Enter Braggart [Armado].
Arm. Sweet Majesty, vouchsafe me—
Prin. Was not that Hector?
Dum. The worthy knight of Troy.
Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave. I am a votary; I have vow’d to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three year. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? It should have followed in the end of our show.
King. Call them forth quickly, we will do so.
Arm. Holla! approach.
Enter all.
This side is Hiems, Winter; this Ver, the Spring; the one maintained by the owl, th’ other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.
The Song
[Spring.]
When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
“Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo”—O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks;
When turtles tread, and rooks and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
“Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo”—O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
Winter.
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipp’d, and ways be [foul],
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
“Tu-whit, to-who!”—
A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian’s nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
“Tu-whit, to-who!”—
A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
[Arm.] The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. [You that way; we this way.]
[Exeunt omnes.]
¶
William Shakespeare
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
( 1595–1596 )
Quarto, 1600; First Folio, 1623.
midsummer
¶
Act I
Sc. I Sc. II
Act II
Sc. I Sc. II
Act III
Sc. I Sc. II
Act IV
Sc. I Sc. II
Act V
Sc. I
[Dramatis Personae
Theseus, Duke of Athens
Egeus, father to Hermia
Lysander,
Demetrius, in love with Hermia
Philostrate, Master of the Revels to Theseus
–––––
Quince, a carpenter, presenting Prologue
Bottom, a weaver, presenting Pyramus
Flute, a bellows-mender, presenting Thisby
Snout, a tinker, presenting Wall
Snug, a joiner, presenting Lion
Starveling, a tailor, presenting Moonshine
–––––
Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Hermia, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander
Helena, in love with Demetrius
–––––
Oberon, King of the Fairies
Titania, Queen of the Fairies
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow
Peaseblossom,
Cobweb,
Moth,
Mustardseed, fairies
Other Fairies attending their King and Queen; Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta
Scene: Athens, and a wood near it]
ACT I
[Scene I]
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, [Philostrate,] with others.
The.
Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in
Another moon; but O, methinks, how slow
This old moon [wanes]! She lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame, or a dowager,
Long withering out a young man’s revenue.
Hip.
Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;