3.2 Enter OBERON, King of Fairies.

OBERON     I wonder if Titania be awak’d;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Enter PUCK.
Here comes my messenger. How now, mad spirit?
What night-rule now about this haunted grove?	5
PUCK     My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,	10
Were met together to rehearse a play
Intended for great Theseus’ nuptial day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented in their sport,
Forsook his scene, and enter’d in a brake,	15
When I did him at this advantage take:
An ass’s nole I fixed on his head.
Anon, his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy –
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,	20
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
Rising and cawing at the gun’s report,
Sever themselves, and madly sweep the sky
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;
And at our stamp, here o’er and o’er one falls;	25
He murder cries, and help from Athens calls.
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus
strong,
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong:
For briars and thorns at their apparel snatch;
Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all things
catch.	30
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated there;
When in that moment, so it came to pass,
Titania wak’d, and straightway lov’d an ass.
OBERON     This falls out better than I could devise.	35
But hast thou yet latch’d the Athenian’s eyes
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
PUCK     I took him sleeping – that is finish’d too –
And the Athenian woman by his side,
That when he wak’d, of force she must be ey’d.	40
Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.
OBERON     Stand close: this is the same Athenian.
PUCK     This is the woman, but not this the man.
[They stand apart.]
DEMETRIUS     O why rebuke you him that loves you so?
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
HERMIA     Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse,	45
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o’er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day	50
As he to me. Would he have stol’n away
From sleeping Hermia? I’ll believe as soon
This whole earth may be bor’d, and that the moon
May through the centre creep, and so displease
Her brother’s noon-tide with th’Antipodes.	55
It cannot be but thou hast murder’d him:
So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
DEMETRIUS
So should the murder’d look, and so should I,
Pierc’d through the heart with your stern cruelty;
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,	60
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
HERMIA     What’s this to my Lysander? Where is he?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
DEMETRIUS
I had rather give his carcase to my hounds.
HERMIA
Out, dog! Out, cur! Thou driv’st me past the bounds	65
Of maiden’s patience. Hast thou slain him then?
Henceforth be never number’d among men!
O once tell true; tell true, even for my sake!
Durst thou have look’d upon him, being awake,
And hast thou kill’d him sleeping? O brave touch!	70
Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung!
DEMETRIUS
You spend your passion on a mispris’d mood:
I am not guilty of Lysander’s blood;	75
Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
HERMIA     I pray thee tell me then that he is well.
DEMETRIUS     And if I could, what should I get therefor?
HERMIA     A privilege, never to see me more.
And from thy hated presence part I so:	80
See me no more, whether he be dead or no.     Exit.
DEMETRIUS
There is no following her in this fierce vein;
Here therefore for a while I will remain.
So sorrow’s heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe;	85
Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make some stay.
[Lies down and sleeps. Oberon and Puck come forward.]
OBERON
What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite,
And laid the love-juice on some true love’s sight;
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue	90
Some true love turn’d, and not a false turn’d true.
PUCK
Then fate o’er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
OBERON     About the wood go swifter than the wind,
And Helena of Athens look thou find;	95
All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer
With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear.
By some illusion see thou bring her here;
I’ll charm his eyes against she do appear.
PUCK     I go, I go, look how I go!	100
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow. Exit.
OBERON [squeezing the juice on Demetrius’ eyelids.]
Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid’s archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.
When his love he doth espy,	105
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky.
When thou wak’st, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.
Enter PUCK.
PUCK     Captain of our fairy band,	110
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover’s fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!	115
OBERON     Stand aside. The noise they make
Will cause Demetrius to awake.
PUCK     Then will two at once woo one:
That must needs be sport alone;
And those things do best please me	120
That befall prepost’rously.
[They stand aside.]
Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.
LYSANDER
Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
Scorn and derision never come in tears.
Look when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,	125
In their nativity all truth appears.
How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith to prove them true?
HELENA     You do advance your cunning more and more.
