A Midsummer Night's Dream (14 page)

EGEUS
    So please your grace, the Prologue is
addressed
¹¹⁰
.

THESEUS
    Let him approach.

PROLOGUE [QUINCE]
    If we offend, it is with our good
will
¹¹²
.

That you should think, we come not to offend,

But with good
will
¹¹⁴
. To show our simple skill,

That is the true beginning of our
end
¹¹⁵
.

Consider then, we come but in
despite
¹¹⁶
.

We do not come as minding to content you
¹¹⁷
,

Our true intent
is
.
All
for your
delight
¹¹⁸

We are not
here
¹¹⁹
. That you should here repent you,

The actors are at hand; and by their
show
¹²⁰
,

You shall know all that you are
like
¹²¹
to know.

THESEUS
    This fellow doth not
stand upon points
¹²²
.

LYSANDER
    He hath
rid
his prologue like a
rough
¹²³
colt: he knows

not the
stop
¹²⁴
. A good moral, my lord. It is not enough to

speak, but to speak true.

HIPPOLYTA
    Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child

on a recorder: a sound, but not in
government
¹²⁷
.

THESEUS
    His speech was like a tangled chain:
nothing
¹²⁸

impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?

PROLOGUE [QUINCE]
    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

Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers
sunder
¹³⁵
.

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,

By moonshine did these lovers think no
scorn
¹⁴⁰

To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.

This grisly beast, which Lion
hight
¹⁴²
by name,

The trusty Thisbe, coming first by night,

Did scare away, or rather did affright.

And as she fled, her
mantle
she did
fall
¹⁴⁵
,

Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.

Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and
tall
¹⁴⁷
,

And finds his trusty Thisbe's mantle slain;

Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,

He bravely
broached
¹⁵⁰
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
¹⁵³

At large discourse, while here they do remain.

THESEUS
    I wonder if the lion be to speak.

DEMETRIUS
    No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses

do.

WALL [SNOUT]
    In this same
interlude
¹⁵⁸
it doth befall

That I, one Snout by name, present a wall.

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

That I am that same wall; the truth is so.

And this the cranny is, right and
sinister
¹⁶⁶
,

Gestures to gap between
his legs

Through which the
fearful
¹⁶⁷
lovers are to whisper.

THESEUS
    Would you desire lime and hair to speak

better?

DEMETRIUS
    It is the wittiest
partition
¹⁷⁰
that ever I heard

discourse, my lord.

THESEUS
    Pyramus draws near the wall. Silence!

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    O
grim-looked
¹⁷³
night! O night with hue so black!

     O night, which ever art when day is not!

     O night, O night! Alack, alack, alack,

     I fear my Thisbe's promise is forgot.

     And thou, O wall, thou sweet and lovely wall

     That stands between her father's ground and mine!

     Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,

     
Show me thy
chink
¹⁸⁰
, to blink through with mine eyne!

Thanks, courteous wall.
Jove
¹⁸¹
shield thee well for this.

Pyramus peers between Wall's legs

But what see I? No Thisbe do I see.

O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!

Cursed be thy
stones
¹⁸⁴
for thus deceiving me!

THESEUS
    The wall, methinks, being
sensible
, should curse

again.
¹⁸⁵

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    No, in truth, sir, he should not. ‘Deceiving

     me' is Thisbe's cue; she is to enter and I am to spy her

     through the wall. You shall see, it will fall
pat
¹⁸⁹
as I told you.

     Yonder she comes.

THISBE [FLUTE]
    O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,

     For parting my fair Pyramus and me.

     My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones,

     Thy stones with
lime
and
hair
¹⁹⁴
knit up in thee.

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    I see a voice; now will I to the chink,

     To spy
an
¹⁹⁶
I can hear my Thisbe's face. Thisbe?

THISBE [FLUTE]
    My love
thou art, my love
¹⁹⁷
I think.

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    Think what thou wilt, I am thy
lover's grace
¹⁹⁸

     And like
Limander
¹⁹⁹
am I trusty still.

THISBE [FLUTE]
    And I like
Helen
²⁰⁰
, till the Fates me kill.

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    Not
Shafalus to Procrus
²⁰¹
was so true.

THISBE [FLUTE]
    As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    O, kiss me through the
hole
²⁰⁴
of this vile wall!

THISBE [FLUTE]
    I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.

PYRAMUS [BOTTOM]
    Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?

THISBE [FLUTE]
    
'Tide
²⁰⁶
life, 'tide death, I come without delay.

WALL [SNOUT]
    Thus have I, Wall, my part dischargèd so;

     And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

THESEUS
    Now is the
mural
²⁰⁹
down between the two

neighbours.

DEMETRIUS
    No remedy, my lord, when
walls are so
wilful
²¹¹
to hear

without warning.

HIPPOLYTA
    This is the silliest stuff that e'er I heard.

THESEUS
    The best
in this kind
are but
shadows
²¹⁴
, and the worst

are no worse, if imagination amend them.

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.

LION [SNUG]
    You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear

The smallest
monstrous
²²²
mouse that creeps on floor,

May now perchance both quake and tremble here,

When lion
rough
²²⁴
in wildest rage doth roar.

Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am

A lion
fell
, nor else no lion's
dam
²²⁶
,

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
²³⁰
, my lord, that e'er I saw.

LYSANDER
    This lion is
a very fox
for
²³¹
his valour.

THESEUS
    True, and a
goose for his
discretion
²³²
.

DEMETRIUS
    Not so, my lord, for his valour cannot carry his

discretion, and the fox
carries
²³⁴
the goose.

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 hearken to the moon.

MOONSHINE [STARVELING]
    This lantern doth the
hornèd
²³⁸
moon present—

DEMETRIUS
    He should have worn the
horns on his head
²³⁹
.

THESEUS
    He is
no crescent
²⁴⁰
, and his horns are invisible within

the circumference.

MOONSHINE [STARVELING]
    This lantern doth the hornèd moon present:

Myself the man i'th'moon doth seem to be.

THESEUS
    This is the greatest error of all the rest; the man

should be put into the lantern. How is it else the man

i'th'moon?

DEMETRIUS
    He dares not come there for the candle. For you see

it is already
in snuff
²⁴⁸
.

HIPPOLYTA
    I am aweary of this moon; would he would 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
²⁵¹

the time.

LYSANDER
    Proceed, Moon.

MOONSHINE [STARVELING]
    All that I have to say is to tell you that

the lantern is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thorn-bush,

my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.

DEMETRIUS
    Why, all these should be in the lantern, for they are

in the moon. But silence — here comes Thisbe.

THISBE [FLUTE]
    This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?

LION [SNUG]
    O!

DEMETRIUS
    Well roared, Lion.

THESEUS
    Well run, Thisbe.