PUCK
What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
PUCK
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
PUCK
What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;
PUCK
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
QUINCE
Speak, Pyramus. Thisby, stand forth.
BOTTOM
Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,--
BOTTOM
--odours savours sweet:
BOTTOM
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.
BOTTOM
But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,
BOTTOM
And by and by I will to thee appear.
PUCK
A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.
QUINCE
Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand he goes
QUINCE
but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
FLUTE
Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,
FLUTE
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
FLUTE
Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew,
FLUTE
As true as truest horse that yet would never tire,
FLUTE
I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
QUINCE
'Ninus' tomb,' man: why, you must not speak that
QUINCE
yet; that you answer to [Person 25]: you speak all your
Pyramus
[PERSON 8]: yet; that you answer to you speak all your
QUINCE
part at once, cues and all Pyramus enter: your cue
QUINCE
is past; it is, 'never tire.'
FLUTE
O,--As true as truest horse, that yet would
Re-enter PUCK, and BOTTOM with an ass's head
BOTTOM
If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine.
QUINCE
O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray,
QUINCE
masters! fly, masters! Help!
Exeunt QUINCE, SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING
PUCK
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
PUCK
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
PUCK
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
PUCK
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
PUCK
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
PUCK
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
BOTTOM
Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to
SNOUT
O Bottom, thou art changed! what do I see on thee?
BOTTOM
What do you see? you see an asshead of your own, do
QUINCE
Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art
BOTTOM
I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
BOTTOM
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
BOTTOM
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
BOTTOM
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
BOTTOM
The ousel cock so black of hue,
BOTTOM
With orange-tawny bill,
BOTTOM
The throstle with his note so true,
BOTTOM
The wren with little quill,--
TITANIA
What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
BOTTOM
The finch, the sparrow and the lark,
BOTTOM
The plain-song cuckoo gray,
BOTTOM
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
BOTTOM
And dares not answer nay;--
BOTTOM
for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish
BOTTOM
a bird? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry
BOTTOM
'cuckoo' never so?
TITANIA
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:
TITANIA
Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;
TITANIA
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
TITANIA
And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me
TITANIA
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason
BOTTOM
for that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and
BOTTOM
love keep little company together now-a-days; the
BOTTOM
more the pity that some honest neighbours will not
BOTTOM
make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
BOTTOM
Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out
BOTTOM
of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
TITANIA
Out of this wood do not desire to go:
TITANIA
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
TITANIA
I am a spirit of no common rate;
TITANIA
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
TITANIA
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
TITANIA
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
TITANIA
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
TITANIA
And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;
TITANIA
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
TITANIA
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
TITANIA
Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!
Enter PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, and MUSTARDSEED
TITANIA
Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
TITANIA
Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;
TITANIA
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
TITANIA
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
TITANIA
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,
TITANIA
And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs
TITANIA
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
TITANIA
To have my love to bed and to arise;
TITANIA
And pluck the wings from Painted butterflies
TITANIA
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
TITANIA
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
PEASEBLOSSOM
Hail, mortal!
BOTTOM
I cry your worship's mercy, heartily: I beseech your
BOTTOM
I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master
BOTTOM
[Person 19]: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with
COBWEB
[PERSON 9]: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with
BOTTOM
you. Your name, honest gentleman?
PEASEBLOSSOM
Peaseblossom.
BOTTOM
I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your
BOTTOM
mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good
BOTTOM
Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more
BOTTOM
acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, sir?
BOTTOM
Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:
BOTTOM
that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath
BOTTOM
devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise
BOTTOM
you your kindred had made my eyes water ere now. I
BOTTOM
desire your more acquaintance, good Master
TITANIA
Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.
TITANIA
The moon methinks looks with a watery eye;
TITANIA
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
TITANIA
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
TITANIA
Tie up my love's tongue bring him silently.
