Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, and
PHILOSTRATE, [Lords and Attendants].
HIPPOLYTA
1 'Tis strange my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.
THESEUS
2 More strange than true: I never may believe
3 These antic fables, nor these fairy toys.
4 Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
5 Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
6 More than cool reason ever comprehends.
7 The lunatic, the lover and the poet
8 Are of imagination all compact:
9 One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
10 That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
11 Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
12 The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
13 Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
14 And as imagination bodies forth
15 The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
16 Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
17 A local habitation and a name.
18 Such tricks hath strong imagination,
19 That if it would but apprehend some joy,
20 It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
21 Or in the night, imagining some fear,
22 How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
HIPPOLYTA
23 But all the story of the night told over,
24 And all their minds transfigured so together,
25 More witnesseth than fancy's images
26 And grows to something of great constancy;
27 But, howsoever, strange and admirable.
THESEUS
28 Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.
Enter lovers, LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS,
HERMIA, and HELENA.
29 Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love
30 Accompany your hearts!
LYSANDER
30 More than to us
31 Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!
THESEUS
32 Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have,
33 To wear away this long age of three hours
34 Between our after-supper and bed-time?
35 Where is our usual manager of mirth?
36 What revels are in hand? Is there no play,
37 To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
38 Call Philostrate.
PHILOSTRATE
38 Here, mighty Theseus.
THESEUS
39 Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?
40 What masque? what music? How shall we beguile
41 The lazy time, if not with some delight?
PHILOSTRATE
42 There is a brief how many sports are ripe:
43 Make choice of which your highness will see first.
[Giving a paper.]
THESEUS [Reads.]
44 "The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
45 By an Athenian eunuch to the harp."
46 We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
47 In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
[Reads.]
48 "The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
49 Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage."
50 That is an old device; and it was play'd
51 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
[Reads.]
52 "The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
53 Of Learning, late deceased in beggary."
54 That is some satire, keen and critical,
55 Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
[Reads.]
56 "A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
57 And his love Thisby; very tragical mirth."
58 Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!
59 That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
60 How shall we find the concord of this discord?
PHILOSTRATE
61 A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
62 Which is as brief as I have known a play;
63 But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
64 Which makes it tedious; for in all the play
65 There is not one word apt, one player fitted:
66 And tragical, my noble lord, it is;
67 For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
68 Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess,
69 Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
70 The passion of loud laughter never shed.
THESEUS
71 What are they that do play it?
PHILOSTRATE
72 Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,
73 Which never labor'd in their minds till now,
74 And now have toil'd their unbreathed memories
75 With this same play, against your nuptial.
THESEUS
76 And we will hear it.
PHILOSTRATE
76 No, my noble lord;
77 It is not for you: I have heard it over,
78 And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
79 Unless you can find sport in their intents,
80 Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
81 To do you service.
THESEUS
81 I will hear that play;
82 For never anything can be amiss,
83 When simpleness and duty tender it.
84 Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.
[Exit PHILOSTRATE.]
HIPPOLYTA
85 I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged
86 And duty in his service perishing.
THESEUS
87 Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
HIPPOLYTA
88 He says they can do nothing in this kind.
THESEUS
89 The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
90 Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:
91 And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
92 Takes it in might, not merit.
93 Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
94 To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
95 Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
96 Make periods in the midst of sentences,
97 Throttle their practic'd accent in their fears
98 And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,
99 Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
100 Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome;
101 And in the modesty of fearful duty
102 I read as much as from the rattling tongue
103 Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
104 Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
105 In least speak most, to my capacity.
[Enter PHILOSTRATE.]
PHILOSTRATE
106 So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd.
THESEUS
107 Let him approach.
[Flourish of trumpets.]
Enter [QUINCE for] the Prologue.
Prologue
108 If we offend, it is with our good will.
109 That you should think, we come not to offend,
110 But with good will. To show our simple skill,
111 That is the true beginning of our end.
112 Consider then we come but in despite.
113 We do not come as minding to content you,
114 Our true intent is. All for your delight
115 We are not here. That you should here repent you,
116 The actors are at hand; and by their show,
117 You shall know all that you are like to know.
THESEUS
118 This fellow doth not stand upon points.
LYSANDER
119 He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
120 not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
121 enough to speak, but to speak true.
HIPPOLYTA
122 Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child
123 on a recorder— a sound, but not in
124 government.
THESEUS
125 His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing
126 impair'd, but all disordered. Who is next?
Enter PYRAMUS and THISBY and WALL
and MOONSHINE and LION.
Prologue
127 Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
128 But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
129 This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
130 This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.
131 This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
132 Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;
133 And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
134 To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
135 This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,
136 Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,
137 By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
138 To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
139 This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
140 The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
141 Did scare away, or rather did affright;
142 And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
143 Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
144 Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
145 And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:
146 Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
147 He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;
148 And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
149 His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
150 Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
151 At large discourse, while here they do remain.
Exit [with Pyramus,] Thisby, Lion, and Moonshine.