When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
These vows are Hermia’s: will you give her o’er?	130
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,
Will even weigh; and both as light as tales.
LYSANDER     I had no judgement when to her I swore.
HELENA     Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o’er.	135
LYSANDER     Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
DEMETRIUS [waking]
O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!	140
That pure congealed white, high Taurus’ snow,
Fann’d with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold’st up thy hand. O let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
HELENA     O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent	145
To set against me for your merriment.
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls to mock me too?	150
If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so:
To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia;	155
And now both rivals to mock Helena.
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
To conjure tears up in a poor maid’s eyes
With your derision! None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort	160
A poor soul’s patience, all to make you sport.
LYSANDER     You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so,
For you love Hermia; this you know I know:
And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
In Hermia’s love I yield you up my part;	165
And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
Whom I do love, and will do till my death.
HELENA     Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
DEMETRIUS     Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none.
If ere I lov’d her, all that love is gone.	170
My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn’d,
And now to Helen is it home return’d,
There to remain.
LYSANDER     Helen, it is not so.
DEMETRIUS
Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear.	175
Look where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.
Enter HERMIA.
HERMIA
Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
The ear more quick of apprehension makes;
Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
It pays the hearing double recompense.	180
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound.
But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
LYSANDER
Why should he stay whom love doth press to go?
HERMIA
What love could press Lysander from my side?	185
LYSANDER
Lysander’s love, that would not let him bide –
Fair Helena, who more engilds the night
Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light.
Why seek’st thou me? Could not this make thee know
The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?	190
HERMIA     You speak not as you think; it cannot be!
HELENA     Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
Now I perceive they have conjoin’d all three
To fashion this false sport in spite of me.
Injurious Hermia! Most ungrateful maid!	195
Have you conspir’d, have you with these contriv’d,
To bait me with this foul derision?
Is all the counsel that we two have shar’d,
The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent
When we have chid the hasty-footed time	200
For parting us – O, is all forgot?
All school-days’ friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,	205
Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds,
Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition,	210
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
And will you rent our ancient love asunder	215
To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
It is not friendly, ’tis not maidenly;
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
Though I alone do feel the injury.
HERMIA     I am amazed at your passionate words:	220
I scorn you not; it seems that you scorn me.
HELENA     Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
To follow me, and praise my eyes and face;
And made your other love, Demetrius,
Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,	225
To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,
Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
To her he hates? And wherefore doth Lysander
Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
And tender me, forsooth, affection,	230
But by your setting on, by your consent?
What though I be not so in grace as you,
So hung upon with love, so fortunate,
But miserable most, to love unlov’d?
This you should pity rather than despise.	235
HERMIA     I understand not what you mean by this.
HELENA     Ay, do! Persever: counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back,
Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up;
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.	240
If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
You would not make me such an argument.
But fare ye well; ’tis partly my own fault,
Which death, or absence, soon shall remedy.
LYSANDER     Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse;	245
My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA     O excellent!
HERMIA     Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS     If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER
Thou canst compel no more than she entreat;
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak
prayers.	250
Helen, I love thee, by my life I do;
I swear by that which I will lose for thee
To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS     I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER     If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too.	255
DEMETRIUS     Quick, come!
HERMIA     Lysander, whereto tends all this?
LYSANDER     Away, you Ethiope!
DEMETRIUS     No, no; he’ll
Seem to break loose –
[to Lysander]     take on as you would follow,
But yet come not! You are a tame man, go!
LYSANDER
Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! Vile thing, let loose,	260
Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent.
HERMIA
Why are you grown so rude? What change is this,
Sweet love?
LYSANDER     Thy love? Out, tawny Tartar, out!
Out, loathed medicine! O hated potion, hence!
HERMIA     Do you not jest?
HELENA     Yes sooth, and so do you.	265
LYSANDER     Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
DEMETRIUS     I would I had your bond, for I perceive
A weak bond holds you; I’ll not trust your word.
LYSANDER
What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
Although I hate her, I’ll not harm her so.	270
HERMIA     What, can you do me greater harm than hate?
