Jack shall have Jill,

  Naught shall go ill,

  the man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well. Exit

  4.1 Enter Titania, Queen of Fairies, and Bottom the clown with the ass-head, and fairies: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed

  TITANIA (to Bottom)

  Come, sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed,

  While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,

  And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,

  And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.

  BOTTOM Where’s Peaseblossom?

  PEASEBLOSSOM Ready.

  BOTTOM Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Where’s Monsieur Cobweb?

  COBWEB Ready.

  BOTTOM Monsieur Cobweb, good monsieur, get you your weapons in your hand and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good monsieur, bring me the honeybag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur, have a care the honeybag break not. I would be loath to have you overflowen with a honeybag, signor. ⌈Exit Cobweb⌉ Where’s Monsieur Mustardseed?

  MUSTARDSEED Ready.

  BOTTOM Give me your neaf, Monsieur Mustardseed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur.

  MUSTARDSEED What’s your will?

  BOTTOM Nothing, good monsieur, but to help Cavaliery Peaseblossom to scratch. I must to the barber’s, monsieur, for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me I must scratch.

  TITANIA

  What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?

  BOTTOM I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let’s have the tongs and the bones.

  ⌈Rural music⌉

  TITANIA

  Or say, sweet love, what thou desir’st to eat.

  BOTTOM Truly, a peck of provender. I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay. Good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.

  TITANIAr />
  I have a venturous fairy that shall seek

  The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee off new nuts.

  Bottom I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas. But I pray you, let none of your people stir me. I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.

  TITANIA

  Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.

  Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away.Exeunt Fairies

  So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle

  Gently entwist; the female ivy so

  Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.

  O how I love thee, how I dote on thee!They sleep.

  Enter Robin Goodfellow ⌈and Oberon, meeting⌉

  OBERON

  Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this sweet sight?

  Her dotage now I do begin to pity,

  For meeting her of late behind the wood,

  Seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool,

  I did upbraid her and fall out with her,

  For she his hairy temples then had rounded

  With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers,

  And that same dew which sometime on the buds

  Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls

  Stood now within the pretty flow’rets’ eyes,

  Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.

  When I had at my pleasure taunted her,

  And she in mild terms begged my patience,

  I then did ask of her her changeling child,

  Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent

  To bear him to my bower in fairyland.

  And now I have the boy, I will undo

  This hateful imperfection of her eyes.

  And, gentle puck, take this transformed scalp

  From off the head of this Athenian swain,

  That he, awaking when the other do,

  May all to Athens back again repair,

  And think no more of this night’s accidents

  But as the fierce vexation of a dream.

  But first I will release the Fairy Queen.He drops the juice on Titania’s eyelids

  Be as thou wast wont to be,

  See as thou wast wont to see.

  Dian’s bud o’er Cupid’s flower

  Hath such force and blessed power.

  Now, my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen.

  TITANIA (awaking)

  My Oberon, what visions have I seen!

  Methought I was enamoured of an ass.

  OBERON

  There lies your love.

  TITANIA How came these things to pass?

  O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!

  OBERON Silence a while.—Robin, take off this head.—Titania, music call, and strike more dead Than common sleep of all these five the sense.

  TITANIA

  Music, ho—music such as charmeth sleep.

  ⌈Still musica⌉

  ROBIN (taking the ass-head off Bottom)

  Now when thou wak’st with thine own fool’s eyes peep.

  OBERON

  Sound music.⌈The music changes⌉

  Come, my queen, take hands with me,

  And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.

  Oberon and Titania dance

  Now thou and I are new in amity,

  And will tomorrow midnight solemnly

  Dance in Duke Theseus’ house, triumphantly,

  And bless it to all fair prosperity.

  There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be

  Wedded with Theseus, all in jollity.

  ROBIN

  Fairy King, attend and mark.

  I do hear the morning lark.

  OBERON

  Then, my queen, in silence sad

  Trip we after nightës shade.

  We the globe can compass soon,

  Swifter than the wand’ring moon.

  TITANIA

  Come, my lord, and in our flight

  Tell me how it came this night

  That I sleeping here was found

  With these mortals on the ground.

  Exeunt Oberon, Titania, and Robin. The sleepers lie still Wind horns within. Enter Theseus with Egeus, Hippolyta, and all his train

  THESEUS

  Go, one of you, find out the forester,

  For now our observation is performed;

  And since we have the vanguard of the day,

  My love shall hear the music of my hounds.