THESEUS
152 I wonder if the lion be to speak.
DEMETRIUS
153 No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many
154 asses do.
Wall
155 In this same interlude it doth befall
156 That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
157 And such a wall, as I would have you think,
158 That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
159 Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
160 Did whisper often very secretly.
161 This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show
162 That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
163 And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
164 Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
THESEUS
165 Would you desire lime and hair to speak
166 better?
DEMETRIUS
167 It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
168 discourse, my lord.
[Enter PYRAMUS.]
THESEUS
169 Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!
Pyramus
170 O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!
171 O night, which ever art when day is not!
172 O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,
173 I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!
174 And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
175 That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!
176 Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
177 Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!
[Wall holds up his fingers.]
178 Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
179 But what see I? No Thisby do I see.
180 O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!
181 Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!
THESEUS
182 The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse
183 again.
Pyramus
184 No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'
185 is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to
186 spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will
187 fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes.
Enter THISBY.
THISBY
188 O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
189 For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
190 My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones,
191 Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
Pyramus
192 I see a voice: now will I to the chink,
193 To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face.
194 Thisby!
THISBY
194 My love thou art, my love I think.
Pyramus
195 Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;
196 And, like Limander, am I trusty still.
THISBY
197 And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.
Pyramus
198 Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
THISBY
199 As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
Pyramus
200 O kiss me through the hole of this vild wall!
THISBY
201 I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.
Pyramus
202 Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?
THISBY
203 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.
[Exeunt Pyramus and Thisby.]
Wall
204 Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
205 And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.
[Exit.]
THESEUS
206 Now is the mural down between the two
207 neighbours.
DEMETRIUS
208 No remedy, my lord, when walls are so
209 willful to hear without warning.
HIPPOLYTA
210 This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
THESEUS
211 The best in this kind are but shadows; and the
212 worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.
HIPPOLYTA
213 It must be your imagination then, and not
214 theirs.
THESEUS
215 If we imagine no worse of them than they of
216 themselves, they may pass for excellent men.
217 Here come two noble beasts in, a man and a
218 lion.
Enter LION and MOONSHINE.
Lion
219 You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
220 The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
221 May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
222 When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
223 Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am
224 A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;
225 For, if I should as lion come in strife
226 Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.
THESEUS
227 A very gentle beast, of a good con-
228 science.
DEMETRIUS
229 The very best at a beast, my lord, that
230 e'er I saw.
LYSANDER
231 This lion is a very fox for his valour.
THESEUS
232 True; and a goose for his discretion.
DEMETRIUS
233 Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry
234 his discretion; and the fox carries the goose.
THESEUS
235 His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his
236 valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It
237 is well: leave it to his discretion, and let us
238 listen to the Moon.
Moonshine
239 This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;—
DEMETRIUS
240 He should have worn the horns on his
241 head.
THESEUS
242 He is no crescent, and his horns are
243 invisible within the circumference.
Moonshine
244 This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;
245 Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.
THESEUS
246 This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man
247 should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else the
248 man i' the moon?
DEMETRIUS
249 He dares not come there for the candle; for, you
250 see, it is already in snuff.
HIPPOLYTA
251 I am aweary of this moon: would he would
252 change!
THESEUS
253 It appears, by his small light of discretion, that
254 he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all
255 reason, we must stay the time.
LYSANDER
256 Proceed, Moon.
Moonshine
257 All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the
258 lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this
259 thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.
DEMETRIUS
260 Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for all
261 these are in the moon. But, silence! here comes
262 Thisby.
Enter THISBY.
THISBY
263 This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?
Lion [Roaring.]
264 O!
[Thisby runs off.]
DEMETRIUS
265 Well roared, Lion.
THESEUS
266 Well run, Thisby.
HIPPOLYTA
267 Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a
268 good grace.
[The Lion shakes THISBY's mantle, and exit.]
THESEUS
269 Well mous'd, Lion.
DEMETRIUS
270 And then came Pyramus.
LYSANDER
271 And so the lion vanished.
Enter PYRAMUS.
Pyramus
272 Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
273 I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
274 For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
275 I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.
276 But stay, O spite!
277 But mark, poor knight,
278 What dreadful dole is here!
279 Eyes, do you see?
280 How can it be?
281 O dainty duck! O dear!
282 Thy mantle good,
283 What, stain'd with blood!
284 Approach, ye Furies fell!
285 O Fates, come, come,
286 Cut thread and thrum;
287 Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!
THESEUS
288 This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would
289 go near to make a man look sad.
HIPPOLYTA
290 Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.
Pyramus
291 O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame?
292 Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear:
293 Which is—no, no—which was the fairest dame
294 That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd with cheer.
295 Come, tears, confound;
296 Out, sword, and wound
297 The pap of Pyramus;
298 Ay, that left pap,
299 Where heart doth hop:
[Stabs himself.]