Hate me? Wherefor? O me! what news, my love?
Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander?
I am as fair now as I was erewhile.
Since night you lov’d me; yet since night you left me.	275
Why, then you left me – O the gods forbid! –
In earnest, shall I say?
LYSANDER     Ay, by my life!
And never did desire to see thee more.
Therefore, be out of hope, of question, of doubt;
Be certain, nothing truer; ’tis no jest	280
That I do hate thee, and love Helena.
HERMIA     O me!
[to Helena] You juggler! You canker-blossom!
You thief of love! What, have you come by night
And stol’n my love’s heart from him?
HELENA     Fine, i’faith!
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,	285
No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
Fie, fie, you counterfeit! You puppet you!
HERMIA
‘Puppet’! Why, so? Ay, that way goes the game!
Now I perceive that she hath made compare	290
Between our statures; she hath urg’d her height;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail’d with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?	295
How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak:
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
HELENA     I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me. I was never curst;	300
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
I am a right maid for my cowardice;
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
Because she is something lower than myself,
That I can match her.
HERMIA     ‘Lower’? Hark, again!	305
HELENA     Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
I evermore did love you, Hermia,
Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong’d you,
Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.	310
He follow’d you; for love I follow’d him;
But he hath chid me hence, and threaten’d me
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I bear my folly back,	315
And follow you no further. Let me go:
You see how simple and how fond I am.
HERMIA     Why, get you gone! Who is’t that hinders you?
HELENA     A foolish heart that I leave here behind.
HERMIA     What! with Lysander?
HELENA     With Demetrius.	320
LYSANDER
Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
DEMETRIUS
No sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
HELENA     O, when she is angry, she is keen and shrewd;
She was a vixen when she went to school,
And though she be but little, she is fierce.	325
HERMIA     ‘Little’ again? Nothing but ‘low’ and ‘little’?
Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
Let me come to her!
LYSANDER     Get you gone, you dwarf;
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
You bead, you acorn.
DEMETRIUS     You are too officious	330
In her behalf that scorns your services.
Let her alone; speak not of Helena;
Take not her part; for if thou dost intend
Never so little show of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it.
LYSANDER     Now she holds me not:	335
Now follow, if thou dar’st, to try whose right,
Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
DEMETRIUS
Follow? Nay, I’ll go with thee, cheek by jowl.
Exeunt Lysander and Demetrius.
HERMIA     You, mistress, all this coil is long of you.
Nay, go not back.
HELENA     I will not trust you, I,	340
Nor longer stay in your curst company.
Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray:
My legs are longer though, to run away.     Exit.
HERMIA     I am amaz’d, and know not what to say.      Exit.
[Oberon and Puck come forward.]
OBERON     This is thy negligence: still thou mistak’st,	345
Or else committ’st thy knaveries wilfully.
PUCK     Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
Did not you tell me I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?
And so far blameless proves my enterprise	350
That I have ‘nointed an Athenian’s eyes:
And so far am I glad it so did sort,
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
OBERON     Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight.
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;	355
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog, as black as Acheron,
And lead these testy rivals so astray
As one come not within another’s way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,	360
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius:
And from each other look thou lead them thus,
Till o’er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep.	365
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	370
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;	375
And then I will her charmed eye release
From monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.
PUCK     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,	380
At whose approach, ghosts wandering 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:	385
They wilfully themselves exil’d from light,
And must for aye consort with black-brow’d 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	390
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.	395
PUCK         Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down;
I am fear’d in field and town:
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one.	400
Enter LYSANDER.
LYSANDER
Where art thou, proud Demetrius? Speak thou now.
PUCK     Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?
LYSANDER     I will be with thee straight.
PUCK     Follow me then
To plainer ground.
Exit Lysander, as following the voice.
Enter DEMETRIUS.
DEMETRIUS     Lysander, speak again.
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?	405
Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
PUCK     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 defil’d	410
That draws a sword on thee.
DEMETRIUS     Yea, art thou there?
