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

by William Shakespeare

  Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes

  Stood in the flowers

  Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.

  Like tears, crying at the disgrace of being around the fool’s head.

  When I had at my pleasure taunted her

  When I was done having my fun in taunting her

  And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,

  And she had begged me to stop,

  I then did ask of her her changeling child;

  I asked her of her orphan child

  Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent

  Whom she immediately gave to me, and sent her fairy

  To bear him to my bower in fairy land.

  To take him to my room in fairy land.

  And now I have the boy, I will undo

  Now that I have the boy I will give her the antidote

  This hateful imperfection of her eyes:

  To remove this ugly infatuation.

  And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp

  Also, Puck, remove this donkey-head

  From off the head of this Athenian swain;

  From the head of the Athenian commoner

  That, he awaking when the other do,

  So that he, waking up when the others do,

  May all to Athens back again repair

  Can return to Athens again

  And think no more of this night's accidents

  And think nothing of the night’s adventures,

  But as the fierce vexation of a dream.

  Regarding them only as a dream.

  But first I will release the fairy queen.

  First, I will cure Queen Titania.

  Be as thou wast wont to be;

  Be as you were

  See as thou wast wont to see:

  And see how you used to see:

  Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower

  This flower of Diana’s, the goddess of Virginity, against the flower struck by Cupid’s arrow,

  Hath such force and blessed power.

  Has the blessed power to turn you to normal.

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

  Now, Titania, wake up, my queen.

  TITANIA

  My Oberon! what visions have I seen!

  Oberon! What dreams I have had!

  Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.

  I thought I was in love with a donkey.

  OBERON

  There lies your love.

  Right there is who you loved.

  TITANIA

  How came these things to pass?

  How did these things happen?

  O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!

  Oh, I can’t stand the sight of him now.

  OBERON

  Silence awhile. Robin, take off this head.

  Be quiet for a moment. Robin, remove the false head.

  Titania, music call; and strike more dead

  Titania, call for music, the kind that will make these people

  Than common sleep of all these five the sense.

  Sleep more soundly than the dead.

  TITANIA

  Music, ho! music, such as charmeth sleep!

  Play music, fairies! The kind that creates sleep!

  Music, still

  PUCK

  Now, when thou wakest, with thine

  Now when you wake, you

  own fool's eyes peep.

  will look out with your human, but still foolish, eyes.

  OBERON

  Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,

  Play, music! Come with me, my queen, hold my hand

  And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.

  And dance with me to keep the sleepers alseep.

  Now thou and I are new in amity,

  We are friendly again

  And will to-morrow midnight solemnly

  And tomorrow at midnight

  Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,

  We will dance in Duke Theseus’ house in celebration,

  And bless it to all fair prosperity:

  Blessing it for success.

  There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be

  And there, these pairs of faithful lovers

  Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.

  Will be married as well, along with Theseus, in happiness.

  PUCK

  Fairy king, attend, and mark:

  King Oberon, listen –

  I do hear the morning lark.

  I do hear the morning bird.

  OBERON

  Then, my queen, in silence sad,

  In that case, my queen, let us silently

  Trip we after the night's shade:

  Leave to wherever it is still night.

  We the globe can compass soon,

  We can go around the world

  Swifter than the wandering moon.

  Quicker than the moon does.

  TITANIA

  Come, my lord, and in our flightCome, my king, and while we travel

  Tell me how it came this night

  Tell me what happened this night,

  That I sleeping here was found

  How I was sleeping here

  With these mortals on the ground.

  With these humans on the ground next to me.

  Exeunt

  Horns winded within

  Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train

  THESEUS

  Go, one of you, find out the forester;

  One of you, go and find the forest manager.

  For now our observation is perform'd;

  Since we have finished our May Day rites

  And since we have the vaward of the day,

  And now have the beginning of the day in front of us,

  My love shall hear the music of my hounds.

  My love will hear the sound of hunting horns for my dogs.

  Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:

  Untie them in the valley and let them go.

  Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.

  I said leave and find the forest manager.

  Exit an Attendant

  We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,

  We will go, beautiful queen, up to the mountain peak

  And mark the musical confusion

  And listen to the confusing sounds

  Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

  Of dogs barking and their barks echoing back.

  HIPPOLYTA

  I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,

  I was with Hercules and Cadmus once

  When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear

  In a forest in Crete and their Spartan dogs

  With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear

  Surrounded a bear: I never heard

  Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,

  Such impressive barking. Besides the forest,

  The skies, the fountains, every region near

  The skies and fountains, and everywhere around us

  Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard

  Seemed to echo the barking in unison. I never heard

  So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.

  Such beautiful noise, such sweet thunder.

  THESEUS

  My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,

  My hounds are bred from Spartan ones,

  So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung

  With the same hanging lips and sandy colored coat, and their heads similarly hang

  With ears that sweep away the morning dew;

  With their ears low along the morning dew.

  Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;

  They similarly have crooked knees, and neck folds like bulls from Thessaly.

  Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,

  They are slower in the chase, but they have the same bark, like bells

  Each under each. A cry mo
re tuneable

  In their mouths. There was never a better sounding cry

  Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,

  Cheered on with a hunting horn heard

  In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:

  In Crete, Sparte, or Thessaly:

  Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?

  You can judge so when you hear them. But wait, who are these people?

  EGEUS

  My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;

  My lord, this is my daughter Hermia, fast asleep,

  And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;

  And this is Lysander, and this is Demetrius,

  This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:

  And this is Helena, Nedar’s daughter.

  I wonder of their being here together.

  I wonder why they are all here together.

  THESEUS

  No doubt they rose up early to observe

  They must have woken early in order to keep

  The rite of May, and hearing our intent,

  The rites of May Day, and, knowing my plans to celebrate it as well,

  Came here in grace our solemnity.

  Came here to join us.

  But speak, Egeus; is not this the day

  But Egeus: isn’t today the day

  That Hermia should give answer of her choice?

  When Hermia must tell us how she answers?

  EGEUS

  It is, my lord.

  Yes, it is, my lord.

  THESEUS

  Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.

  Go, and tell the huntsmen to blow their horns to wake them.

  Horns and shout within. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and HERMIA wake and start up

  Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:

  Good morning, friends. Valentine’s day is past:

  Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?

  Shouldn’t you lovebirds have paired up back then?

  LYSANDER

  Pardon, my lord.

  Forgive us, my lord.

  THESEUS

  I pray you all, stand up.

  Please, all of you stand up.

  I know you two are rival enemies:

  I know you two, Lysander and Demetrius, are rivals,

  How comes this gentle concord in the world,

  So how is there this peace in the world

  That hatred is so far from jealousy,

  And how in your jealousy did you not hate each other,

  To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?

  To the point where you could sleep next to each other and not be afraid of wrongdoing?

  LYSANDER

  My lord, I shall reply amazedly,

  My lord, I am rather confused, but I will reply

  Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,

  In my half-sleep, half-woken state. So far, I promise,

  I cannot truly say how I came here;

  I don’t really know how I came here.

  But, as I think,--for truly would I speak,

  But I think, -- well I want to tell you the truth

  And now do I bethink me, so it is,--

  And now that I think about it, I think this is true --

  I came with Hermia hither: our intent

  I came here with Hermia, in order to

  Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,

  Run away from Athens, to wherever we could,

  Without the peril of the Athenian law.

  So that we would not have to face the dangers of the Athenian law.

  EGEUS

  Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:

  My lord, you’ve heard enough already:

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

  Now I beg you to enforce the law and punish him.

  They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,

  They would have run away, they would have, Demetrius,

  Thereby to have defeated you and me,

  And thus would have defeated both of us,

  You of your wife and me of my consent,

  Stealing your wife, and my consent,

  Of my consent that she should be your wife.

  My consent that Hermia should be your wife.

