Reading Help A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, `
` Marking th' embarked traders on the flood; `
` When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive, `
` And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; `
` Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait `
` Following- her womb then rich with my young squire- `
` Would imitate, and sail upon the land, `
` To fetch me trifles, and return again, `
` As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. `
` But she, being mortal, of that boy did die; `
` And for her sake do I rear up her boy; `
` And for her sake I will not part with him. `
` OBERON. How long within this wood intend you stay? `
` TITANIA. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. `
` If you will patiently dance in our round, `
` And see our moonlight revels, go with us; `
` If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. `
` OBERON. Give me that boy and I will go with thee. `
` TITANIA. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away. `
` We shall chide downright if I longer stay. `
` Exit TITANIA with her train `
` OBERON. Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove `
` Till I torment thee for this injury. `
` My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb'rest `
` Since once I sat upon a promontory, `
` And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back `
` Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath `
` That the rude sea grew civil at her song, `
` And certain stars shot madly from their spheres `
` To hear the sea-maid's music. `
` PUCK. I remember. `
` OBERON. That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, `
` Flying between the cold moon and the earth `
` Cupid, all arm'd; a certain aim he took `
` At a fair vestal, throned by the west, `
` And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow, `
` As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts; `
` But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft `
` Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon; `
` And the imperial vot'ress passed on, `
` In maiden meditation, fancy-free. `
` Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell. `
` It fell upon a little western flower, `
` Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, `
` And maidens call it Love-in-idleness. `
` Fetch me that flow'r, the herb I showed thee once. `
` The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid `
` Will make or man or woman madly dote `
` Upon the next live creature that it sees. `
` Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again `
` Ere the leviathan can swim a league. `
` PUCK. I'll put a girdle round about the earth `
` In forty minutes. Exit PUCK `
` OBERON. Having once this juice, `
` I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, `
` And drop the liquor of it in her eyes; `
` The next thing then she waking looks upon, `
` Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, `
` On meddling monkey, or on busy ape, `
` She shall pursue it with the soul of love. `
` And ere I take this charm from off her sight, `
` As I can take it with another herb, `
` I'll make her render up her page to me. `
` But who comes here? I am invisible; `
` And I will overhear their conference. `
` `
` Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him `
` `
` DEMETRIUS. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. `
` Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? `
` The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. `
` Thou told'st me they were stol'n unto this wood, `
` And here am I, and wood within this wood, `
` Because I cannot meet my Hermia. `
` Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. `
` HELENA. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; `
` But yet you draw not iron, for my heart `
` Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw, `
` And I shall have no power to follow you. `
` DEMETRIUS. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? `
` Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth `
` Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you? `
` HELENA. And even for that do I love you the more. `
` I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, `
` The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. `
` Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, `
` Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, `
` Unworthy as I am, to follow you. `
` What worser place can I beg in your love, `
` And yet a place of high respect with me, `
` Than to be used as you use your dog? `
` DEMETRIUS. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; `
` For I am sick when I do look on thee. `
` HELENA. And I am sick when I look not on you. `
` DEMETRIUS. You do impeach your modesty too much `
` To leave the city and commit yourself `
` Into the hands of one that loves you not; `
` To trust the opportunity of night, `
` And the ill counsel of a desert place, `
` With the rich worth of your virginity. `
` HELENA. Your virtue is my privilege for that: `
` It is not night when I do see your face, `
` Therefore I think I am not in the night; `
` Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company, `
` For you, in my respect, are all the world. `
` Then how can it be said I am alone `
` When all the world is here to look on me? `
` DEMETRIUS. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, `
` And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. `
` HELENA. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. `
` Run when you will; the story shall be chang'd: `
` Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; `
` The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind `
` Makes speed to catch the tiger- bootless speed, `
` When cowardice pursues and valour flies. `
` DEMETRIUS. I will not stay thy questions; let me go; `
` Or, if thou follow me, do not believe `
` But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. `
` HELENA. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, `
` You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius! `
` Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. `
` We cannot fight for love as men may do; `
` We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. `
` Exit DEMETRIUS `
