The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (515 page)

And then, for a little while after,

Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,

Some of you will kill worms infecting the flowers

Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,

And some fight the bats to take their leathery wings

To make my small elves coats, and some keep back

So I can make coats from them for small elves, and some of you

The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders

Will chase off that noisy owl that hoots every night

At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;

At our festivities. Now, sing me to sleep,

Then to your offices and let me rest.

And then go to work and let me rest.

The Fairies sing

FIRST FAIRY

You spotted snakes with double tongue,

You forked tongue snakes

Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;

And porcupines, go away;

Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,

Newts and lizards, do not do anything wrong,

Come not near our fairy queen.

And stay away from Queen Titania.

FAIRIESPhilomel, with melody

Dear nightingale, melodiously

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Sing with us in this lullaby.

Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm,

Let no harm

Nor spell nor charm,

Or spell or enchantment

Come our lovely lady nigh;

Come to our lovely queen here.

So, good night, with lullaby.

Now goodnight, and sweet dreams.

FIRST FAIRY

Weaving spiders, come not here;

Spiders weaving your webs, stay away,

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!

All of you long-legged spinners of webs, stay back!

Beetles black, approach not near;

Black beetles, do not come near,

Worm nor snail, do no offence.

And worm and snail, do nothing wrong.

FAIRIES

Philomel, with melody

Dear nightingale, melodiously

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Sing with us in this lullaby.

Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm,

Let no harm

Nor spell nor charm,

Or spell or enchantment

Come our lovely lady nigh;

Come to our lovely queen here.

So, good night, with lullaby.

Now goodnight, and sweet dreams.

FAIRY

Hence, away! now all is well:

Stop, and let us go! Everything is well.

One aloof stand sentinel.

One of you stay here to guard.

Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps

Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids

OBERON

What thou seest when thou dost wake,

Whatever you see when you wake up

Do it for thy true-love take,

You will believe is your true love.

Love and languish for his sake:

Love, and feel the pain of love for the sake of the orphan boy,

Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,

Whether it is a snow leopard, or a cat, or a bear

Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

Or a leopard, or a bristled boar –

In thy eye that shall appear

In your eye it will appear,

When thou wakest, it is thy dear:

When you wake, as your beloved:

Wake when some vile thing is near.

So I hope you wake when something nasty is near.

Exit

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA

LYSANDER

Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

My love, you look weak from walking so much in this forest,

And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:

And to tell the truth, I have gotten lost.

We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,

We should rest now, Hermia, if you think that’s a good idea,

And tarry for the comfort of the day.

And wait for daylight.

HERMIA

Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;

I agree with you, Lysander: find yourself a bed,

For I upon this bank will rest my head.

because I will rest against this bank.

LYSANDER

One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;

It will be a pillow for both of us,

One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.

One pillow, for one bed, for one heart shared by two people with one truth.

HERMIA

Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,

No, good Lysander, please, my love,

Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

Find a place farther away, do not sleep so close to me.

LYSANDER

O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!

Oh my dear, please recognize my good intentions!

Love takes the meaning in love's conference.

Those in love should understand each other.

I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit

What I mean is that my heart is tied to yours

So that but one heart we can make of it;

So that we have, in essence, one heart:

Two bosoms interchained with an oath;

Two people bound with a single oath,

So then two bosoms and a single troth.

Two people who share one truth.

Then by your side no bed-room me deny;

So do not deny me space to sleep beside you–

For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

By lying there, I will not lie to your honor and disrespect you.

HERMIA

Lysander riddles very prettily:

Lysander speaks very nicely:

Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,

I would betray my manners and honor

If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.

If I were to imply that Lysander was a liar.

But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy

But, my friend, for love and politeness,

Lie further off; in human modesty,

Lie farther away. It is modest

Such separation as may well be said

For such separation to be between

Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,

A virtuous bachelor and a virtuous maid,

So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:

So be distant. And now, goodnight sweet friend:

Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!

I hope your love never changes until your dear life ends!

LYSANDER

Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;

I say amen to that prayer,

And then end life when I end loyalty!

And I hope my life ends if I should be disloyal to you!

Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!

I will sleep over here, sleep well and be rested!

HERMIA

With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!

You too, Lysander, sleep well also!

They sleep.

Enter PUCK

PUCK

Through the forest have I gone.

I have gone through the entire forest

But Athenian found I none,

But have not found the Athenian

On whose eyes I might approve

Whose eyes I must drug

This flower's force in stirring love.

With this flower’s potion to enchant him.

Night and silence.--Who is here?

Only night and silence – but who is this?

Weeds of Athens he doth wear:

He wears Athenian clothing:

This is he, my master said,

It must be him, the one my master told me about,

Despised the Athenian maid;

Who turned away the Athenian girl.

And here the maiden, sleeping sound,

And here is the girl, sound asleep

On the dank and dirty ground.

On the wet and dirty ground.

Pretty soul! she durst not lie

Pretty girl! She should not lie

Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

Near this cold and rude man.

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

Scoundrel, I put on your eyes

All the power this charm doth owe.

The full force of this potion.

When thou wakest, let love forbid

I hope, when you wake up, that love keeps

Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:

Your eyes open.

So awake when I am gone;

Now wake after I leave–

For I must now to Oberon.

I must return to King Oberon.

Exit

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running

HELENA

Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.

Wait, Demetrius, even if you kill me!

DEMETRIUS

I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.

I beg you, leave and do not keep following me.

HELENA

O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.

Oh please do not leave me alone in the dark!

DEMETRIUS

Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.

Stay at your own risk then – I can continue alone.

Exit

HELENA

O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!

I am out of breath from chasing after Demetrius!

The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.

The more I pray for him, the less I receive in return.

Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;

Hermia is blessed, wherever she is,

For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.

For she has beautiful eyes.

How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:

How did her eyes become this beautiful? Not from the salt of tears:

If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.

If so, my eyes are washed from tears more often and would be prettier.

No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

No, instead I am as ugly as a bear,

For beasts that meet me run away for fear:

Even animals that see me run away, scared.

Therefore no marvel though Demetrius

Therefore it’s no surprise that Demetrius

Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.

Flees, as even a monster would run away from my looks.

What wicked and dissembling glass of mine

What evil and deceiving mirror

Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?

Made me think I could compare to Hermia’s beauty?

But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!

Who is this? Lysander! On the ground!

Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.

Is he dead or asleep? I don’t see a wound or any blood.

Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.

Lysander, if you are alive, wake up!

LYSANDER

[Awaking] And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.

And I will then run through fire for you.

Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,

Beautiful Helena! Nature has skillfully

That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.

Made me able to see through your chest and right into your heart.