The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (172 page)

Oh no, Prince Dauphin! I think you are mistaken about this king. Ask the ambassadors who just came back about how noble and competent his counselors are. You’ll find out he has reason to be vain, and he hides his discretion within his youth, like gardeners who cover up delicate roots with mulch.

Dauphin

Well, 'tis not so, my Lord High Constable;


But though we think it so, it is no matter.


In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh


The enemy more mighty than he seems,


So the proportions of defence are fill'd;


Which, of a weak and niggardly projection,


Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting


A little cloth.

I don’t think so, my lord Constable. However, it doesn’t matter, because we need to be prepared to fight regardless of the enemy’s strength. So, we know what we must do.

French King

Think we King Harry strong;


And, Princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.


The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;


And he is bred out of that bloody strain


That haunted us in our familiar paths.  Witness our too much memorable shame


When Cressy battle fatally was struck,


And all our princes captiv'd by the hand


Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales;


Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing,


Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,


Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him,


Mangle the work of nature and deface


The patterns that by God and by French fathers


Had twenty years been made. This is a stem


Of that victorious stock; and let us fear


The native mightiness and fate of him.

We should perceive Harry as a strong threat, and arm ourselves accordingly. His ancestors were a bloody line and he is made from the same cloth. Remember the embarrassment, when Edward the Black Prince of Wales captured all of our princes, while his father watched from a hilltop. History designed by God and our French fathers has been in the making the last twenty years, and here he is. Let us fear him and be ready.

Enter a Messenger.

Messenger

Ambassadors from Harry King of England


Do crave admittance to your Majesty.

Ambassadors from King Harry of England wish to have word with you, your majesty.

French King

We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them.

Bring them in. We will see them now.

Exit Messenger and certain Lords.

You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends.

The chase begins, friends.

Dauphin

Turn head and stop pursuit; for coward dogs


Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten


Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,


Take up the English short, and let them know


Of what a monarchy you are the head.


Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin


As self-neglecting.

Stop pursuing and face them. Cowardly dogs always yell louder when the prey is far off. My good king, show the English what this monarch is made of. Self-love, my liege, is not as bad as self-neglect.

Re-enter Lords, with Exeter and train.

French King

From our brother of England?

Are you from our brother England?

Exeter

From him; and thus he greets your Majesty:


He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,


That you divest yourself, and lay apart


The borrowed glories that by gift of heaven,


By law of nature and of nations, longs


To him and to his heirs; namely, the crown


And all wide-stretched honours that pertain


By custom and the ordinance of times


Unto the crown of France. That you may know


'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim


Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,


Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd,


He sends you this most memorable line,


In every branch truly demonstrative;


Willing you overlook this pedigree;


And when you find him evenly deriv'd

From his most fam'd of famous ancestors,


Edward the Third, he bids you then resign


Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held


From him, the native and true challenger.

Yes, and he sends his greetings. He wishes you to relinquish the crown and all the properties and customs associated with the realm of France that is rightly his. He wants you to know this is not a claim of vengeance or vanity. He wants you to know he is the rightful heir of Edward the Third, and based on this information, you should resign your crown and kingdom.

French King

Or else what follows?

And, if I don’t?

Exeter

Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown


Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it.


Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,


In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove,


That, if requiring fail, he will compel;


And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,


Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy


On the poor souls for whom this hungry war


Opens his vasty jaws; and on your head


Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,


The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans,


For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,


That shall be swallowed in this controversy.


This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my message;


Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,


To whom expressly I bring greeting too.

If you don’t, he will declare war. He is coming with his army, like a storm or a god, and he wants you to give up the crown and spare the men who will certainly die in the war. This is his message, the same one he gave to Dauphin.

French King

For us, we will consider of this further.


To-morrow shall you bear our full intent


Back to our brother of England.

We must consider this. Tomorrow, we will let you know what we are going to do.

Dauphin

For the Dauphin,


I stand here for him. What to him from England?

What does the king say about me?

Exeter

Scorn and defiance. Slight regard, contempt,


And anything that may not misbecome


The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.


Thus says my king: an if your father's Highness


Do not, in grant of all demands at large,


Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his Majesty,


He'll call you to so hot an answer of it


That caves and womby vaultages of France


Shall chide your trespass and return your mock


In second accent of his ordinance.

He has nothing to say but scorn and defiance. After the gift you brought, he will call you to answer for your father’s decision, so that all of France will turn its back on you and laugh.

Dauphin

Say, if my father render fair return,


It is against my will; for I desire


Nothing but odds with England. To that end,


As matching to his youth and vanity,


I did present him with the Paris balls.

If my father accepts the king’s demands, know it is against my will. I want nothing to do with England. I gave him a gift matching his youth and vanity.  

Exeter

He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,


Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe;


And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference,


As we his subjects have in wonder found,


Between the promise of his greener days


And these he masters now. Now he weighs time


Even to the utmost grain. That you shall read


In your own losses, if he stay in France.

He’ll make the Parisian Louvre shake for it, too. You will find a great difference from the man he used to be and who he is now. You will regret it if he stays in France.

French King

To-morrow shall you know our mind at full.

You will hear my decision tomorrow.

Exeter

Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king


Come here himself to question our delay;


For he is footed in this land already.

Let us know quickly or else the king will come here to find out what’s keeping us so long.

FRENCH KING

You shall be soon dispatch'd with fair conditions.


A night is but small breath and little pause


To answer matters of this consequence.

Flourish. Exit.

Enter Chorus

Chorus

Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,


In motion of no less celerity


Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen


The well-appointed king at [Hampton] pier


Embark his royalty, and his brave fleet


With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.


Play with your fancies; and in them behold


Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;


Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give


To sounds confus'd; behold the threaden sails,


Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,


Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,


Breasting the lofty surge. O, do but think


You stand upon the rivage and behold


A city on the inconstant billows dancing;


For so appears this fleet majestical,


Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow!


Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,


And leave your England, as dead midnight still,


Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women,


Either past or not arriv'd to pith and puissance.


For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd


With one appearing hair, that will not follow


These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?


Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;


Behold the ordnance on their carriages,


With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.


Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back,


Tells Harry that the King doth offer him


Katharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry,


Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.


The offer likes not; and the nimble gunner


With linstock now the devilish cannon touches,