SCENE I
(Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy and Puck)
Puck.
How now, spirit! whither wander you?
Fairy.
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be.
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, Fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours.
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone;
Our Queen and all her elves come here anon.
Puck.
The King doth keep his revels here to-night:
Take heed the Queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she as her attendant hath
A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king.
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild.
But she perforce withholds the lovèd boy,
Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But they do square, that all their elves for fear
Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.
Fairy.
Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery;
Skims milk, and sometime labours in the quern,
And bootless makes the breathless housewife churn;
And sometime makes the drink to bear no barn;
Misleads night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he?
Puck.
Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her, and down topples she,
And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth, and sneeze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon.
Fairy.
And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!
(Enter, from one side, Oberon with his train;
from the other, Titania with hers)
Oberon.
Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
Titania.
What, jealous Oberon! Fairy, skip hence.
Oberon.
Tarry, rash wanton: am I not thy lord?
Titania.
Then I must be thy lady.
And never, since the middle summer's spring,
Met we on hill, forest, or head,
By pavèd fountain or by rushy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlet to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
Oberon.
Do you amend it, then; it lies in you:
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.
Titania.
Set your heart at rest:
The Fairyland buys not the child of me.
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.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd 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 liquour 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
(Re-enter Puck)
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
Puck.
Aye, here it is.
Oberon.
I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with lush 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.