PUCK     Follow my voice; we’ll try no manhood here.
Exeunt.
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-heel’d than I:	415
I follow’d fast; but faster he did fly,
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me. [Lies down.]
Come thou gentle day:
For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
I’ll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. [Sleeps.]	420
Enter PUCK and DEMETRIUS.
PUCK     Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why com’st thou not?
[They dodge about the stage.]
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?
PUCK     Come hither; I am here.	425
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.
[Lies down.]
By day’s approach look to be visited. [Sleeps.]	430
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,	435
Steal me awhile from mine own company.
[Lies down and sleeps.]
PUCK     Yet but three? Come one more,
Two of both kinds makes up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad:
Cupid is a knavish lad	440
Thus to make poor females mad!
Enter HERMIA.
HERMIA     Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briars,
I can no further crawl, no further go;
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.	445
Here will I rest me till the break of day. [Lies down.]
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray! [Sleeps.]
PUCK             On the ground
Sleep sound;
I’ll apply	450
To your eye,
Gentle lover, remedy.
[Squeezes the juice on Lysander’s eyelids.]
When thou wak’st,
Thou tak’st
True delight	455
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:	460
Jack shall have Jill,
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be
well.     Exit.

4.1 Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia, still
lying asleep. Enter TITANIA, Queen of Fairies, and
BOTTOM; PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH,
MUSTARDSEED and other fairies; OBERON, the King,
behind, unseen.

TITANIA     Come sit thee down upon this flowery 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?	5
PEASEBLOSSOM     Ready.
BOTTOM     Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Where’s
Mounsieur Cobweb?
COBWEB     Ready.
BOTTOM     Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you	10
your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped
humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and good
mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret
yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and good
mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not; I	15
would be loath to have you overflowen with a honey-
bag, signior. Where’s Mounsieur Mustardseed?
MUSTARDSEED     Ready.
BOTTOM     Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed.
Pray you, leave your courtesy, good mounsieur.	20
MUSTARDSEED     What’s your will?
BOTTOM     Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help
Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber’s,
mounsieur, for methinks I am marvellous hairy about
the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but	25
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.
TITANIA     Or say, sweet love, what thou desir’st to eat?	30
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.
TITANIA     I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.	35
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.	40
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 PUCK
OBERON [advancing]
Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this sweet sight.	45
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	50
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 flowerets’ eyes
Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail.	55
When I had at my pleasure taunted her,
And she in mild terms begg’d 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 fairy land.	60
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,	65
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.
[Squeezes the juice on her eyelids.]
Be as thou wast wont to be;	70
See as thou 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 [waking]
My Oberon! What visions have I seen!	75
Methought I was enamour’d 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 awhile. Robin, take off this head.
Titania, music call; and strike more dead	80
Than common sleep, of all these five the sense.
TITANIA     Music ho, music, such as charmeth sleep!
[Soft music.]
PUCK [taking the ass-head off Bottom]
Now when thou wak’st, with thine own fool’s eyes peep.
OBERON     Sound, music!      [Music strikes into a dance.]
Come my queen, take hands with me,
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.	85
[Oberon and Titania dance.]
Now thou and I are new in amity,
And will to-morrow midnight, solemnly,
Dance in Duke Theseus’ house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair prosperity.
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be	90
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
PUCK           Fairy king, attend and mark:
I do hear the morning lark.
OBERON     Then my queen, in silence sad,
Trip we after night’s shade:	95
We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wandering moon.
TITANIA     Come my lord, and in our flight
Tell me how it came this night
That I sleeping here was found	100
With these mortals on the ground.
Exeunt. The four lovers and Bottom still lie asleep.
To the winding of horns within, enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS and train.
THESEUS     Go one of you, find out the forester;
For now our observation is perform’d,
And since we have the vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.	105
Uncouple in the western valley; let them go;
Dispatch I say, and find the forester.
Exit an attendant.
