Horns winded within
Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train
THESEUS
THESEUS
Go, one of you, find out the forester;
THESEUS
THESEUS
For now our observation is perform'd;
THESEUS
THESEUS
And since we have the vaward of the day,
THESEUS
THESEUS
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.
THESEUS
THESEUS
Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:
THESEUS
THESEUS
Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.
Exit an Attendant
THESEUS
THESEUS
We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
THESEUS
THESEUS
And mark the musical confusion
THESEUS
THESEUS
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
The skies, the fountains, every region near
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
HIPPOLYTA
HIPPOLYTA
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
THESEUS
THESEUS
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
THESEUS
THESEUS
So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung
THESEUS
THESEUS
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
THESEUS
THESEUS
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;
THESEUS
THESEUS
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
THESEUS
THESEUS
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
THESEUS
THESEUS
Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
THESEUS
THESEUS
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:
THESEUS
THESEUS
Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?
EGEUS
EGEUS
My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;
EGEUS
EGEUS
And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
EGEUS
EGEUS
This Helena, old Nedar's [Person 7]:
HELENA
HELENA
[PERSON 3]: This Helena, old Nedar's
EGEUS
EGEUS
I wonder of their being here together.
THESEUS
THESEUS
No doubt they rose up early to observe
THESEUS
THESEUS
The rite of May, and hearing our intent,
THESEUS
THESEUS
Came here in grace our solemnity.
THESEUS
THESEUS
But speak, Egeus; is not this the day
THESEUS
THESEUS
That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
EGEUS
EGEUS
It is, my lord.
THESEUS
THESEUS
Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
Horns and shout within. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and HERMIA wake and start up
THESEUS
THESEUS
Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
THESEUS
THESEUS
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
Pardon, my lord.
THESEUS
THESEUS
I pray you all, stand up.
THESEUS
THESEUS
I know you two are rival enemies:
THESEUS
THESEUS
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
THESEUS
THESEUS
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
THESEUS
THESEUS
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
I cannot truly say how I came here;
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
But, as I think,--for truly would I speak,
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
And now do I bethink me, so it is,--
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
I came with Hermia hither: our intent
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
Without the peril of the Athenian law.
EGEUS
EGEUS
Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:
EGEUS
EGEUS
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
EGEUS
EGEUS
They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,
EGEUS
EGEUS
Thereby to have defeated you and me,
EGEUS
EGEUS
You of your wife and me of my consent,
EGEUS
EGEUS
Of my consent that she should be your wife.
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Of this their purpose hither to this wood;
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
And I in fury hither follow'd them,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,--
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
As the remembrance of an idle gaud
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
HERMIA
HERMIA
[PERSON 5]: Was I betroth'd ere I saw
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Was I betroth'd ere I saw [Person 4]:
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
And will for evermore be true to it.
THESEUS
THESEUS
Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
THESEUS
THESEUS
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.
THESEUS
THESEUS
Egeus, I will overbear your will;
THESEUS
THESEUS
For in the temple by and by with us
THESEUS
THESEUS
These couples shall eternally be knit:
THESEUS
THESEUS
And, for the morning now is something worn,
THESEUS
THESEUS
Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.
THESEUS
THESEUS
Away with us to Athens; three and three,
THESEUS
THESEUS
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.
THESEUS
THESEUS
Come, Hippolyta.
Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
These things seem small and undistinguishable,
HERMIA
HERMIA
Methinks I see these things with parted eye,
HERMIA
HERMIA
When every thing seems double.
HELENA
HELENA
So methinks:
HELENA
HELENA
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
HELENA
HELENA
Mine own, and not mine own.
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Are you sure
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
That we are awake? It seems to me
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
HERMIA
HERMIA
Yea; and my father.
HELENA
HELENA
And Hippolyta.
LYSANDER
LYSANDER
And he did bid us follow to the temple.
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him
DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
And by the way let us recount our dreams.
Exeunt
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
When my cue comes, call me, and I will
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyramus.' Heigh-ho!
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout,
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stolen
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
is no man can tell what. Methought I was,--and
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
methought I had,--but man is but a patched fool, if
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream,
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
latter end of a play, before the duke:
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall
BOTTOM
BOTTOM
sing it at her death.
THESEUS
THESEUS