  DEMETRIUS

  My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,

  My lord, Helena told me of their plans

  Of this their purpose hither to this wood;

  And their purpose for coming to the forest,

  And I in fury hither follow'd them,

  And I furiously followed them,

  Fair Helena in fancy following me.

  Beautiful Helena, out of love for me, following me.

  But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,--

  But, my lord, I do not know what power changed me --

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

  Though it is certainly a strong power -- but this power changed my love for Hermia,

  Melted as the snow, seems to me now

  And melted it away, like snow, so that now

  As the remembrance of an idle gaud

  I remember it as a worthless trinket

  Which in my childhood I did dote upon;

  That I loved when I was still a child.

  And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,

  And now, all of my heart and soul finds

  The object and the pleasure of mine eye,

  As its sole pleasure

  Is only Helena. To her, my lord,

  Only Helena. I was, my lord,

  Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:

  Meant to marry her before I ever saw Hermia,

  But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;

  But as if I were sick and rejecting good food, I rejected this too.

  But, as in health, come to my natural taste,

  Now I am healthy and returned to my natural tastes,

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

  And I wish for, love, and long for Helena,

  And will for evermore be true to it.

  And will forevermore be faithful to her.

  THESEUS

  Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:

  Fair lovers, it is fortunate we met here.

  Of this discourse we more will hear anon.

  We will hear more about this soon.

  Egeus, I will overbear your will;

  Egeus, I must override your request:

  For in the temple by and by with us

  In the temple with Hippolyta and me

  These couples shall eternally be knit:

  These two couples will be wed for eternity.

  And, for the morning now is something worn,

  And as the morning is almost passed,

  Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.

  We will put our hunting trip on hold for another time.

  Away with us to Athens; three and three,

  Let us go to Athens now: three men and three women to marry,

  We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.

  Well we will have a great feast together.

  Come, Hippolyta.

  Let us go, Hippolyta.

  Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train

  DEMETRIUS

  These things seem small and undistinguishable,

  Everything from last night looks small, and hard to make out,

  Like far-off mountains turnèd into clouds.

  Like a mountain far away that looks like distant clouds.

  HERMIA

  Methinks I see these things with parted eye,

  I feel like I see the everything as blurry,

  When every thing seems double.

  Or in double vision.

  HELENA

  So methinks:

  Yes, me too.

  And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,

  I feel like Demetrius is a jewel I have found,

  Mine own, and n
ot mine own.

  And is thus mine, but also not mine, that someone else could claim him at any time.

  DEMETRIUS

  Are you sure

  Is it certain

  That we are awake? It seems to me

  That we are all awake? It feels like

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

  We are still asleep and dreaming. Was the duke

  The duke was here, and bid us follow him?

  Really here, and did he ask us to follow him?

  HERMIA

  Yea; and my father.

  Yes, my father was here as well.

  HELENA

  And Hippolyta.

  And Hippolyta.

  LYSANDER

  And he did bid us follow to the temple.

  And he asked us to go to the temple with him.

  DEMETRIUS

  Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him

  Well we are definitely awake, then. Let’s follow Duke Theseus

  And by the way let us recount our dreams.

  And tell each other our dreams as we walk.

  Exeunt

  BOTTOM

  [Awaking] When my cue comes, call me, and I will

  Tell me when it is my cue and I will

  answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyramus.' Heigh-ho!

  say my line – the next one is “Most fair Pyramus.” Hello!

  Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout,

  Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-repairman! Snout,

  the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stolen

  The repairman! Starveling! My God, they have left

  hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare

  while I was asleep! I had the strangest

  vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to

  dream. It is outside of the abilities of mankind

  say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go

  to explain it: a man is as foolish as a donkey if he tries to

  about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there

  explain the dream of mine. I thought I was -- well

  is no man can tell what. Methought I was,--and

  no one can really say what exactly. I thought I was -- and I

  methought I had,--but man is but a patched fool, if

  thought I had -- but someone would be an idiot to

  he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye

  say what I thought I had. A man’s eye

  of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not