[Exit.]
Obe.
Fare thee well, nymph. Ere he do leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.
Enter Puck.
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
Puck.
Ay, there it is.
Obe.
I pray thee give it me.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine;
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in;
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love;
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck.
Fear not, my lord! your servant shall do so.
Exeunt.
¶
[Scene II]
Enter Titania, Queen of Fairies, with her Train.
Tita.
Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence,
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
Some war with rere-mice for their leathren wings
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.
Fairies sing.
[1. Fairy.]
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen,
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
[Cho.]
Philomele, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm,
Nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh.
So good night, with lullaby.
1. Fairy.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg’d spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offense.
[Cho.]
Philomele, with melody, etc.
2. Fairy.
Hence, away! now all is well.
One aloof stand sentinel.
[Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps.]
Enter Oberon [and squeezes the flower on Titania’s eyelids].
Obe.
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take;
Love and languish for his sake.
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak’st, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.
[Exit.]
Enter Lysander and Hermia.
Lys.
Fair love, you faint with wand’ring in the wood;
And to speak troth I have forgot our way.
We’ll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
Her.
Be’t so, Lysander. Find you out a bed;
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
Lys.
One turf shall serve as pillow for us both,
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
Her.
Nay, [good] Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet; do not lie so near.
Lys.
O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!
Love takes the meaning in love’s conference:
I mean, that my heart unto yours [is] knit,
So that but one heart we can make of it;
Two bosoms interchained with an oath,
So then two bosoms and a single troth.
Then by your side no bed-room me deny;
For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
Her.
Lysander riddles very prettily.
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say Lysander