300 Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
301 Now am I dead,
302 Now am I fled;
303 My soul is in the sky:
304 Tongue, lose thy light;
305 Moon take thy flight:
[Exit Moonshine.]
306 Now die, die, die, die, die.
[Dies.]
DEMETRIUS
307 No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.
LYSANDER
308 Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is
309 nothing.
THESEUS
310 With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover,
311 and prove an ass.
HIPPOLYTA
312 How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisby comes
313 back and finds her lover?
THESEUS
314 She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and
315 her passion ends the play.
[Enter THISBY.]
HIPPOLYTA
316 Methinks she should not use a long one for
317 such a Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.
DEMETRIUS
318 A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus,
319 which Thisby, is the better; he for a man, God
320 warrant us; she for a woman, God bless us.
LYSANDER
321 She hath spied him already with those sweet
322 eyes.
DEMETRIUS
323 And thus she means, videlicet—
THISBY
324 Asleep, my love?
325 What, dead, my dove?
326 O Pyramus, arise!
327 Speak, speak. Quite dumb?
328 Dead, dead? A tomb
329 Must cover thy sweet eyes.
330 These My lips,
331 This cherry nose,
332 These yellow cowslip cheeks,
333 Are gone, are gone:
334 Lovers, make moan:
335 His eyes were green as leeks.
336 O Sisters Three,
337 Come, come to me,
338 With hands as pale as milk;
339 Lay them in gore,
340 Since you have shore
341 With shears his thread of silk.
342 Tongue, not a word:
343 Come, trusty sword;
344 Come, blade, my breast imbrue:
[Stabs herself.]
345 And, farewell, friends;
346 Thus Thisby ends:
347 Adieu, adieu, adieu.
[Dies.]
THESEUS
348 Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the
349 dead.
DEMETRIUS
350 Ay, and Wall too.
BOTTOM [Starting up.]
351 No, I assure you; the wall is down that
352 parted their fathers. Will it please you to
353 see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask
354 dance between two of our company?
THESEUS
355 No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no
356 excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all
357 dead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if he
358 that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself
359 in Thisby's garter, it would have been a fine
360 tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably
361 discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your
362 epilogue alone.
[A dance.]
363 The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:
364 Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
365 I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn
366 As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
367 This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled
368 The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
369 A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
370 In nightly revels and new jollity.
Exeunt.
Enter PUCK.
PUCK
371 Now the hungry lion roars,
372 And the wolf behowls the moon;
373 Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
374 All with weary task fordone.
375 Now the wasted brands do glow,
376 Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
377 Puts the wretch that lies in woe
378 In remembrance of a shroud.
379 Now it is the time of night
380 That the graves all gaping wide,
381 Every one lets forth his sprite,
382 In the church-way paths to glide:
383 And we fairies, that do run
384 By the triple Hecate's team,
385 From the presence of the sun,
386 Following darkness like a dream,
387 Now are frolic: not a mouse
388 Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
389 I am sent with broom before,
390 To sweep the dust behind the door.
Enter the King and Queen of Fairies
[OBERON and TITANIA] with all their train.
OBERON
391 Through the house give glimmering light
392 By the dead and drowsy fire:
393 Every elf and fairy sprite
394 Hop as light as bird from brier;
395 And this ditty, after me,
396 Sing, and dance it trippingly.
TITANIA
397 First, rehearse your song by rote
398 To each word a warbling note:
399 Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
400 Will we sing, and bless this place.
[Song and dance.]
OBERON
401 Now, until the break of day,
402 Through this house each fairy stray.
403 To the best bride-bed will we,
404 Which by us shall blessed be;
405 And the issue there create
406 Ever shall be fortunate.
407 So shall all the couples three
408 Ever true in loving be;
409 And the blots of Nature's hand
410 Shall not in their issue stand;
411 Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,
412 Nor mark prodigious, such as are
413 Despised in nativity,
414 Shall upon their children be.
415 With this field-dew consecrate,
416 Every fairy take his gait;
417 And each several chamber bless,
418 Through this palace, with sweet peace;
419 And the owner of it blest
420 Ever shall in safety rest.
421 Trip away; make no stay;
422 Meet me all by break of day.
Exeunt [OBERON, TITANIA, and train].
PUCK
423 If we shadows have offended,
424 Think but this, and all is mended,
425 That you have but slumber'd here
426 While these visions did appear.
427 And this weak and idle theme,
428 No more yielding but a dream,
429 Gentles, do not reprehend:
430 if you pardon, we will mend:
431 And, as I am an honest Puck,
432 If we have unearned luck
433 Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
434 We will make amends ere long;
435 Else the Puck a liar call;
436 So, good night unto you all.
437 Give me your hands, if we be friends,
438 And Robin shall restore amends.
[Exit.]
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