We will, fair queen, up to the mountain’s top,
And mark the musical confusion
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.	110
HIPPOLYTA     I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay’d the bear
With hounds of Sparta; never did I hear
Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near	115
Seem’d 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 flew’d, so sanded; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;	120
Crook-knee’d and dewlapp’d like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match’d in mouth like bells,
Each under each: a cry more tuneable
Was never holla’d to, nor cheer’d with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly.	125
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.	130
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?	135
EGEUS     It is, my lord.
THESEUS
Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
[Shout within; winding of horns.]
[The lovers wake and 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.	140
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 amazedly,	145
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	150
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
Without the peril of the Athenian law –
EGEUS     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,	155
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
My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither to this wood;	160
And I in fury hither follow’d them,
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
But my good lord, I wot not by what power –
But by some power it is – my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now	165
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,	170
Was I betroth’d ere I saw Hermia;
But like a 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.	175
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.	180
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purpos’d hunting shall be set aside.
Away, with us, to Athens: three and three,
We’ll hold a feast in great solemnity.
Come, Hippolyta.	185
Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus and 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,	190
Mine own, and not mine own.
DEMETRIUS     Are you sure
That we are awake? 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.	195
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.
BOTTOM [waking] When my cue comes, call me and I
will answer. My next is ‘Most fair Pyramus’. Heigh-	200
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 to expound this	205
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	210
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.	215
Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall
sing it at her death.     Exit.

4.2 Enter QUINCE, FLUTE, SNOUT and STARVELING.

QUINCE     Have you sent to Bottom’s house? Is he come
home yet?
STARVELING     He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is
transported.
FLUTE     If he come not, then the play is marred: it goes	5
not forward, doth it?
QUINCE     It is not possible. You have not a man in all
Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.
FLUTE     No, he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft
man in Athens.	10
QUINCE     Yea, and the best person too; and he is a very
paramour for a sweet voice.
FLUTE     You must say paragon. A paramour is, God bless
us, a thing of naught.
Enter SNUG the joiner.
SNUG     Masters, the Duke is coming from the temple,	15
and there is two or three lords and ladies more
married. If our sport had gone forward, we had all
been made men.
FLUTE     O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost
sixpence a day during his life; he could not have	20
‘scaped sixpence a day. And the Duke had not given
him sixpence a day for playing Pyramus, I’ll be
hanged. He would have deserved it: sixpence a day in
Pyramus, or nothing.
Enter BOTTOM.
BOTTOM     Where are these lads? Where are these hearts?	25
QUINCE     Bottom! O most courageous day! O most happy
hour!
BOTTOM     Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask
me not what; for if I tell you, I am not true Athenian.
I will tell you everything, right as it fell out.	30
QUINCE     Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
BOTTOM     Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is,
that the Duke hath dined. Get your apparel together,
good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your
pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look	35
o’er his part: for the short and the long is, our play is
preferred. In any case, let Thisbe have clean linen; and
let not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for they
shall hang out for the lion’s claws. And most dear
actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter	40
sweet breath; and I do not doubt but to hear them say,
it is a sweet comedy. No more words. Away! Go, away!
Exeunt.

5.1 Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA; lords and
attendants, among them PHILOSTRATE.

HIPPOLYTA
’Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.
THESEUS     More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend	5
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is the madman: the lover, all as frantic,	10
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen	15
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy:	20
Or, in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush suppos’d a bear!
HIPPOLYTA     But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigur’d so together,
More witnesseth than fancy’s images,	25
And grows to something of great constancy;
But howsoever, strange and admirable.
Enter the lovers: LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA and HELENA.
THESEUS     Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.
Joy, gentle friends, joy and fresh days of love
Accompany your hearts!
LYSANDER     More than to us	30
Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!
THESEUS
Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have,
To wear away this long age of three hours
Between our after-supper and bed-time?
Where is our usual manager of mirth?	35
What revels are in hand? Is there no play
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
Call Philostrate.
PHILOSTRATE [advancing] Here, mighty Theseus.
