From our debate, from our dissension; We are their parents and original. Obe. Do you amend it then; it lies in you: Why should Titania cross her Oberon? I do but beg a little changeling boy, To be my henchman. Tita. 120 130 Following, her womb then rich with my young squire,— Obe. How long within this wood intend you stay? Tita. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round And see our moonlight revels, go with us; 140 If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. Tita. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away! We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. [Exit Titania with her train. Obe. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee for this injury. My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberest Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back Puck. I remember. Obe. That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, At a fair vestal throned by the west, And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts; Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon, In maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness. Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes. Obe. Having once this juice, I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, She shall pursue it with the soul of love: And ere I take this charm from off her sight, 150 160 170 [Exit 180 I'll make her render up her page to me. Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him. Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood; Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant: Dem. Do I entice you? do I speak you fair? Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you? Hel. And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: What worser place can I beg in your love,— Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, For I am sick when I do look on thee. Hel. And I am sick when I look not on you. Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much, To leave the city and commit yourself Into the hands of one that loves you not; To trust the opportunity of night And the ill counsel of a desert place с 190 200 210 Hel. Your virtue is my privilege: for that Dem. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go: But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius ! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex : 220 230 240 We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be woo'd and were not made to woo. I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, [Exit Demetrius. [Exit. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove, Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love. Re-enter PUCK. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. Obe. 250 There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: A sweet Athenian lady is in love 260 With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; But do it when the next thing he espies SCENE II. Another part of the wood. Enter TITANIA, with her train. [Exeunt. Tita. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song; Then to your offices and let me rest. |