  Uncouple in the western valley; let them go.

  Dispatch, I say, and find the forester. Exit one

  We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain’s top,

  And mark the musical confusion

  Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

  HIPPOLYTA

  I was with Hercules and Cadmus once

  When in a wood of Crete they bayed the bear

  With hounds of Sparta. Never did I hear

  Such gallant chiding; for besides the groves,

  The skies, the fountains, every region near

  Seemed all one mutual cry. I never heard

  So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.

  THESEUS

  My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,

  So flewed, so sanded; and their heads are hung

  With ears that sweep away the morning dew,

  Crook-kneed, and dewlapped like Thessalian bulls,

  Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells,

  Each under each. A cry more tuneable

  Was never holla’d to nor cheered with horn

  In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly.

  Judge when you hear. But soft: what nymphs are

  these?

  EGEUS

  My lord, this is my daughter here asleep,

  And this Lysander; this Demetrius is;

  This Helena, old Nedar’s Helena.

  I wonder of their being here together.

  THESEUS

  No doubt they rose up early to observe

  The rite of May, and, hearing our intent,

  Came here in grace of our solemnity.

  But speak, Egeus : is not this the day

  That Hermia should give answer of her choice?

  EGEUS It is, my lord.

  THESEUS

  Go bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.⌈Exit one⌉

  Shout within: wind horns. The lovers all start up

  Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past.

  Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?

  LYSANDER

  Pardon, my lord.

  The lovers kneel

  THESEUS I pray you all stand up.

  The lovers stand

  (To Demetrius and Lysander) I know you two are rival

  enemies.

  How comes this gentle concord in the world,

  That hatred is so far from jealousy

  To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?

  LYSANDER

  My lord, I shall reply amazèdly,

  Half sleep, half waking. But as yet, I swear,

  I cannot truly say how I came here,

  But as I think—for truly would I speak,

  And, now I do bethink me, so it is—

  I came with Hermia hither. Our intent

  Was to be gone from Athens where we might,

  Without the peril of the Athenian law—

  EGEUS (to Theseus)

  Enough, enough, my lord, you have enough.

  I beg the law, the law upon his head.—

  They would have stol’n away, they would, Demetrius,

  Thereby to have defeated you and me—

  You of your wife, and me of my consent,

  Of my consent that she should be your wife.

  DEMETRIUS (to Theseus)

  My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,

  Of this their purpose hither to this wood,

  And I in fury hither followed them,

  Fair Helena in fancy following me.

  But, my good lord, I wot no
t by what power—

  But by some power it is—my love to Hermia,

  Melted as the snow, seems to me now

  As the remembrance of an idle gaud

  Which in my childhood I did’dote upon,

  And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,

  The object and the pleasure of mine eye

  Is only Helena. To her, my lord,

  Was I betrothed ere I see Hermia.

  But like in sickness did I loathe this food;

  But, as in health come to my natural taste,

  Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,

  And will for evermore be true to it.

  THESEUS

  Fair lovers, you are fortunately met.

  Of this discourse we more will hear anon.—

  Egeus, I will overbear your will,

  For in the temple by and by with us

  These couples shall eternally be knit.—

  And, for the morning now is something worn,

  Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.

  Away with us to Athens. Three and three,

  We’ll hold a feast in great solemnity.

  Come, Hippolyta.

  Exit Duke Theseus with Hippolyta, Egeus, and all his train

  DEMETRIUS

  These things seem small and undistinguishable,

  Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

  HERMIA

  Methinks I see these things with parted eye,

  When everything seems double.

  HELENA So methinks,

  And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,

  Mine own and not mine own.

  DEMETRIUS It seems to me

  That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think

  The Duke was here and bid us follow him?

  HERMIA

  Yea, and my father.

  HELENA And Hippolyta.

  LYSANDER

  And he did bid us follow to the temple.

  DEMETRIUS

  Why then, we are awake. Let’s follow him,

  And by the way let us recount our dreams.

  Exeunt the lovers

  Bottom wakes

  BOTTOM When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is ‘most fair Pyramus’. Heigh-ho. Peter Quince? Flute the bellows-mender? Snout the tinker? Starveling? God’s my life! Stolen hence, and left me asleep?—I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about t‘expound this dream. Methought I was—there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had—but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream. It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream’, because it hath no bottom, and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the Duke. Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death. Exit