THESEUS
Say, what abridgement have you for this evening,
What masque, what music? How shall we beguile	40
The lazy time, if not with some delight?
PHILOSTRATE
There is a brief how many sports are ripe:
Make choice of which your Highness will see first.
[giving a paper]
THESEUS [Reads.]
The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp?	45
We’ll none of that; that have I told my love
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
[Reads.] The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage?
That is an old device, and it was play’d	50
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
[Reads.] The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceas’d in beggary?
That is some satire, keen and critical,
Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.	55
[Reads.] A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
And his love Thisbe, very tragical mirth?
Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief?
That is hot ice, and wondrous strange snow!
How shall we find the concord of this discord?	60
PHILOSTRATE
A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
Which is as brief as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
Which makes it tedious; for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.	65
And tragical, my noble lord, it is,
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself;
Which, when I saw rehears’d, I must confess
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The passion of loud laughter never shed.	70
THESEUS     What are they that do play it?
PHILOSTRATE
Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,
Which never labour’d in their minds till now;
And now have toil’d their unbreath’d memories
With this same play, against your nuptial.	75
THESEUS     And we will hear it.
PHILOSTRATE     No, my noble lord,
It is not for you: I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch’d and conn’d with cruel pain	80
To do you service.
THESEUS     I will hear that play;
For never anything can be amiss
When simpleness and duty tender it.
Go bring them in; and take your places, ladies.
Exit Philostrate.
HIPPOLYTA     I love not to see wretchedness o’er-charg’d,	85
And duty in his service perishing.
THESEUS     Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
HIPPOLYTA     He says they can do nothing in this kind.
THESEUS
The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:	90
And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
Takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,	95
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis’d accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence yet I pick’d a welcome,	100
And in the modesty of fearful duty
I read as much as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
In least speak most, to my capacity.	105
Enter PHILOSTRATE.
PHILOSTRATE
So please your grace, the Prologue is address’d.
THESEUS     Let him approach.
[Flourish of trumpets.]
Enter QUINCE for the PROLOGUE.
PROLOGUE     If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,	110
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then, we come but in despite.
We do not come, as minding to content you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight,
We are not here. That you should here repent you,	115
The actors are at hand; and by their show,
You shall know all, that you are like to know.
THESEUS     This fellow doth not stand upon points.
LYSANDER     He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he
knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not	120
enough to speak, but to speak true.
HIPPOLYTA     Indeed he hath played on this prologue like
a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.
THESEUS     His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing
impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?	125
Enter, with a trumpeter before them, BOTTOM as PYRAMUS, FLUTE as THISBE, SNOUT as WALL, STARVELING as MOONSHINE and SNUG as LION.
PROLOGUE     Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
This beauteous lady Thisbe is certain.
This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present	130
Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder;
And through Wall’s chink, poor souls, they are content
To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,	135
By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus’ tomb, there, there to woo.
This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisbe, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright;	140
And as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisbe’s mantle slain;
Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,	145
He bravely broach’d his boiling bloody breast;
And Thisbe, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest.
Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
At large discourse, while here they do remain.	150
Exeunt Prologue, Pyramus, Thisbe, Lion      and Moonshine.
THESEUS     I wonder if the lion be to speak?
DEMETRIUS     No wonder, my lord; one lion may when many asses do.
WALL     In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;	155
And such a wall as I would have you think
That had in it a crannied hole, or chink,
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe,
Did whisper often, very secretly.
This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone doth show	160
That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
THESEUS     Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?
DEMETRIUS     It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard	165
discourse, my lord.
Enter PYRAMUS.
THESEUS     Pyramus draws near the wall; silence!
PYRAMUS     O grim-look’d night! O night with hue so black!
O night, which ever art when day is not!
O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,	170
I fear my Thisbe’s promise is forgot!
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
That stand’st between her father’s ground and mine;
Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.	175
[Wall stretches out his fingers.]
Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
But what see I? No Thisbe do I see.
O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss,
Curs’d thy stones for thus deceiving me!
