“Dear lady, I dare not rest,” said Ferdinand; “I must finish my task.”
“Sit down and I shall carry the logs for a while,” said the maiden; but Ferdinand would not have it so, and so she began to assist him, though the business went on but slowly because they were talking together.
But Prospero was not among his books, as Miranda thought; he was quite close to them, although invisible, and he smiled as he heard his daughter tell her name, and smiled again as Ferdinand professed his great love and admiration for her.
“I fear I am talking too freely. I have forgotten my father’s command,” said Miranda, at last.
And here Prospero nodded his head, and said to himself, “My daughter shall be queen of Naples.”
They had not talked long, before Miranda had promised to be the bride of Ferdinand; and then her father no longer concealed his presence, but made himself visible to the eyes of these young people. “Be not afraid, daughter,” he said; “I have heard all that has passed, but I approve it. As for you, Ferdinand, if I have been hard, it was but to try if you were worthy of my child; and by giving her to you I make amends for it all.”
Calling his attendant, Ariel, Prospero left them, saying he had business to attend to; which business was to hear how the sprite had been tormenting and frightening his master’s brother and the king of Naples. When they were weary and well-nigh famished, he set a delicate banquet before them; but only to appear again as a monster, who carried the untasted food away. Then he spoke to them, still in the form of a harpy, and reminded them of the shameful way in which they had treated Prospero and his little child, adding that in punishment this shipwreck had befallen them.
The king and Antonio were greatly distressed at this; and Ariel declared that though he was but a sprite, he could not but pity them, their grief seemed so sincere.
“Bring them here,” cried Prospero. “Bring them quickly, my good Ariel; for if you feel for them, much more should I who am a human being, such as they, take compassion on them in their misfortune, and freely forgive the past.”
So Ariel brought the king and Prospero’s brother into his presence; and with them came Gonzalo, who had proved his love for his master by putting food and apparel into the boat in which he had been left to the mercy of the winds and waves.