` I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, `
` To die upon the hand I love so well. Exit HELENA `
` OBERON. Fare thee well, nymph; ere he do leave this grove, `
` Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. `
` `
` Re-enter PUCK `
` `
` Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. `
` PUCK. Ay, there it is. `
` OBERON. I pray thee give it me. `
` I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, `
` Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, `
` Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, `
` With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine; `
` There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, `
` Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; `
` And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, `
` Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in; `
` And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, `
` And make her full of hateful fantasies. `
` Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: `
` A sweet Athenian lady is in love `
` With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes; `
` But do it when the next thing he espies `
` May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man `
` By the Athenian garments he hath on. `
` Effect it with some care, that he may prove `
` More fond on her than she upon her love. `
` And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. `
` PUCK. Fear not, my lord; your servant shall do so. Exeunt `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE II. `
` Another part of the wood `
` `
` Enter TITANIA, with her train `
` `
` TITANIA. Come now, a roundel and a fairy song; `
` Then, for the third part of a minute, hence: `
` Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds; `
` Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings, `
` To make my small elves coats; and some keep back `
` The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders `
` At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep; `
` Then to your offices, and let me rest. `
` `
` The FAIRIES Sing `
` `
` FIRST FAIRY. You spotted snakes with double tongue, `
` Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; `
` Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, `
` Come not near our fairy Queen. `
` CHORUS. Philomel with melody `
` Sing in our sweet lullaby. `
` Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby. `
` Never harm `
` Nor spell nor charm `
` Come our lovely lady nigh. `
` So good night, with lullaby. `
` SECOND FAIRY. Weaving spiders, come not here; `
` Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence. `
` Beetles black, approach not near; `
` Worm nor snail do no offence. `
` CHORUS. Philomel with melody, etc. [TITANIA Sleeps] `
` FIRST FAIRY. Hence away; now all is well. `
` One aloof stand sentinel. Exeunt FAIRIES `
` `
` Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA'S eyelids `
` `
` OBERON. What thou seest when thou dost wake, `
` Do it for thy true-love take; `
` Love and languish for his sake. `
` Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, `
` Pard, or boar with bristled hair, `
` In thy eye that shall appear `
`
` Marking th' embarked traders on the flood; `
` When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive, `
` And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; `
` Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait `
` Following- her womb then rich with my young squire- `
` Would imitate, and sail upon the land, `
` To fetch me trifles, and return again, `
` As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. `
` But she, being mortal, of that boy did die; `
` And for her sake do I rear up her boy; `
` And for her sake I will not part with him. `
` OBERON. How long within this wood intend you stay? `
` TITANIA. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. `
` If you will patiently dance in our round, `
` And see our moonlight revels, go with us; `
` If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. `
` OBERON. Give me that boy and I will go with thee. `
` TITANIA. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away. `
` We shall chide downright if I longer stay. `
` Exit TITANIA with her train `
` OBERON. Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove `
` Till I torment thee for this injury. `
` My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb'rest `
` Since once I sat upon a promontory, `
` And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back `
` Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath `
` That the rude sea grew civil at her song, `
` And certain stars shot madly from their spheres `
` To hear the sea-maid's music. `
` PUCK. I remember. `
` OBERON. That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, `
` Flying between the cold moon and the earth `
` Cupid, all arm'd; a certain aim he took `
` At a fair vestal, throned by the west, `
` And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow, `
` As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts; `
` But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft `
` Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon; `
` And the imperial vot'ress passed on, `
` In maiden meditation, fancy-free. `
` Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell. `
` It fell upon a little western flower, `
` Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, `
` And maidens call it Love-in-idleness. `
` Fetch me that flow'r, the herb I showed thee once. `
` The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid `
` Will make or man or woman madly dote `
` Upon the next live creature that it sees. `
` Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again `
` Ere the leviathan can swim a league. `
` PUCK. I'll put a girdle round about the earth `
` In forty minutes. Exit PUCK `
` OBERON. Having once this juice, `
` I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, `
` And drop the liquor of it in her eyes; `
` The next thing then she waking looks upon, `
` Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, `
` On meddling monkey, or on busy ape, `
` She shall pursue it with the soul of love. `
` And ere I take this charm from off her sight, `
` As I can take it with another herb, `
` I'll make her render up her page to me. `