THESEUS     The wall, methinks, being sensible, should	180
curse again.
PYRAMUS     No, in truth sir, he should not. ‘Deceiving
me’ is Thisbe’s cue: she is to enter now, and I am to
spy her through the wall. You shall see it will fall pat
as I told you: yonder she comes.	185
Enter THISBE.
THISBE     O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
My cherry lips have often kiss’d thy stones,
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
PYRAMUS     I see a voice; now will I to the chink,	190
To spy and I can hear my Thisbe’s face.
Thisbe?
THISBE     My love thou art, my love I think!
PYRAMUS     Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace;
And like Limander am I trusty still.
THISBE     And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.	195
PYRAMUS     Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
THISBE     As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
PYRAMUS     O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall.
THISBE     I kiss the wall’s hole, not your lips at all.
PYRAMUS     Wilt thou at Ninny’s tomb meet me straightway?	200
THISBE     ‘Tide life, ‘tide death, I come without delay.
Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe, severally.
WALL     Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.     Exit.
THESEUS     Now is the mure rased between the two
neighbours.	205
DEMETRIUS     No remedy my lord, when walls are so
wilful to hear without warning.
HIPPOLYTA     This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
THESEUS     The best in this kind are but shadows; and the
worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.	210
HIPPOLYTA     It must be your imagination then, and not
theirs.
THESEUS     If we imagine no worse of them than they of
themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here
come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.	215
Enter LION and MOONSHINE.
LION You ladies, you whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know that I as Snug the joiner am	220
A lion fell, nor else no lion’s dam;
For if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, ’twere pity on my life.
THESEUS     A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience.
DEMETRIUS     The very best at a beast, my lord, that e’er	225
I saw.
LYSANDER     This lion is a very fox for his valour.
THESEUS     True; and a goose for his discretion.
DEMETRIUS     Not so, my lord, for his valour cannot carry
his discretion; and the fox carries the goose.	230
THESEUS     His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his
valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well: leave
it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.
MOONSHINE     This lantern doth the horned moon present –
DEMETRIUS     He should have worn the horns on his head.	235
THESEUS     He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible
within the circumference.
MOONSHINE     This lantern doth the horned moon present;
Myself the Man i’th’ Moon do seem to be.
THESEUS     This is the greatest error of all the rest; the	240
man should be put into the lantern. How is it else the
Man i’the Moon?
DEMETRIUS     He dares not come there for the candle; for
you see it is already in snuff.
HIPPOLYTA     I am aweary of this moon. Would he would	245
change!
THESEUS     It appears by his small light of discretion that
he is in the wane; but yet in courtesy, in all reason, we
must stay the time.
LYSANDER     Proceed, Moon.	250
MOONSHINE     All that I have to say is, to tell you that the
lantern is the moon; I the Man i’th’ Moon; this thorn-
bush my thorn-bush; and this dog my dog.
DEMETRIUS     Why, all these should be in the lantern, for
all these are in the moon. But silence: here comes	255
Thisbe.
Enter THISBE.
THISBE     This is old Ninny’s tomb. Where is my love?
LION     O –!     The Lion roars. Thisbe,
dropping her mantle, runs off.
DEMETRIUS     Well roared, Lion!
THESEUS     Well run, Thisbe!	260
HIPPOLYTA     Well shone, Moon! Truly, the moon shines
with a good grace.
The Lion worries the mantle, and exit.
THESEUS     Well moused, Lion!
DEMETRIUS     And then came Pyramus –
LYSANDER     And so the lion vanished.	265
Enter PYRAMUS.
PYRAMUS     Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
For by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisbe sight.
But stay! O spite!	270
But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here?
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!	275
Thy mantle good,
What! Stain’d with blood?
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates, come, come!
Cut thread and thrum:	280
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell.
THESEUS     This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad.
HIPPOLYTA     Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.
PYRAMUS     O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame,	285
Since lion vile hath here deflower’d my dear?
Which is – no, no – which was the fairest dame
That liv’d, that lov’d, that lik’d, that look’d with cheer.
Come tears, confound!
Out sword, and wound	290
The pap of Pyramus;
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop: [Stabs himself.]
Thus die I, thus, thus, thus!
Now am I dead,	295
Now am I fled;
My soul is in the sky.
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon, take thy flight!
Exit Moonshine.
Now die, die, die, die, die.[Dies.]	300
DEMETRIUS     No die, but an ace for him; for he is but
one.
LYSANDER     Less than an ace, man; for he is dead, he is
nothing.
THESEUS     With the help of a surgeon he might yet	305
recover, and prove an ass.
HIPPOLYTA     How chance Moonshine is gone, before
Thisbe comes back and finds her lover?
THESEUS     She will find him by starlight.
Enter THISBE.
Here she comes, and her passion ends the play.	310
HIPPOLYTA     Methinks she should not use a long one for
such a Pyramus; I hope she will be brief.
DEMETRIUS     A mote will turn the balance, which
Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better: he for a man,
God warrant us; she for a woman, God bless us!	315
LYSANDER     She hath spied him already with those sweet
eyes.
DEMETRIUS     And thus she means, videlicet –
THISBE     Asleep, my love?
What, dead, my dove?	320
O Pyramus, arise!
Speak, speak! Quite dumb?
Dead, dead? A tomb
Must cover thy sweet eyes.
These lily lips,	325
This cherry nose,
These yellow cowslip cheeks,
Are gone, are gone!
Lovers, make moan;
His eyes were green as leeks.	330
O Sisters Three,
Come, come to me,
With hands as pale as milk;
Lay them in gore,
Since you have shore	335
With shears his thread of silk.
Tongue, not a word:
Come, trusty sword,
Come, blade, my breast imbrue! [Stabs herself.]
And farewell, friends;	340
Thus Thisbe ends:
Adieu, adieu, adieu! [Dies.]
THESEUS     Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the
dead.
DEMETRIUS     Ay, and Wall too.	345
BOTTOM [starting up] No, I assure you; the wall is down
that parted their fathers. [Flute rises.] Will it please you
to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance
between two of our company?
THESEUS     No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs	350
no excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all
dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that
writ it had played Pyramus, and hanged himself in
Thisbe’s garter, it would have been a fine tragedy –
and so it is, truly, and very notably discharged. But	355
come, your Bergomask; let your epilogue alone.
Enter QUINCE, SNUG, SNOUT and STARVELING two of whom dance a bergamask. Then exeunt handicraftsmen, including Flute and Bottom.
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.
Lovers, to bed; ’tis almost fairy time.
I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn
As much as we this night have overwatch’d.	360
This palpable-gross play hath well beguil’d
The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
A fortnight hold we this solemnity
In nightly revels and new jollity.     Exeunt.
Enter PUCK.
PUCK     Now the hungry lion roars,	365
And the wolf behowls the moon;
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,	370
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite	375
In the church-way paths to glide.
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate’s team
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,	380
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow’d house.
I am sent with broom before
To sweep the dust behind the door.
Enter OBERON and TITANIA, the King and Queen of Fairies, with all their train.
OBERON     Through the house give glimmering light	385
By the dead and drowsy fire;
Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from briar;
And this ditty after me
Sing, and dance it trippingly.	390
TITANIA     First rehearse your song by rote,
To each word a warbling note;
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.
[Oberon leading, the Fairies sing and dance.]
OBERON     Now, until the break of day,	395
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.	400
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be;
And the blots of Nature’s hand
Shall not in their issue stand:
Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,	405
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate,
Every fairy take his gait,	410
And each several chamber bless
Through this palace with sweet peace;
And the owner of it blest,
Ever shall in safety rest.
Trip away; make no stay;	415
Meet me all by break of day.
Exeunt all but Puck.
PUCK [to the audience]
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.	420
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,	425
If we have unearned luck
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call.
So, goodnight unto you all.	430
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.     Exit.