` But who comes here? I am invisible; `
` And I will overhear their conference. `
` `
` Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him `
` `
` DEMETRIUS. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. `
` Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? `
` The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. `
` Thou told'st me they were stol'n unto this wood, `
` And here am I, and wood within this wood, `
` Because I cannot meet my Hermia. `
` Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. `
` HELENA. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; `
` But yet you draw not iron, for my heart `
` Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw, `
` And I shall have no power to follow you. `
` DEMETRIUS. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? `
` Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth `
` Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you? `
` HELENA. And even for that do I love you the more. `
` I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, `
` The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. `
` Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, `
` Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, `
` Unworthy as I am, to follow you. `
` What worser place can I beg in your love, `
` And yet a place of high respect with me, `
` Than to be used as you use your dog? `
` DEMETRIUS. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; `
` For I am sick when I do look on thee. `
` HELENA. And I am sick when I look not on you. `
` DEMETRIUS. You do impeach your modesty too much `
` To leave the city and commit yourself `
` Into the hands of one that loves you not; `
` To trust the opportunity of night, `
` And the ill counsel of a desert place, `
` With the rich worth of your virginity. `
` HELENA. Your virtue is my privilege for that: `
` It is not night when I do see your face, `
` Therefore I think I am not in the night; `
` Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company, `
` For you, in my respect, are all the world. `
` Then how can it be said I am alone `
` When all the world is here to look on me? `
` DEMETRIUS. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, `
` And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. `
` HELENA. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. `
` Run when you will; the story shall be chang'd: `
` Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; `
` The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind `
` Makes speed to catch the tiger- bootless speed, `
` When cowardice pursues and valour flies. `
` DEMETRIUS. I will not stay thy questions; let me go; `
` Or, if thou follow me, do not believe `
` But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. `
` HELENA. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, `
` You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius! `
` Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex. `
` We cannot fight for love as men may do; `
` We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. `
` Exit DEMETRIUS `
` I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, `
` To die upon the hand I love so well. Exit HELENA `
` OBERON. Fare thee well, nymph; ere he do leave this grove, `
` Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. `
` `
` Re-enter PUCK `
` `
` Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. `
` PUCK. Ay, there it is. `
` OBERON. I pray thee give it me. `
` I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, `
` Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, `
` Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, `
` With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine; `
` There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, `
` Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; `
` And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, `
` Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in; `
` And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, `
` And make her full of hateful fantasies. `
` Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: `
` A sweet Athenian lady is in love `
` With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes; `
` But do it when the next thing he espies `
` May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man `
` By the Athenian garments he hath on. `
` Effect it with some care, that he may prove `
` More fond on her than she upon her love. `
` And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. `
` PUCK. Fear not, my lord; your servant shall do so. Exeunt `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` SCENE II. `
` Another part of the wood `
` `
` Enter TITANIA, with her train `
` `
` TITANIA. Come now, a roundel and a fairy song; `
` Then, for the third part of a minute, hence: `
` Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds; `
` Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings, `
` To make my small elves coats; and some keep back `
` The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders `
` At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep; `
` Then to your offices, and let me rest. `
` `
` The FAIRIES Sing `
` `
` FIRST FAIRY. You spotted snakes with double tongue, `
` Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; `
` Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, `
` Come not near our fairy Queen. `
` CHORUS. Philomel with melody `
` Sing in our sweet lullaby. `
` Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby. `
` Never harm `
` Nor spell nor charm `
` Come our lovely lady nigh. `
` So good night, with lullaby. `
` SECOND FAIRY. Weaving spiders, come not here; `
` Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence. `
` Beetles black, approach not near; `
` Worm nor snail do no offence. `
` CHORUS. Philomel with melody, etc. [TITANIA Sleeps] `
` FIRST FAIRY. Hence away; now all is well. `
` One aloof stand sentinel. Exeunt FAIRIES `
` `
` Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA'S eyelids `
` `
` OBERON. What thou seest when thou dost wake, `
` Do it for thy true-love take; `
` Love and languish for his sake. `
` Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, `
` Pard, or boar with bristled hair, `
` In thy eye that shall appear `
`